By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala, October 9: Tibetan activists paraded a demonized effigy, bearing photos of Chinese President Hu Jintao and Zhang Qingli, the current Chinese Communist Party Secretary to Tibet, before setting it on fire here today.
They called the effigy “China’s Ravan” and their act a symbolic celebration of the concluding day of Dussehra.
Dussehra is celebrated by Hindus as victory of “Good over evil” in which a Hindu mythological demon King Ravana is put on fire to mark end of evil’s reign.
Members of Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), India, today labeled Hu Jintao, who imposed Martial Law in Lhasa on March 8, 1989 following series of demonstrations by Tibetans during his tenure as the Chinese Communist Party Secretary to Tibet, as “China’s Ravan”.
During the reign of the Martial decree, which lasted for 13 months, Tibetan demonstrators were brutally suppressed resulting in deaths. Aftermath the brutal suppression, several detainees were subjected to prolonged sadistic and horrifying treatments as later reported by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.
The activist also placed photos of Zhang Qingli,who was in the spotlight during the 2008 Tibetan unrest for his heavy handedness in dealing with the demonstrators.
Known for his tough policies in ethnic regions, Zhang is seen as a man responsible for China’s hardening stance in dealing with Tibetan people in recent times. He accelerated campaigns against Tibetan culture and religion, brought in more settlers and stepped up the commercial exploitation of Tibet’s huge reserves of raw materials.
This sharp-tongued communist party secretary is despised by Tibetans for his scathing and defamatory verbal attacks on the revered Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama. He is the man who called the Dalai Lama “a wolf in monk’s clothes, a devil with a human face”.
The effigy, bearing photos of the two Chinese Communist leaders, was paraded through McLeod Ganj before it was set on fire near the town’s main square.
The activists believe burning the demonized effigy ‘China’s Ravan’ on final Dussehra festival signifies bringing to an end a symbol of evil.
On Thursday, Hindus celebrated the final day of Dussehra by setting statue of Ravan on fire signifying the triumph of good over evil.
McLeod Ganj, a suburb also referred to as the Upper Dharamsala, is the seat of the Dalai Lama led Tibetan Government-in-Exile.
