Three more self-immolations rock China's Tibetan areas

By Bill Smith Jan 9, 2012, 11:17 GMT

Beijing - Three more self-immolations over the weekend, including one by a senior monk, have raised tension in Tibetan areas of China and resulted in at least one clash with police, reports said Monday.

A 40-year-old rinpoche, a respected Tibetan Buddhist teacher, died after setting fire to himself Sunday in a Tibetan area of the western province of Qinghai, according to state media, the US-based Radio Free Asia and Tibetan exile groups.

It was the 15th self-immolation reported in Tibetan areas of China since March. All of the victims were current or former Buddhist monks and nuns.

State media said Nyage Sonamdrugyu, 40, set fire to himself in the centre of Qinghai's Gyumai town early Sunday. He was described as a monk from the nearby Nyanmo monastery who was known locally as 'the Living Buddha Sopa.'

The official Xinhua news agency on Monday said Sonamdrugyu's body was 'returned to his relatives so they may hold a funeral in accordance with local traditions.'

But Radio Free Asia said his remains were seized by local Tibetans who had marched to a police station adjacent to the site of his self-immolation, smashing doors and windows at the station.

Hundreds of Tibetans then paraded Sonamdrugyu's remains through the streets, the broadcaster quoted witnesses as saying.

It said the monk had distributed leaflets urging Tibetans 'not to lose their determination,' supporting the exiled Dalai Lama, and saying Sonamdrugyu's suicide was 'for Tibet and the happiness of Tibetans.'

Two other young Tibetans self-immolated on Friday near the Kirti monastery in the restive Ngaba area of Sichuan province, where most of the previous self-immolations took place.

'These latest self-immolations confirm that what we are currently witnessing in Tibet is a sustained and profound rejection of the Chinese occupation,' Stephanie Brigden, director of London-based Free Tibet, said after Friday's protests.

'We can only expect that such acts of protest will continue for as long as world leaders turn a blind eye to the desperate situation in Tibet,' she said.

Tensions have simmered in Ngaba since March 2008, when police admitted shooting four Tibetans during violent anti-Chinese protests. Exile groups alleged that police killed up to 39 Tibetans in Ngaba.

Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu visited Kirti monasterty and other areas of Sichuan last month, urging monks to promote 'patriotic and religious education' and ethnic harmony.

Free Tibet said the Ngaba area remained under tight security with Chinese authorities 'trying to control all communications,' including cutting internet access since March.

'Despite this, many brave Tibetans continue to disseminate information about what is happening at great personal risk,' Bridgen said.

US and EU officials have raised concerns about the situation in Ngaba. The US State Department said in October that the immolations 'clearly represent anger and frustration with regard to Tibetan human rights, including religious freedom.'

But the Chinese government has accused the Dalai Lama and other exiled Tibetans of encouraging the protests.

State media on Sunday repeated the government's claim that the Dalai Lama and his supporters were responsible for the recent wave of self-immolations.

The Tibetan government-in-exile on Monday said it 'discourages self-immolation protests' and reiterated the Dalai Lama's statement that 'as a Buddhist, life is precious and thus, he has always discouraged drastic actions inside and outside of Tibet.'

'The People's Republic of China government is solely to be blamed for these incidents of self-immolation. It must take full responsibility and immediately take measures to end these unfortunate incidents by adopting liberal policies for Tibet and Tibetan people,' the government-in-exile said.

The Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's highest spiritual leader, has lived in exile since he fled to India in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule of Tibet.

Protests against Chinese rule erupted in March 2008 in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, on the anniversary of the 1959 uprising.

The government said violent protests and ethnic clashes in Lhasa left 21 people dead and hundreds injured. The protests spread to many other Tibetan areas of China in the following weeks.

Since the 2008 protests, the government has tightened controls in all Tibetan areas, turning away journalists, limiting the access of foreign tourists and cutting off communications in some places.