By IANS,
Dharamsala : The Tibetan government-in-exile Monday condemned repression in Tibet and asked China to engage the Tibetan people in a dialogue to address their grievances.
“Since March 10, the 52nd anniversary of the Tibetan national uprising day, seven Tibetans are known to have self-immolated… The most recent sad incident occurred in Ngaba county in northeastern Tibet,” a statement of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) here said.
“The CTA condemns the Chinese authorities’ response to the current events. Rather than engage in a dialogue with the Tibetan people to address their grievances, the Chinese authorities have reportedly assaulted the individuals who have self-immolated and taken them into police custody.”
It demanded the release of the detained Tibetans.
“We appeal to the Chinese government to immediately release those who survived self-immolation and that they be treated with dignity,” the CTA added.
Amnesty International last month urged China to end “repressive practices”.
“These recent immolations (by two monks) have reportedly been protests against the Chinese government’s repression of freedom of religion and cultural rights in Tibetan areas,” it said.
The CTA said the monks who tried to kill themselves last month, belonging to the Kirti monastery in northeastern Tibet, are Lobsang Kelsang and Lobsang Kunchok.
The former is a relative of monk Phuntsok, who set himself afire March 16 in the Kirti monastery complex to protest the repression of the widespread peaceful protests across Tibet in 2008.