Press Release – Taking opportunity of the visit of President Hu Jintao of PRC to India to take part in the 4th BRICS Summit, the Tibetan Parliament in Exile wish to remind all the BRICS members that the situation in Tibet continue to deteriorate and China continue to implement inhuman brutal methods to suppress the peaceful Tibetans inside Tibet. So far 30 Tibetans have self immolated in Tibet out of which 22 have succumbed to their injuries. Three more Tibetans self immolated in India and Nepal, the latest being Jampel Yeshi who burnt himself on the 26th of this month in New Delhi and died this morning. 8 others were killed by indiscriminate police firings in Tibet. We urge the BRICS leaders to raise the Issue of Tibet with President Hu Jintao along with Syria and Iran.Today, on the day when President Hu Jintao is here in India, Tibetans in Tibet are being forced to celebrate the 53rd anniversary of the so called ‘Liberation of one million uprising serfs’. The so called liberation drowned the Tibetans in the darkest period of our history. Neither can we accept it nor can we forget the brutality unleashed on us in the last so many decades.

The root cause of the Tibetans being driven to such drastic acts lies solely in the policies and programs of the Chinese government in the last more than 60 years, aimed at eradication of the Tibetan national identity. Moreover, during Hu Jintao’s tenure in Tibet as the Communist Party Secretary, he was responsible for imposing Martial Law in Tibet in 1989, followed by a hard-line policy towards the Tibet issue in general and His Holiness the Dalai Lama in particular since 1995.

The Chinese leadership lead by President Hu Jintao in the last 9 years of his tenure witnessed heightened tension in the national minority regions including Tibet. 2008 demonstrations in all the Tibetan areas and the self immolations that have escalated in the recent past and troubles in other national minority areas are pointers to this fact. The local Chinese authorities resort to various brutal means under the conviction that they do not have to worry about the backing of the central leadership without the slightest regard for the sentiment and the aspiration of the Tibetan people.

Chinese leadership including the top leaders blames His Holiness the Dalai Lama or the Tibetans in exile for instigating such actions inside. Neither does the Chinese leadership engage in constructive dialogue nor do they try to understand and fulfill the wishes and aspiration of the Tibetan people. The reality of the situation is that the Chinese leadership neither has the political will nor the courage to resolve the Tibetan issue. Therefore, they have forever tried to find an enemy, whether it is the Tibetans in exile or the ‘western forces’ for any movement inside Tibet. We have a transparent democratic system functioning in Dharamsala and have always offered open invitation for the Chinese authorities to look into our documents.

The adverse consequences of the wrong policies and tactics have been proven time and again by the Tibetans even after 60 years of indoctrination, if the legitimate concerns of the Tibetans are not addressed. It is in the hands of the Chinese leadership to save the Tibetan lives and find a lasting solution to the Tibetan issue. We remain committed to non-violence and the Middle Way Approach to find a mutually beneficial negotiated solution to our issue.

Since Hu Jintao was responsible for creating such a mess of the minority nationalities in the last few decades, and now during the remaining period of his Presidency, it should be his responsibility to resolve these issues too. Otherwise President Hu Jintao will go down as one of the most irresponsible leaders in Chinese history.

While reiterating the demands that we have put forward to President Hu Jintao earlier in our open letter and the unanimous resolutions that the Tibetan Parliament in Exile adopted at the just concluded session, we urge President Hu Jintao to take up the following immediately:

1. Allow independent fact finding delegations and media to visit Tibet to assess the ground reality.

2. Allow His Holiness the Dalai Lama to visit China and Tibet.

3. Remove the huge military deployment in Tibet to de-escalate the heightened situation inside Tibet. Look into the causes of people’s disaffection and give them more freedom.

4. Start negotiation with the Tibetan leadership to find a mutually beneficial and lasting solution to the issue of Tibet.

Tibetan Parliament in Exile                    Dated: 28th march 2012
Dharamsala India