The Dalai Lama has launched a fierce attack on Chinese rule in his Tibetan homeland, saying his people had experienced “hell on Earth”, BBC online reports Tuesday.
Five decades of Chinese rule had caused “untold suffering”, Tibets exiled spiritual leader said, accusing Beijing of creating a climate of fear. He also repeated his demand for Tibets “legitimate and meaningful autonomy”.
His words came on the 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese troops which led to his exile.
Dalai Lamas words are different from his usual peaceful comments. This is perhaps a sign of the exasperation and frustration he must feel over Chinas stance.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu described the statement as “lies”. Thousands of Chinese troops and paramilitary police are said to have been deployed in Tibetan-populated regions amid fears of fresh violence on the sensitive anniversary.
The Dalai Lama said hundreds of thousands of Tibetans had been killed, and thousands of places of worship destroyed. But the two sides needed to work for “mutual benefit”. – We Tibetans are looking for legitimate and meaningful autonomy, an arrangement that would enable Tibetans to live within the framework of the Peoples Republic of China, the exiled leader said.
Successive Chinese campaigns – class struggle, the Cultural Revolution and “patriotic re-education” – had “thrust Tibetans into such depths of suffering and hardship that they literally experienced hell on earth”, he said from his seat in exile in Indias Dharamsala.
– Even today Tibetans in Tibet live in constant fear and the Chinese authorities remain constantly suspicious of them. Tibets religion, culture, language and identity were nearing extinction, he said, and Chinese development was devastating the Tibetan environment and way of life, BBC adds.
Se også telegrammet http://u-landsnyt.dk/indhold.asp?ID=17744&mode=Nyhed
