Dharamshala, October 17 – Even as it remains committed to the ongoing process of the Sino-Tibetan dialogue, “the Central Tibetan Administration strongly condemns the 30 September shooting incident at Nangpa La pass as a brazen violation of human rights, and the subsequent Chinese distortion of facts as outrageous,” says Tempa Tsering, the Kalon for Department of Information and International Relations.
Although similar incidents have been reported before from both sides of the border, this is first time that various eye-witnesses have brought such killings to the international attention, as a Romanian TV station and BBC released video footage of the Chinese border patrol firing on a group of 73 people, including women and children, some as young as five six years old, while they were crossing into Nepal through the Nangpa La pass.
According to eyewitness reports, a Tibetan nun was shot dead by Chinese border patrols and at least one other Tibetan may have been killed while en route Nepal. The nun has been identified as Kelsang Nortso, aged 27, from the Nagchu region of Tibet, while the other victim was Kunsang Namgyal, aged 23, who was captured by the border troops, after a bullet hit his leg. Other reports say up to seven Tibetans may have been killed after the group was fired upon by the Chinese troops.
A British police officer who witnessed the shooting and was called by the Chinese embassy for an interview, Steve Laws, speaking from Nepal, described an “intimidating” atmosphere as the security personnel “took over” the camp at Cho Oyu, on the border between Tibet and Nepal. Mr Lawes from Bristol, said that about half-an-hour after the shooting the children were marched through their camp. “The children were in single file, about six feet away from me. They didn’t see us – they weren’t looking around the way kids normally would, they were too frightened. By that time, advance base camp was crawling with soldiers. We were doing our best not to do anything that might spark off more violence.”
Apparently, 43 people of the group were able to escape from the gun-fire and safely reach Nepalese territory, where they are under the care of the Tibetan Refugees Reception Center in Kathmandu; whereas, the current status of the remaining 30 people is still unknown.
Every year, many Tibetans still flee into India, mainly through Nepal. Approximately a third are children under 14, being sent to study in Tibetan exile schools. Adults are mostly monks and nuns seeking a religious education that is not possible in Tibet due to the restrictions imposed in monasteries and nunneries. Many simply want to be in the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
(www.tibet.net is the official website of the Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.)
