Jamphel Yeshi

"LandepNews"

Jamphel Yeshi

The Tibetan who set himself ablaze in New Delhi two days ago on Wednesday died, straining tension among the community of exile Tibetans in India, who protested against the visit of the Chinese president Hun Jintao to India, where he is expected to attend a summit of the BRICS, the organization that comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Thousands of Tibetan exiles live in the Indian capital New Delhi, and are determined to use the visit of the Chinese leader to focus the attention on the problem of Tibetans in China. At least 100 activists were arrested on Wednesday on the same spot where Jamphel Yeshi set himself on fire and ran shouting across the place where a demonstration was already being in progress. Residential neighborhoods of the Tibetans in the capital were said to have been flooded with police on the eve of the Chinese leader’s visit, and some Tibetan students complained that they were not allowed to leave campus.

Police expressed that the Tibetans were not placed under arrest in New Delhi, but that they had been instructed to refrain from rallying anywhere in the city during the summit. The self-immolated Tibetan was declared dead on Wednesday morning by a New Delhi hospital. His heart stopped as a result of the severe burns, which had covered 98 percent of his body. The fire that engulfed him after he doused with kerosene and set himself alight had been put out by the Tibetans that were protesting at that moment, and then was taken by the police to a hospital, after they were able to extract him from among the protesters.

Students complained that they had been locked up in their rooms for two days, and that the police was afraid they may do the same as the man that immolated himself on Monday. Yeshi is the first Tibetan to set himself on fire and die outside the territory of the Tibetan provinces in China.

Since last March, when a spate of self-immolations were produced in Tibet, Sichuan and Gansu, 29 people set themselves on fire, many of them loosing their lives. Among the protesters there were monks, nuns, and even teenagers. They all demanded that Tibetan culture and religion be protected and that the spiritual leader of Tibet, Dalai Lama, return to his country.

China accused on many times Dalai Lama of instigating people in Tibet to set themselves on fire. Even the last self-immolation was pinned on Dalai Lama, in spite of the fact that the spiritual leader said on various occasions that he condemned this form of protest as one that goes against the sanctity of life.

In a posting on a pro-governmental website called China Tibet Online, Dalai Lama was invited to kill himself, if he so wanted, but not to instigate the Tibetans to do this, because the self-immolations were disturbing the peace and harmony of the country.

A member of the Free Tibet India organization said that Hu Jintao was the “architect of the Tibetan crisis” and it was the duty of the Tibetan students to hold him accountable at the international level.

Jamphel Yeshi’s friends said that he was a 27-year-old bookish young man, who had a normal behavior and was performing his duties by the monastery where he was hired. He is said to have left China and his mother behind, and arrived in India via Nepal. They confessed that he had been tortured before leaving China.

He is said to have been dedicated to the cause of Tibetan freedom, and that he was very involved in it. His demise is considered by those who support the Tibetan cause a great loss.

On Wednesday, China Daily website page announced that China has rejected the Tibet-related resolution approved a day before by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. In a press conference, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said that his country was committed to protecting the rights of people of all nationalities and their freedom of religious belief.

The spokesman said that some U.S. Senators confuse right and wrong and urged them to recognize facts, abandon prejudice and stop interfering in China’s internal affairs. He told them that they should do more things in the interest of increasing the U.S.-China relations, not the other way around.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Tuesday approved a resolution calling on China to stop what they called “a repressive policy targeting Tibet.” The resolution also demanded the Chinese government to release the prisoners arrested during the anti-governmental protests, and mourned the demise of 19 Tibetans who protested against Chinese rule in Tibet by setting themselves on fire. The resolution is not binding and will not go on the Senate’s plenary session for approval.

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