MUMBAI, India -- A Tibetan independence activist set himself on fire Thursday outside the hotel where Chinese President Hu Jintao was courting Indian business leaders eager to boost trade between Asia's emerging giants.
The protester, Lhakpa Tsering, suffered only minor burns before police put out the flames and detained him and six other Tibetan activists.
The incident was a sign of increasing frustration among Tibetans in India who feel their cause has been abandoned by Indian officials eager to foster closer ties with China, which forcibly absorbed Tibet in 1950.
Throughout Hu's four-day visit, Indian authorities went to great lengths to make sure he was not confronted with any anti-Chinese sentiment, erecting tight police cordons and banning gatherings of more than five people in areas where he was traveling.
Police even barred Tenzin Tsundue -- a prominent Tibetan activist with a reputation for publicity stunts that have embarrassed previous Chinese visitors -- from leaving Dharmsala, the center of the Tibetan exile community.
Thursday's demonstration was the closest Tibetans got to Hu, who addressed 300 Indian and Chinese business leaders at the hotel before flying to Pakistan.
Tsering and six other Tibetan youths drove up in two taxis to Hu's hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace & Towers in downtown Mumbai. They jumped out in front of a barricade, unfurled Tibetan flags and shouted "Get out of Tibet!"
Tsering then doused his pants with a liquid and set them on fire. Several policemen quickly jumped on the man, rolled him on the ground and doused the flames. They detained all seven Tibetan activists.
Three more Tibetan protesters were detained later while demonstrating on an overpass downtown, police said.
Indian officials made no public comment on either incident.
Asked about the protests, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing: "Tibet is part of China. This is a widely recognized consensus of the international community."
India became a center for Tibetan exiles when their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising, settling in the northern town of Dharmsala.
But once supportive officials in New Delhi are now eager to build closer ties with Beijing, which insist Tibet is a legitimate part of China.
"During his (Hu's) four days in India, the Indian government did not raise the issue of Tibet. We are screaming, but the world is not listening to us," Tsundue said in Dharmsala. "It is desperate to the point that a young man is willing to sacrifice his life."
While many Indians sympathize with the Tibetans, they are also eager to see their country grow and prosper in a globalizing world -- a drive many feel can be helped by building stronger ties with China.
"It's sad to say, but (the Tibetans) are a small and insignificant group and it's a lost cause," said Fleur D'Souza, head of the history department at Mumbai's St. Xavier's College.
India never made any political commitment to the Tibetan people beyond giving them refuge, she pointed out.
"The people of India still feel the Tibetans are justified in their fight," D'Souza said. "But India and China now have closer ties, and the Tibetan cause will suffer."[Source: www.ctv.ca]
Posted by proutist-universal on November 25, 2006 3:37 AM
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"In economic life there is extreme inequality and exploitation. Although colonialism no longer exists openly in the political and economic sphere, still it persists indirectly, and this should not be tolerated... In this respect you should remember that in economic life, we will have to guarantee the minimum requirements of life to one and all... There cannot be any sort of adjustment as far as this point is concerned. The minimum purchasing requirement must be guaranteed to all. Today these fundamental essentialities are not being guaranteed. Rather, people are being guided by deceptive economic ideas like outdated Marxism, which has proven ineffective in practical life and has not been successfully implemented in any corner of the world. Why do people still believe in such a theory, which has never been proved successful? The time has come for people to make a proper assessment of whether they are being misguided or not." |
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"Human beings have still not been able to form a human society, and have still not learned to move with the spirit of a pilgrim. Although many small groups, motivated by self-interest, work together in particular situations, not even a small fraction of their work is done with a broader social motive. By strict definition, shall we have to declare that each small family unit is a society in itself? If going ahead in mutual adjustment only out of narrow self-interest or momentary self-seeking is called society, then in such a society, no provision can be made for the disabled, the diseased or the helpless, because in most cases nobody can benefit from them in any way... in that case there always remains the possibility of some people getting isolated from the collective. All human beings must attach themselves to others by the common bond of love and march forward hand in hand; then only will I proclaim it a society." |