Released prisoner Phuntsog Nyidron gave a moving account of her 15-year imprisonment to an audience of invited media, supporters and U.S. administration officials at the International Campaign for Tibet office in Washington, DC on March 30. Phuntsog Nyidron, who was released to the U.S. on March 15, told Paula Dobriansky, Under-Secretary of State for Global Affairs and Democracy and U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, that she finally realized she was free when she was handed over to the care of a U.S. Embassy official in Beijing.
Paula Dobriansky told Phuntsog Nyidron that she was honored to meet her because of the great sacrifice she has made on behalf of human rights and Tibet, and asked her how she had felt when she was first released. Phuntsog Nyidron said that as soon as she was handed over into the care of the US Embassy official in Beijing for the flight to the U.S., she no longer felt any fear. The US Embassy official had a phrase book of English and Tibetan, and Phuntsog Nyidron said she felt so moved that he would make such an effort to communicate with her – at that moment she realized the level of support the US government gave to Tibet. Phuntsog Nyidron said that she felt humbled to know how hard people have worked not just for her but for other Tibetan political prisoners, and that she was very grateful to the US government for doing so much to help preserve the Tibetan culture. Paula Dobriansky said that she knows from conversations with the Dalai Lama that he is aware of the value of preserving the Tibetan culture not just for Tibet but for the world.
Barry Lowenkron, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, who also attended the reception, assured Phuntsog Nyidron that he would continue to work on behalf of all Tibetan political prisoners and said that her release had been very important. Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Michael Cromartie, and several of his colleagues also attended the event; a delegation from the Commission was allowed to meet Phuntsog Nyidron in Lhasa last year and urged the Beijing authorities to allow her to travel to the U.S. Representatives from the Reebok Human Rights Award attended the reception, as Phuntsog Nyidron won this award in 1995, while she was still in prison.
Former Uyghur political prisoner Rebiya Kadeer, known as the ‘mother of the Uyghur people’, who was released to the US under similar circumstances in March 2005 after serving six years, hugged Phuntsog Nyidron and spoke of her courage.
Tashi Wangdi, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for the Americas, also paid tribute to Phuntsog Nyidron and her courage, saying: “His Holiness has always said, that the enemy is the best teacher. Mahatma Gandhi once said that for the sake of India’s independence, he would never bring himself to hate the British. He said, I will hate the sin, but not the sinner. This was something that really touched me. And then this morning, after I arrived here, we [he and Phuntsog Nyidron] had lunch together. I asked her a few questions about her life, how she felt and how she is feeling now that she is in freedom. [In Phuntsog Nyidron], we see this same kind of attitude.”
Phuntsog Nyidron said that she wanted to take the opportunity of being in exile to learn English and to study Tibetan, saying that she felt ashamed that although she was a Tibetan, she did not know her own language and culture, like so many Tibetans in Tibet. She referred to her release from prison two years ago, before she was allowed to travel to the U.S. on March 14, saying: “My release from prison only seemed to be nominal because thereafter not only myself, but my family were kept under surveillance of the Chinese authorities. This situation gave me a feeling that the reason I was released by the Chinese authorities was not because they wanted me to be free but because of the pressures brought upon them by the grace of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Tibet supporters throughout the world. I want to thank everyone of you because I feel that the reason why I am here in freedom today is because of the support of you all, the governments and primarily because of His Holiness. Therefore I really want to thank you all. And I want to take this opportunity to bring to your attention that the situation of not only political prisoners who are still inside the prisons, but those who have been released but have no livelihoods or real freedom [in Tibet today].”
Tashi Wangdi, who is based in New York, concluded the reception, which was co-hosted by the Capital Area Tibet Association, by saying: “Sometimes she [Phuntsog Nyidron] may feel that the suffering she had to undergone and sacrifices she made may have been vain, but I would like to assure her that what she has done, the sacrifice she made, made a great contribution in terms of keeping the issue of Tibet alive. And then the other thing I was, again, touched by her remarks was that each time when there were questions or remarks she made, she was always talking about the people in prison, the Tibetan people at large in Tibet, the six million Tibetans, and not about her own difficulties. That, again, is very remarkable. As we celebrate her freedom, we must also remember that many hundreds of thousands of political prisoners in Tibet and the six million people of Tibet who are still fighting for their basic rights and freedom. All these, I think, whatever the lack of freedom: protest, repression, imprisonment, all these things are just a symptom of how much there is a deeper and a larger problem.
“And we are trying to seek a solution, an overall solution. And His Holiness, as you know, has put forward a number of proposals, in terms of his Middle Path Approach. We still feel that there is a possibility of finding a solution because the differences, as I said in many occasions, are not that fundamental because we are not talking about independence. The territorial integrity of China will be intact, the unity of China would be intact, peace and stability in China will be ensured. What we are talking about is a mutually agreeable, mutually acceptable and mutually beneficial solution. So we hope that with the support of the international community and governments we will be able to achieve this overall solution…I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the governments, organizations, individuals who has been supporting the Tibetan cause and supporting Phuntsog Nyidron’s case. As a result of your support, at least we have achieved one result, and that is she is now in a free country. I would also like to particularly thank the government of United States, administration, and the congress for their support for over the years.”
