New Delhi, April 30 – Hundreds of exiled Tibetans in New Delhi observed a candlelight vigil on Friday on the seventh anniversary of the martyrdom of Thupten Ngodup who committed suicide during a protest against the Chinese oppression.
Fifty-year-old Ngodup passed away on April 29, 1998, two days after immolating himself in protest against a police action to stop a hunger strike.
Holding candles, Tibetans under the banner of Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) marched to the place where Ngodup had killed himself and held a prayer meeting.
“Every year, we mourn the death of our leader, and he was the first one to become a martyr in India. And also those who laid down their lives in Tibet,” said Dhondpu Dorje, information secretary of TYC.
China has repeatedly denied that it has been perpetrating human rights abuses in Tibet. It, however, claims that under its rule, there has been a jump in the living standards of all Tibetans.
Thousands of Tibetans, including their spiritual leader Dalai Lama, fled from their homeland after Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1950.
About 130,000 Tibetan refugees are now settled in different parts of India with the Dalai Lama having his headquarters in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh.
