INDIFFERENT WORLD FOR TIBET CRISIS: SEEKING SUPPORT

“Political tsunami has been going on in Tibet. Now these days there is a real danger of Tibetan Buddhist culture being destroyed. Some kind of cultural genocide is going on in Tibet."-THE DALAI LAMA

In 2008, Tibet uprising was mercilessly cracked down by the Chinese leaders and had blamed the exiled Tibetan leader for inciting the mass protest in all over Tibet. A year later, East Turkestan burnt into a wild fire of protest, however it was unexpectedly short lived.

On 16 March 2011, Phuntsog, a young Tibetan monk of Kirti Monastery in Ngaba, northeastern Tibet immolated himself in protest against the repressive Chinese policies inside Tibet . Soon after his death, thousands of armed personnel cordoned off the monastery, which is considered an important buddhist learning institution, that houses over 2,500 monks. When the lay people showed their solidarity with the monks, security personnels barricaded the roads and check posts were erected on roadsides connecting to Ngaba, so to observe and limit the mobility, the supply routes are cut off, communication links were disturbed, and rigorous patriotic reeducation campaign has been carried out in the monastery. Medias and foreigners are banned to visit Ngaba. Exiled Human Rights agency recorded that 300 monks were detained in extralegal black jail. When the hundreds of local elders tried to stop the Chinese armed forces in entering the monastery, three were beaten to death.1

Under such critical time, His Holiness the Dalai Lama made an appeal to the world community to help resolve the crisis. Central Tibetan Administration (Exiled government) also sent an appeal, which is widely circulated within Tibet supporters. Even the head lama of Kirti Monastery in Dharamsala, purposefully visited Delhi for a press conference on Kirti Crisis. The three executive members of Tibetan Youth Congress, the largest Tibetan nongovernmental organization went on an indefinite Hunger Strike in Delhi. Today is their 23rd day of without food. And the world just stand silently observing the torturous evils of Red China. I suspect whether the whole world pity and sympathize the non violent crusaders of Tibet. If they does, do not just pity us. Stand up and support the Tibetan cause.

This time too, China was adamant in suppressing the demonstration within no time and at any cost, which they fear a serious threat for the survival of Communist China. The immediate and suppressive response to the protestors is not to facilitate the protestors' demand and grievances, but to save their own embarrassment of being labelled as an ineffective leader in China. They feel that it is much safer to wipe off the sparks rather than wait for a full blown fire of public resentments. With their past experience of Tiananmen Square demonstration in 1989, the Chinese government learnt that any public movement, if gained momentum, will take a toil in the survival of party as well as the government. Therefore, China tries to strike harder before the movement reaches it's momentum.

Tiananmen Square demonstration was a classic example of such government negligence and unpreparedness to tackle the situation, which had nearly toppled the government. With limited options available at the end, China launched a massive attack on their own people, which tends to remain as a forgotten history in the contemporary China. But, the memories of Tiananmen is still alive in China, though invisible to the naked eyes. It is an historic episode of contemporary China, which will never vanished from the mindset of people, as the current generation witnessed the massacre. Lets not forget that, even if Tiananmen disappears in Google China, or in any other info outlet sources in China, the Communist regime must remain thankful to Tiananmen for giving a sacred lesson in cracking down the people's movement in China, whether it be cultural, Religious or Political. If they still ignore Tiananmen incident, then they are just fooling themselves. Because, unlike China, every other citizens of the free world know what happened on June 04, 1989.

The crack down of Tiananmen Square demonstration could well be connected to the crack down of Tibet in 1987 to 1989. The mass demonstration in Lhasa was brutally suppressed by then, the Party Secretary of Tibet Autonomous Region, and currently the highest command of Chinese Communist Party, President Hu Jintao. He introduced martial law in Tibet and had severely slashed the movement with the blood in his hand. Such repression and hardline attitude gained him a limelight and was hand picked by Deng Xiaoping as the future leader of China. Thereby, a creditability of hardline leadership became an inspiration to the future leaders, who went into a similar fashion of introducing a severe crack down of demonstrators. It also served as a personal prestige, if the local leaders succeeded in crushing the dissidents. If not, then it will be like a fate of Li Zhi, the local party Chief of northwestern City of Urumqi, who was sacked after Urumqi unrest in 2009. It is considered a failure and ineffectiveness of a local leader, which is regarded as a humiliation and dishonor. Therefore, Chinese leaders behave so inhumane and merciless, simply just to protect their own image and position in the Communist regime. Such selfish motive of the leaders harm more than benefitting China in their bidding for harmonious society.

Since Mao's era, Tibet was under strict vigilance and control. Heavy presence of military personnel and surveillance were long been inducted into the Tibetan trajectory. After a short span of liberalization and relaxation during the General Secretary, Hu Yoabang's term in early 1980s, Tibet yet again shed tears of blood and terror after he was sacked. The pendulum of Communist China's policy in Tibet swing backwards onto oppression. The objectivity of such repressive stratagem is widely claimed to be for the so called, sustenance of Unity and Stability in China.

Aftermath Beijing Olympic Game, China's non implementation of relaxing human rights policies had bluffed the whole world with surprise. Yet the world is silent and was inflicted with the symptom of an indifferent attitude towards China and Tibet. Since 2008, the Chinese government went on a massive search for the Tibetans, who participated in mass movement. Many were arrested without proper trail. Some faced death penalty and life imprisonment. Many Tibetans are serving long term imprisonment. A year later, China went one step ahead to implement their hardline policy by arresting affluent Tibetans, consisting of intellectuals, businessmen, writers and singers who had respects of the common people. China even stopped foreign visitors and medias, citing cold weather as an excuse rather than claiming the deplorable situation of Tibet. Tibet was and is virtually sealed off to the international community and will remained closed, except for some selected tourist spots, which are fancifully decorated to impressed the foreigners.

In 2011, since March 16, Kirti Monastery is sealed off and Ngaba Prefecture remains inaccessible to the outsiders with much tensions within. Two months had gone but situation still remains critical, with more arrests of monks and laymen. But we are just watching. The whole world is just watching, without doing anything to curb the tension. We, the people of the world, remain just a mere spectator of the Chinese brutality of Tibet. We did not raised our eyebrows, and lift our fist. We did not even complain the Chinese government to let the Tibetan live peacefully and religiously. Instead, the world bows down to China, economically, militarily and diplomatically. The torturers gamble with the world and we are just a muted victim. How paradoxical world we are living in. Even if world pities us, I would repeatedly say, don't pity us. Rather I would loudly say, support us and be vocal for the freedom of Tibet. After all, we are part of this world. Injustice can not be tolerated.

Reference:

1) TCHRD Press Statement, 29 April 2011