News and Views on Tibet

Breaking: Second self-immolation today takes toll to 72, Heavy deployment of armed forces in Rebkong region

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DHARAMSHALA, November 12: In more heartbreaking news coming out of Tibetan, a second Tibetan set himself on fire today in the Rebkong region of eastern Tibet.

Sources are confirming with Phayul that the Tibetan identified as Nyingchag Bum, 20, passed away in his protest in Dowa region of Rebkong.

“Nyingchag Bum from Yonlag Dewa set himself on fire on the main street of Dowa town,” Geshe Rongwo Lobsang Nyendak, a Tibetan member of parliament told Phayul. “Monks from the nearby Dowa Monastery carried his charred body inside the Monastery premises.”

Further details are awaited at the time of filing this report.

In confirmed reports coming in, Nyingkar Tashi, 24, who set himself on fire this afternoon in Dro Rongwo has passed away in his fiery protest.

Various sources are telling Phayul that the situation around Rebkong region is “very tense” following the five self-immolations in the region this month alone, including two today.

A heavy deployment of Chinese armed forces is also being reported in the region.

Thousands of Tibetans, including school students last week carried out massive demonstrations and protest rallies in Rongwo calling for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and freedom in Tibet.

School students also pulled down Chinese flags from their school building and government offices in Dro Rongwo, the place where Tamdin Tso set herself on fire protesting Chinese rule last week.

The self-immolation toll has now risen to 72 inside Tibet since 2009 with nine fiery protests this month alone.

The alarming escalation in the protests coincide with the ongoing Chinese Communist Party’s 18th National Congress in Beijing, which will this week see the transfer of power from Hu Jintao to Xi Jinping.

Earlier this month, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged China to “promptly address the longstanding grievances that have led to an alarming escalation in desperate forms of protest, including self-immolations, in Tibetan areas.”

Pillay said she was disturbed by “continuing allegations of violence against Tibetans seeking to exercise their fundamental human rights,” and urged China to allow independent and impartial monitors to visit and assess the actual conditions on the ground, and to lift restrictions on media access to the region, as a confidence-building measure.

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