News and Views on Tibet

TWA holds Global solidarity actions in honor of Martyr Tenzin Wangmo

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The Tibetan Women’s Association and its 56 chapters spread across the globe have organized global solidarity actions: peace rallies, candle light vigils and prayer services in honor of martyr Tenzin Wangmo, aged early 20’s, who died after a seven minute self-immolation protest. Tenzin Wangmo is the first female martyr to commit self -immolation, the highest form on non-violent protest.

News emerged from reliable sources in Tibet that on October 17, around 1 pm (Tibet time), nun Tenzin Wangmo lit her body and did rounds of the sumo bridge, at a cross roads near her nunnery, 3 kilometers away from the Ngaba County market. Tenzin Wangmo raised the slogans: “We want the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama back to Tibet,” and “We want religious freedom in Tibet.”

Tenzin Wangmo belonged to Ngaba Mamae Dechen Choekorling Nunnery, the largest nunnery in Amdo Ngaba with 350 nun residents.

Wangmo’s death is the fourth case of self-immolation deaths and is the ninth self-immolation case in Tibet. There is a spate of self-immolation drives in Tibet with seven such cases in less than three weeks.

Of the nine self-immolations, the whereabouts and conditions of five young monks are still not known.

52 years of Chinese subjugation of Tibet and the beefed up violent clampdown on Tibetans inside Tibet in the aftermath of the 2008 peaceful protests inside Tibet, have aggravated the growing resentment and frustration in Tibetans who, out of sheer desperation resort to desperate measures such as taking one’s previous human life, to express their true aspirations: the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet, freedom to practice their religion and greater degree of freedom inside Tibet.

News have also emerged that on October 16, Chinese police fired gun-shots at seven Tibetans who protested in front of a police station in Kham Serta.

The Tibetan Women’s Association expresses its deepest concern for the catastrophic conditions in Tibet and the heightened suppression in Tibet amidst an overwhelming presence of armed security personal in Tibet, particularly in Amdo Ngaba.

The TWA and its 16,000 members urge the Chinese government to withdraw the troops from Tibet and allow Tibetans their basic human right: the freedom of speech, movement and religious practice.

We call on China to withdraw their 52 years of failed policies on Tibet and instead heed to the genuine aspirations of the Tibetans inside Tibet and accordingly engage in meaningful negotiations with the exile leadership to peacefully resolve the long -standing issue of Tibet.

Press contacts:

Samten Chodon, Vice president, TWA: 9418936118
Tseyang Oshoe, General Secretary, TWA: 9418413625

Email: twa@tibetanwomen.org

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