TWA received acknowledgment letter from Shri Salman Khurshid

Tibetan Women’s Association received an acknowledgment letter from the honorable External Affairs Minister of India, Shri Salman Khurshid. The letter was a response to an appeal letter submitted by TWA on 15th October. In the appeal letter, we urged for his Excellency’s intervention to stop Chinese authorities from shooting and injuring unarmed Tibetans in Driru for appealing their demands peacefully.

TWA appeal letter states:

Status of Tibetans living inside Tibet is deteriorating day by day. Despite international calls on China to take actions to improve human rights situation inside Tibet, Chinese authorities are imposing inhuman laws and actions on unarmed Tibetans for appealing their demands peacefully. The on going self -immolation and number of peaceful demonstration of Tibetans inside Tibet are evident enough to depict the callous repression of Chinese authorities and sufferings of Tibetans inside Tibet.

60 years of harsh policies have failed to change the mind of Tibetan people; instead, the resistance is becoming stronger. Reeducation through Labour, patriotic re-education, various propaganda campaigns, random imprisonment, implementation of inhuman laws and sinicization are failed policies.

2008 Uprising, more than 120 self-immolation, peaceful protests like recent Driru case are evident to prove resistance of Tibetan people and also a clear message to the PRC that Tibetan ethnicity could not be destroyed easily.

Tibetan Women’s Association condemns the shooting and injuring of at least 60 Tibetans by Chinese security forces in Driru, Nagchu, Central Tibet (Ch: Biru, Naqu Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region) on 6 October [1]. Chinese troops opened fire on Tibetans who had gathered to call for the release of a villager, named as Dorje Dragtsel. Dragtsel had been detained on 3 October after objecting to orders from a visiting ‘patriotic education’ work team, which was attempting to force Tibetans to raise the Chinese flag and show loyalty to the Communist Party. The previous week, dozens of Tibetans in Driru were beaten and injured, and more than 40 detained by security forces, after the authorities failed to compel locals to raise the Chinese flag for China’s National Day [2].

These outright state-perpetrated human rights violations come just two weeks before China’s human rights performance is to be reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on 22 October.

“These incidents, including the July shootings of unarmed Tibetans who gathered to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s birthday in Tawu, eastern Tibet [3], expose China’s true colours ahead of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of China’s human rights record” [4], said Tashi Dolma, President of Tibetan Women’s Association. “China’s patriotic education and propaganda campaigns are further exacerbating tensions in Tibet. Tibetans are continuing to resist China’s failed Tibet policies, despite the terrible risks attached to their non-violent protests.”

It is undeniable truth that the Chinese occupation of Tibet and more than six decades of rule has incited greater resistance and acted as an unwavering catalyst to the increasing number of self-immolations as well as peaceful demonstraions. Moreover, it is high time to accept the failed policies and conduct a review of the policies that force Tibetans to carry out these non-violent protests.