Molly Lortie
Dharamshala — Radio Free Asia (RFA) has reported that a 16-year old student from Gansu in eastern Tibet set himself on fire in protest of Chinese rule on May 2nd.
According to RFA, a source inside Tibet said Chagdor Kyab from Bora Township, in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Amdo, set himself on fire near Bora monastery, a branch of Labrang Tashikyil monastery.
“The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Chagdor Kyab, a student from a farming family, shouted ‘Tibet wants freedom’ and ‘Let His Holiness the Dalai Lama come back to Tibet’ while he burned.
“While his body was on fire the teenager tried to run towards the Chinese government offices of Bora Township but he fell down before reaching the offices. Chinese police and military swiftly arrived at the scene and extinguished the flames and took away the body,” the source told RFA.
It was not clear on Saturday whether Chagdor Kyab was alive or dead. RFA identified his mother as Dolma Tso and his father as Zoepa, farmers from Dardo in Bora Township.
Following the self-immolation, the local Chinese authorities imposed tight restrictions in the area which made it difficult to obtain further information.
The total verified number of self-immolations in Tibet is 149 since February, 2009 and and of them more than 120 have reportedly passed-away due to their severe injuries.
Chinese government says Tibet has always been part of its territory, but Tibetans say Tibet was an independent nation for centuries until Chinese troops invaded, starting in 1940s.
Tibet was invaded by Communist China in 1949. Since that time, over 1.2 million out of 6 million Tibetans have been killed, over 6000 monasteries have been destroyed and acts of murder, rape, arbitrary imprisonment, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment were inflicted on the Tibetans inside Tibet. Beijing continues to call this a “peaceful liberation”.
Due to strict monitoring of communication in the region, it is difficult to verify the information and TPI sources in the region have so far been unable to confirm this self-immolation.
