New Delhi, April 7 – The Delhi Journalist Association under the banner of National Union of Journalists (India) today organised a press conference in which Tibetan Parliamentarian Pemba Tsering, president of National Union of Journalist N.K. Trikha, journalist Vijay Kranti and many Indian and Tibetan journalists took part.
The media persons had gathered there to demand freedom of expression and free speech, freedom to report events in Tibet and to allow journalists into Tibet to report the actual situation in Tibet.
Pemba Tsering talked about the increasing difficulty with which Tibetans inside Tibet are sending bits and pieces of news to Tibetans in exhile. He said, “Even recharging of pre-paid mobile has been stopped. The situation inside Tibet is still very tense. Other than the normal deployment of the PLA, thousands of armymen and tanks have been sent into Tibetan areas. The whole of Tibet is under house arrest.” He also stressed on the fact that the Tibetan protest is non-violent and that the government-in-exile is not opposing the oylmpics games.
Vijay Kranti, who has been to Tibet twice in the past, especially brifed the Indian journalists about the actual situation in Tibet. He talked about communication and its various means which has played a crucial role in getting infromation from even the remotest part of Tibet. “The Internet has played such an important role in spreading information. He said on March 10, 2008, when protests broke out in Lhasa, word spread like wildfire and very soon every one was aware of it. This was no CIA-backed plan, as claimed by China. This was but a gathering by Tibetans themselves. They got together with the help of the Internet, which has brought about a revolation”
The president of the National Union of Journalists, N. K. Trikha, said every individual has right to freedom of expression and seek information. “This freedom has been taken away from the people in Tibet and in China. According to the International Human Rights declaration, every individual has a right to express his thoughts. Boundaries do not matter, people from any country can seek news from any other country. But in Tibet today, people do not have any rights to express themselves.”
