DHARAMSHALA, December 11: The exile Tibetan administration challenged China to prove their assertions after Beijing laid out fresh charges against Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration of inciting self-immolations in Tibet.

CTA said it was ready for a probe by the Chinese authorities and invited them to send an investigative team to the exile Tibetan headquarters in Dharamshala.

China’s state news agency Xinhua said Sunday that police in the Ngaba region of eastern Tibet detained a monk and his nephew and accused them of instigating the self-immolations of eight Tibetans on the instructions of the Dalai Lama and his followers.

Although the report did not detail what evidence police had of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader's involvement, it cited a police statement as saying that the detained monk, Lorang (Lobsang) Konchok, 40, “confessed” of his crimes. His nephew, Lorang Tsering, 31, was also arrested on similar charges.

The exile Tibetan administration on Monday said, “such statements from a state known to resort to torture and detention of individuals without due judicial process can only be received with scepticism from the international community.”

“If China genuinely wishes to end the self-immolations, instead of resorting to the blame game it should allow unfettered access to international bodies to Tibetan areas to investigate the root causes for these self-immolations,” Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay, the elected head of the Tibetan people said.

China’s claims of “confession” were also sorely contested by independent observers.

London based Free Tibet noted that confessions in Tibet are “frequently obtained through torture, which the UN has reported is ‘widespread’ and ‘routine.’”

“Available independent evidence indicates that self-immolations are mostly solitary acts which usually come as a surprise to those who know the individual involved,” Free Tibet said Monday. “The Dalai Lama has never expressed support for the protests and the Tibetan government in exile has called for them to end. China’s policy is to blame resistance to its occupation of Tibet on “the Dalai clique”, and to reject any suggestion its own policies lie behind the self-immolations.”

Lobsang Konchok, a monk at the Kirti Monastery in Ngaba, which was the epicenter of the self-immolation protests earlier this year, was arrested on August 17. He belonged to Gyatsotang family in Chashang Chukle Gongma town in Ngaba and was pursuing his Karampa degree (equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree in Tibetan Buddhism) at the Monastery. Reasons for his arrest were not known at the time of his detention.

Last week China announced that it will pres murder charges against anyone caught aiding or inciting self-immolations.