By IANS
New Delhi : China Tuesday asked “Indian friends” not to believe “rumours” spread by the Dalai Lama over the crackdown on protests in Tibet and to avoid “irresponsible words and acts” while reacting to the incidents.
Shortly after President Wen Jiabao accused the Dala i Lama as the mastermind of the Lhasa rioting, the Chinese embassy here issued a two-page statement making the same accusations.
The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetans worldwide, has been based in India since 1959 at the head of a government-in-exile based in the hill town of Dharamsala.
“We hope that the Indian friends can see clearly the nature of those instigating and conspiring activities of the Dalai clique which aim at splitting China and disrupting the Beijing Olympic Games, and not believe the rumours created by the Dalai clique and anti-China forces, maintain an objective and correct stand, and avoid any irresponsible words and acts,” it said.
The statement said that a “handful of people” attacked policemen and also smashed, looted and set on fire over 130 buildings including residences, schools and hospitals.
It reasserted that 10 “innocent people” were burned or chopped to death by the protestors and 12 policemen sustained major injuries. “They are not at all staging ‘non-violent protest’,” said the communiqué.
It went on to say that “there was no such thing as “cracking down” on the Tibetans. “Those who executed their duties have excised high restraint, without using weapons,” said the statement.
The Chinese embassy went on to say that there was “enough evidences to show that this was organised, premeditated and elaborately-planned scheme by the Dalai clique”.
“Its evil motive is to provoke disturbances in the sensitive period of time, create incidents and even blood shedding events, so as to pressurise the Chinese government, disrupt the Beijing Olympic Games, and undermine social and political stability and harmony in China.”
It noted that the “schemes conspired by the Dalai clique to undermine the stability and harmony of Tibet are going against the will of the people and doomed to failure”.