By Tenzin Dickyi
New Delhi
More than five months have passed away since the dismal story of Nangpa La incident took place where a 17-year old nun, Kelsang Namtso, was shot dead by People’s Armed Police while she was crossing the pass into exile in Nepal with a large group of other Tibetans including children, nuns and monks. But the world still remains calm and hesitate to voice their support for the Tibetans who have been for the past 48 years fighting for truth and justice.
Today International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) organized a press conference at The Foreign Correspondents Club of South Asia, New Delhi where hosts of media personel and Tibet support groups gathered around to witness the words by one of the eyewitness of the Nangpa La incident.
Mr. Pierre Maina, a Doctor by profession who is from Denmark was one of the climbers and who generously came out in public to give his testimony about what he has seen that day on the Nangpa La. He was accompanied by Kate Saunders, spokeswoman for the International Campaign for Tibet and Youdon Aukatsang, a Tibetan Parliamentarian on the dais.
The conference began with the words from Kate Saunders about how important it is to bring out in limelight these sensitive issues regarding Human Rights violation in Tibet. And it is more vital for the people of the world to understand the critical conditions and great threat that the Tibetans have been living under the Chinese brutal rule inside Tibet.
The footage of the shooting taken by Romanian cameraman Sergiu Matei on September 30 which reveals that three Tibetans from the group of more than 70 Tibetans crossing the pass into Nepal fell after being shot was screened for the better understanding of the sordid tale. A very clear presentation of what happened that day was well captured in the video though Sergiu Matei, the man himself could not make it to the conference due to some Visa issuance problem.
Mr. Pierre Maina states that he was so horrified to see those kind of shootings with the unarmed innocent Tibetan people. He said, “ I heard some shooting in the early morning that day but ignored it. But later when I just peeped out of the tent I saw few small children captured and moving with soldiers armed with guns. It was a very gloomy and appalling scene and realized that something very terrible was happening”.
“Dangerous Crossing” a report prepared by ICT staff in Washington was distributed among the audiences which carries an indepth study on the Nangpa La incident and also about the Tibetan refugees making dangerous crossing through the Himalayas into exile in Nepal, and from there to India, each year.
Miss.Youdon Aukatsang gave out a brief introduction on the gross Human Rights violations inside Tibet and Tibet’s stand in general at present. She further delved into the real issue of incidents like Nangpa La and requested the people of the world to reason out why Tibetans are taking so much hardships and risking their life to come to India. And there is only one plain answer to that which is Tibetans are not treated as Human beings in their own country.
“His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Government in Exile (TGIE) has dropped the longheld demand for Complete Independence for an end to the Chinese occupation of Tibet. We are now willing to settle for ‘genuine autonomy’ for Tibet within China and we pin our hopes for a political breakthrough with China on dailogues between Tibetan representatives and Chinese officials. But Chinese side cast doubt on our sincerity in asking only for ‘genuine autonomy’ and moving forward with the dailogue process. Hence, no concrete outcome is visible so far”, Miss Youdon adds.
Followed by some question and answer sessions between the media personel and people on the dias, the conference came to an end. A similar press conference will be held at Dharamsala organized by Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) on Wednesday, 21st March.
