Will the Chinese government let 14 Tibetans die rather than provide evidence on its own statements?
Tibet Society of the UK
Press Release
2 August 2007
Concerns grow for Tibetan hunger strikers as they enter 26th day of an Indefinite Hunger Strike
London (UK): In the intense and enervating heat of Delhi, 14 Tibetans including two monks, two women and two men in their 70s1 are now in the 26th day of their indefinite hunger strike to death. Despite requests from the Tibetan Prime Minister and other leading Tibetans to end their strike, the 14 remain steadfast to their cause of asking the Chinese government to account for their actions in Tibet and give answers to specific questions on the Panchen Lama, fair trials for Tibetans, economic benefits for Tibetans in their own country and human rights2. These questions simply ask the Chinese government to produce evidence to support their own official statements on the issues raised.
This radical direct action initiated by the Tibetan Youth Congress as part of their Mass People’s Movement marks a shift within exiled Tibetan communities to engage directly with the Chinese authorities. On 8 August, the start of the one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympics, there will be a mass demonstration in Delhi, calling on thousands of Tibetans to participate in this huge action that follows the Ghandian practice of non-violent satyagraha, (insistence on truth).
The Tibetan Youth Congress president, Kalsang Phuntsok Gordukpa, has submitted two letters to Hu Jintao, President of the People’s Republic of China through the Chinese Embassy in Delhi, asking him to meet the demands of the hunger strikers. Over 118 memorandums have also been submitted to other foreign embassies in India asking them to support the hunger strikers and to request that their respective governments urge the Chinese Government to answer the hunger strikers’ straightforward demands.
Many senior Tibetans and Indian politicians have now visited the hunger strikers to show solidarity with this brave and non-violent action. All have urged the Chinese government to take heed of this drastic act and to give the evidence requested by the hunger strikers.
Kasur Gyalo Thondup, elder brother of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, on visiting the hunger strikers on Day 24 (31 July), said “I have been visiting China for 28 years and I have been talking with the Chinese on the Tibet issue and the rights of the Tibetan people. Although, there is no concrete result out of those talks, I still believe that gradually we will have a meaningful outcome. I am told about the hunger strike, and that 23 days have gone without any response from China. I have thought deeply about it and I am very concerned.” He went on to pledge that he would go to the Chinese Embassy in Delhi today and raise the cause of the hunger strike with the Chinese Government.
On being asked about the increasing number of requests to end the fast to death, hunger striker Kalsang Youdon (53) replied, “… we have chosen to stay at this place to sacrifice our lives for the sake of six million Tibetans. Unless our demands are met, I have decided not to move from here till death.”
Philippa Carrick, speaking on behalf of the Tibet Society, said “to have anyone lose their life in pursuing a just cause is always distressing, but however much we baulk against someone laying down their life for the greater good, we must respect an individual to have the freedom to make that decision. For the Chinese government not to have made any attempt to answer the very simple demands made shows a lack of compassion and basic humanity. I would ask our new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, as a man of compassion and principle, to urge the Chinese government to provide the evidence requested by the hunger strikers. After all, it is not asking very much for a government to support its own statements and is surely not a matter over which people should lose their lives.”
For background / further information, contact:
Kalsang Phuntsok Gordukpa, President Tibetan Youth Congress: +91 9418329696, email: kappyla@yahoo.com
Tibetan Youth Congress, Dharamsala:+91 1892 221554 / 221239 email: tyc@vsnl.com
Philippa Carrick, Chief Executive Tibet Society: 020 7272 1414 / 07941 105485
email: philippa@tibetsociety.com
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The Tibet Society
Unit 9, 139 Fonthill Road, London N4 3HF
Tel: +44 (0)20 7272 1414 Fax: +44 (0)20 7272 1410
www.tibetsociety.com
For more information on the Hunger strikers and the demands of The People’s Movement, visit Tibetan Youth Congress website: www.tibetanyouthcongress.org
