China’s official Xinhua news agency has confirmed the death of a Tibetan Buddhist monk who set fire to himself in a remote region of Sichuan province, reporting that it was “unclear why he had burnt himself”.

Tsewang Norbu

The Free Tibet Network in London identified the monk as 29 year old Tsewang Norbu saying that according to witnesses, he doused himself with gasoline and set himself ablaze while shouting “long live the Dalai Lama”, “We Tibetan people want freedom” and “Let the Dalai Lama return to Tibet”.

Tibetan exile groups reported that Tsewang Norbu set fire to himself around midday in the traditionally Tibetan district of Ganzi in Daofu. Sources said police had tried to seize the body of the dead monk after other monks carried his body back towards the Nyitso Monastery.

Feelings of desperation

‘Today’s news exposes how desperate some Tibetans feel,’ Free Tibet’s director Stephanie Brigden said in a statement on Monday.

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy based in India meanwhile confirmed that the town now had severe restrictions on the movement of local Tibetans and that access to telephone and internet services had been ‘severely tightened’ in Daofu, especially around the monastery.

‘Sources say that thousands of Chinese troops have been deployed in and around the monastery and armed guards can be seen everywhere on the street, on the road and in Tibetan neighborhoods of Tawo (Daofu),’ the centre reported.

A hotel receptionist in Daofu was quoted by dpa, the German Press Agency as saying: “Daofu is under (police) control. Don’t ask me (more). All the phones are under surveillance.”

A pattern of protests

There have been repeated protests by Tibetans in recent years in Tibetan parts of Sichuan against Beijing’s ongoing campaign to suppress Tibetan culture and traditions. Indeed this was the second self-immolation death in Sichuan this year. Rigzin Phuntsog, a 16-year-old monk, died at the Kirti Monastery in Aba, north of Dawu, in March.

That event sparked protests by Tibetan monks which led to the detention of dozens of them for “legal education” due to the “illegal activities of the monks”. An enormous tightening of security in the area by the authorities followed with foreigners being prevented from travelling there. Beijing brushed aside UN protests on “enforced disappearances” in the area urging critics to adopt a “fair perspective” on government efforts there.

The death is a mere few days after China’s designated Panchen Lama toured the region with heavy Chinese police protection.

China may have won the international battle to have Tibet recognised as a part of China despite the dubious nature of that claim under international law. But Beijing has a long way to go to win the hearts and minds of Tibetans.

China, Nyitso Monastery, Tibet, Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan monk, Tsewang Norbu Ecology, News, People