New Delhi, 28 March 2012: Jamphel Yeshi, 27 who set himself on fire on March 26 in an apparent protest against the continued Chinese occuation of Tibet in front of hundreds of Tibetans who had converged from all over India at Jantar mantar to protest Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit breathed his last this morning.
The doctors announced Jamphel Yeshi, clinically dead at 7:30 am(local time) today.
Dhondup Lhadar, Vice-President, TYC said: “Martyr Jamphel Yeshi’s sacrifice will be written in golden letters in the annals of our freedom struggle. He will live on to inspire and encourage the future generations of Tibetans. The brilliant radiance of his fire will dispel the darkness of China’s illegal occupation of Tibet and regenerate the spirit of Tibetan independence.
“Martyr Thupten Ngodup was the first known Tibetan to have self-immolated in our freedom struggle during an indefinite hunger strike organised by TYC in New Delhi in 1998. In Tibet, since Martyr Tapey’s self-immolation in 2009, 30 Tibetans have set their bodies on fire demanding the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and freedom for Tibet. Pawo Jamphel Yeshi’s self-immolation marks a milestone in our freedom struggle where Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet stand ever united in our fights against the Chinese occupying forces.”
Jamphel Yeshi had suffered 98 per cent burn injuries to his body. Doctors had given him zero per cent of survival chance but Martyr Jamphel Yeshi’s heart fought against his body to survive the grueling pain.
Jamphel Yeshi escaped to India in 2006 and studied at the Tibetan Transit School in Dharamshala for nearly three and a half years. A native of Kham Tawu, eastern Tibet, he had been living in Delhi for nearly two years now.
The Tibetan Youth Congress will carry the body of Pawo Jamphel Yeshi to the Tibetan exile headquarters of Dharamshala and hold a grand funeral deserving of a martyr.
He is survived by his mother and four siblings, all in Tibet.
There have been 31 self immolations since 2009 and 23 have lost their lives.
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