Beijing: China on Wednesday launched a blistering
attack on the Dalai Lama, terming him the "hatchet man of
anti-China forces" and calling the recent spate of suicides by
Tibetan monks and nuns as an orchestrated attempt to create
chaos.
State-run Xinhua news agency quoted an official as saying
that police investigations of the self-immolations in Tibetan
areas of the provinces of Sichuan and Qinghai, bordering
Tibet, have found that victims were used by separatists to
create chaos.
Wu Zegang, chief of the Aba prefecture of southwest
China`s Sichuan province said similarities found in the
self-immolations in the Tibetan-populated regions have pointed
to an "orchestrated campaign" launched with political motive.
As many as 25 Tibetans, mostly Buddhist monks and nuns
have committed self immolations so far, in what is being seen
as a sign of growing unrest among Tibetans.
However, China has sought to dismiss suggestions of
instability.
"The Dalai Lama clique`s separatist activities are doomed
to fail as the self-immolations in a small number of
monasteries cannot disrupt the stable development in Tibetan-
populated regions," a top ruling Communist Party official from
Sichuan said.
"The Dalai Lama was the hatchet man of anti-China forces"
in the world, the ringleader of the conspiracy of `Free
Tibet`, the ultimate agitator of the chaos of Tibet and
Tibetan Buddhism and the utmost impediment to the normal
development of Tibetan Buddhism," Li Changping, a member of
the standing committee of the Sichuan Committee of the Party
said.
The fresh broadside against the Tibetan spiritual leader
came as three more immolations were reported from Tibet.
Unlike the previous 22 attempts of self immolations, which
were carried out by monks and nuns, the three who committed
suicides now were civilians, including a mother of four.
While a teenager committed suicide in Aba prefecture in
Sichuan province on Monday, a woman set herself ablaze in Aba.
Last night, Xinhua reported that Tsering Kyi, (20), a
student of Class 12 Grade Three of the junior middle school of
Maqu County Tibetan Middle Schoo in China`s Gansu province set
herself on fire last Saturday.
She set herself on fire at a vegetable market after buying
gasoline from nearby stores.
While the news agency said she was confirmed to have
sustained a head injury prior to setting herself on fire, the
doctors said she was burnt to death.
The new cases of suicides took place as Chinese
legislature the National People`s Congress began its annual
session.
The session is significant this year as the top leadership
of the CPC and the government, including President Hu Jintao
and Premier Wen Jiabao are set to retire later this year.
Li, whose Sichuan prefecture, neighbouring Tibet, has
witnessed most of the suicides by monks said: "Our fight with
the Dalai Lama clique is not on the ethical or religious
fronts but a serious political struggle".
"The clique have made more attempts to split China, a few
monks and nuns in the Tibetan-populated regions echoed them at
a distance. But these people can neither represent all
Tibetans nor stop the stably-developing trend in these
regions," he said at a panel discussion of the Sichuan
Delegation open to press during the ongoing legislative
meeting.
"The hearts of Tibetan people are always favouring Beijing
and the Communist Party of China. The separatist activities of
Dalai Lama clique are doomed to fail," he claimed.
PTI
