Immolation bid saddens Lama; says Tibetans are frustrated

The Tibetan spiritual leader pointed out that he eschewed all forms of violence, including hunger-strikes. He said: “Harming oneself by going on a fast is also violence. And I am deeply saddened after Ngodup setting himself afire. But I do admire their motivation and determination. They were prepared to die, not for their selfish ends, but for the rights of six million Tibetans and the survival of their culture.”

Meanwhile, five more Tibetans resumed the `fast unto death’ agitation near Jantar Mantar last night despite a police request asking them to desist from doing so.

The six other activists who were on hunger-strike for 49days till yesterday had been evicted early in the morning. They are now being treated at RML hospital. But the condition of one them, Karma Sichoe, 25, is still serious, and is kept on intravenous fluids.

Meanwhile, egged on by Ngodup’s immolation bid and the police action to break the 49-day hunger strike of the six Tibetans, Tibetan Youth Congress spokesman C Wangchuk said a fresh round of hunger strike would continue till the organisation’s demand for a discussion on the question of Tibet in the United Nations was met. Wangchuk said some officials from the Home Ministry had tried to convince the Tibetans to call off their protest. “There is no way we will give up. Rather, many more acts similar to Ngodup’s may follow if we are forced to move from here,” he warned.

Early yesterday morning at 6 am, few hours before the Chinese General Fu Q was to begin his first-ever visit to India, the Delhi police launched an unusually brutal operation against fasting Tibetans, forcibly removing another three to beforce-fed at the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital.

The Tibetan Youth Congress president Tseten Norbu accused, “The Indian police behaved like animals with us,” explaining how the policemen forcibly broke into the tents of the protesting Tibetans.