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Facts exposing Dalai clique's masterminding of Lhasa violence

2008-03-31 00:00

Xinhua was authorized to release a signed article on Sunday (30 March 2008) to reveal how the Dalai clique plotted and incited the Lhasa violence on March 14, which killed at least 18 civilians and one police officer.

The story, by Yi Duo, says that it was untrue of the Dalai Lama and his backers to claim that the riot was a "spontaneous peaceful protest" that the Dalai Lama had nothing to do with.  

 

AN INSIDER'S CONFESSION

An unidentified suspect who was connected with the Lhasa violence has confessed to the police that the "security department" of the "Tibetan government-in-exile" asked him to distribute leaflets promoting the so-called "Tibetan people's uprising" to civilians and monks in Tibet, according to the article.

"The violence on March 14 was related to the instigation of the 'security department' of the 'Tibetan government-in-exile'," the suspect said.

"To protect myself, (the Dalai clique) asked me not to participate in the demonstrations in person, just to take charge of stirring people up," the suspect said. 

 "The beating, smashing, looting and burning were by no means peaceful demonstrations and the deeds were inhuman," the suspect admitted. "If they (the Dalai clique) wanted to follow the non-violent 'middle way', such violence should have never happened."

On the same day that mobs attacked innocent Lhasa civilians, a closed-door meeting was held by the Dalai Lama clique on how to build on the "achievements," the article said.   

 

FOLLOW-UP PLOTS

The meeting finally decided to mobilize all of the monasteries in Tibet, each with more than 100 lamas, especially those of the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, and ask the monks to take to the street and involve common Tibetans in the demonstrations. The meeting also plotted to launch ongoing protests, in stages, in Tibetan-inhabited areas.

Samdhong, the "prime minister" of the "Tibetan government-in-exile," said at the meeting that they should seize the very rare opportunity provided by the Beijing Olympics to make breakthroughs in the "Tibet cause", to pave the way for the Dalai Lama to "return" to Tibet and to achieve a high level of autonomy in "Greater Tibet", as well as the goal of "abolishing" the existing management method on the reincarnation of Tibetan living Buddhas.

The Dalai clique also entrusted the "ministry of finance" under the "government-in-exile" to "financially support the decisive battle against the Chinese government," the article said.

A day after the violence began on March 14, the "Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC)", a hardline organization under the Dalai Lama's supporters that openly preaches violence, decided to "set up guerillas to infiltrate Tibet and start armed struggles" at a meeting in Dharamsala, where the "Tibetan government-in-exile" was located, the article said.

They also drafted recruitment plans and plans to purchase weapons and planned to steal into Tibet through the China-Nepal border.

The "TYC" leaders said that they were ready to "sacrifice another 100 Tibetans at least" to achieve their goal.

Besides the "TYC", other organizations that were among the Dalai Lama's supporters also sent people to Tibetan communities in India and Nepal, urging residents there to contact people in Tibet and other Tibetan-inhabited areas in China by telephone or e-mail and incite them, "in the name of the Dalai Lama", to hold demonstrations following the Lhasa violence.

Cewang Rigzin, the "TYC" president, said at a meeting on March 20 that violence has "achieved its goal" to "awaken resistance among people in Tibet and attract high-profile international attention to the Tibet issue" but the struggle "will not stop and this incident is just the prelude of this year's fight."     

 

INSTIGATION OF LHASA RIOT

The article detailed how the Dalai Lama's backers masterminded a so-called "Tibetan people's uprising" that led to the violence in Lhasa.

Five organizations under the "Tibetan government-in-exile", the "TYC", the "Tibetan Women's Association (TWA)," "Students for a Free Tibet (SFT)," the "National Democratic Party of Tibet (NDPT)"and the "Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet (GCSMT)" announced the formal start of the "Tibetan people's uprising" on Jan. 4 this year and founded a temporary preparation office in charge of coordination and financing, headed by Cewang Rigzin, according to the report.

They claimed that the movement would be a "turning point in the history of Tibetans' struggle for freedom," the article said.

"They divided the movement into four stages," it said. The first was to recruit participants and promote the ideas of the movement. The second stage, or the action step, started on March 10, followed by the third, which was to organize demonstrations across the world. The last one was to launch actions in the regions inhabited by Tibetan people inside China.  

 

FOREIGN ASSISTANCE

From Feb. 15 to 17, the five organizations launched training programs for people in charge of the movement activities in Dharamsala in northwest India, where the "Tibetan government-in-exile" was located.

Four days later, in the same place, they started a six-day campaign to recruit participants.

The "GCSMT" obtained financial assistance from the U.S.-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) on Feb. 27 from a fund "for activists to deal with danger."

According to an NED report, the foundation granted 1.36 million U.S. dollars to the Dalai Lama's backers between 2002 and 2006. In 2006 alone, it gave 85,000 U.S. dollars to organizations such as the "TWA" and "GCSMT."

The Dalai clique questioned about 300 Tibetans who were smuggled across the border from China during February in a bid to collect information for planned attacks on border points or infiltration into China, the article said.

On March 10, after careful selection, 101 hard-core members setoff from Dharamsala to unleash the movement.     

 

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF

March 10 is the anniversary of the so-called "Tibet uprising" in 1959. On that date, 49 years ago, Lhasa saw a bloody riot initiated by the Dalai Lama's backers. Rioters killed Pagbalha Soinam Gyamco, a senior lama and a member of the preparation committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region, tied his body to a horse and dragged it for two kilometers.

The day, annually commemorated by the Dalai Lama's backers, has been a reminder of violence. And history seems to have repeated itself.

On the same date this year, a ceremony was held in Dharamsala to mark the event. The 14th Dalai Lama said in a critical statement that the Chinese government had imposed "more severe repression upon Tibetans in Tibet" and "trampled on human rights and limited religious freedom".

He also expressed appreciation for the "Tibetan people's sincerity, courage and resolution."

Immediately after the ceremony, about 300 monks from the Zhaibung Monastery tried to march into central Lhasa. In the following days, monks from other temples in Lhasa also tried to demonstrate but were restrained by police.

When the monks' efforts to spread unrest failed, rioters came. They torched shops and vehicles, attacked innocent passers-by on the streets and even attacked ambulances on March 14.    

 

TRYING TO ESCAPE RESPONSIBILITY

After the Lhasa riot on March 14, which is so far known to have claimed at least 18 civilian lives and caused 382 injuries, unrest erupted in other Tibetan-inhabited regions in the southern part of Gansu Province and the northern part of Sichuan Province.

Mobs, some shouting slogans for "Tibet independence" and bearing flags of the so-called "Tibetan government-in-exile", stormed into and attacked government offices, police stations, hospitals, schools and banks.

Moreover, the backers of the Dalai Lama spread violence even further by organizing rioters to attack Chinese embassies and consulates in the United States, Canada, India, Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Australia, the article said.

The Dalai Lama released a statement via his personal secretariat on March 14, in which violent actions were described as "peaceful protests". On the same day, the "Tibetan government-in-exile" defined the riots in another statement as peaceful demonstrations by Tibetans to protest Chinese policies. 

In commenting to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on March 16, the Dalai Lama said, when prompted, that he would not ask the rioters to stop.

The Chinese government later released film and photographs showing the violent attacks that took place during the riot in Lhasa, which have been regarded as a contradiction to the vaunted "peaceful image" of the Dalai Lama.

On the advice of his supporters, the Dalai Lama changed his tune at a press conference on March 18, when he said that he should not have created an anti-Chinese mood in the international arena. The only option would be his retirement if the situation got out of control, the Dalai Lama said.

His comments were soon seen by the international community as an admission that he had a responsibility for the riots in Lhasa.

 

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