Dharamsala, December 3 – Tibetans living-in-exile in India held a special prayer meeting in Dharamsala seeking the release of one of their leaders sentenced to death by a Chinese court.
A Chinese court sentenced Trulku Tenzin Delek to death on charges of carrying out a bomb blast in Chengdu city on April 3 last year, for promoting independence for Tibet and illegally possessing guns and explosives.
Delek’s sentence has been suspended for two years which is usually commuted to life in prison.
Acharya Yeshi Phunstok, President of National Democratic Party of Tibet, spearheading the campaign, said the two years suspension should be withdrawn as the religious leader had been falsely implicated.
“We are demanding from the Chinese government to withdraw the two years suspension of punishment of death sentence to Tenzin Delek. And we also condemn and object to the Chinese declaration which is totally baseless. He is a very serious Tibetan traditional monk. He studied traditional Buddhist philosophy,” said Phunstok.
Phunstok also appealed to the international leaders to exert pressure on China to release him.
Later a signature campaign was also launched in the city, which was also attended by foreigners.
The Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamsala has said it was surprised at the sentence when Beijing had raised hopes about its willingness to resolve the Tibetan issue through dialogue.
Tibet and nearby areas have been hit by sporadic bombings linked to pro-independence forces fighting what they see as Chinese occupation of the region since the People’s Liberation Army marched in and imposed Communist rule in 1950.
The government in exile was set up when Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled his homeland to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
