PRESIDENTS OF FIVE TIBETAN NGOs TRANSFERRED TO JAIL IN HARDWAR

Nainital - Five Presidents of the leading Tibetan non-governmental organizations in India, Tsewang Rigzin, B Tsering, Ngawang Woebar, Chime Youngdrung, and Tenzin Choeying, and one coordinator of the March to Tibet, Lobsang Yeshi, were transferred from Haldwani Police Station to Roshanabad Jail in Hardwar. They are being held under Indian Penal Code Section 151 and CRPC sections 106 and 107, according to which the Presidents, as organizers of the March to Tibet, are being accused of jeopardizing the lives of the 300 marchers.

“We are outraged that the peaceful leaders of a nonviolent march would be arrested and jailed,” said Choekyi, a Tibetan resident of Hardwar who broke into tears as she witnessed the six leaders being escorted through the jail gates. “They are not criminals; they are simply fighting China’s occupation of Tibet by using nonviolent means.”

The police have been meeting with the local village heads of Banspatan, encouraging them to create a list of complaints against the marchers. “They will use it as an excuse to remove us from here,” said Karma Sichoe, a member of the Organizing Committee. “The local Indians have been extremely welcoming and friendly, but the police are forcing them to help build a case against the Tibetan marchers.”

“Our fight is with the Chinese government, not the Indian government,” said Sherab Woeser, a main coordinator of the march. “We neither want to turn back nor do we want to stay here. We just want to walk peacefully to our ancestral homeland. Why would Tibetans need permission to return to our own home?”

Tibetans around the world have been alarmed by reports of continued repression in Tibet. Peaceful demonstrations for human rights and freedom have been consistently suppressed and monks and nuns have borne the brunt of the Chinese government’s crackdown in recent days.

According to the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, in Kardze, Tibet (Ch: Sichuan Province), three nuns of Dragkar Nunnery and a female student were arrested by Kardze County Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials for staging a protest on May 28. After the first demonstration of the three nuns was broken up and the nuns taken away, 21-year-old female student Rigden Lhamo unfurled the Tibetan national flag and shouted slogans calling for freedom for Tibet, the release of political prisoners, and the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet.

According to an eyewitness, security forces fired gunshots during the brief protest by the student Lhamo. It was unclear whether Rigden Lhamo was shot or injured but another eyewitness reported bloodstains on the body of Rigden Lhamo as she was taken away. Rigden Lhamo is from Lhakey Village, Thingkha Township, in Kardze County. Her current whereabouts are unknown.

The March to Tibet started on March 10th from Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, and reached Banspatan after traversing through many states over the course of 74 days. On the fourth day of the March, the first group of 100 marchers were arrested and put under judicial custody for 14 days. However, a second group of 48 Tibetan exiles resumed the March two days after the arrest and were joined by the first group soon after their release.

Tibetans living in exile in India launched the March to Tibet as part of the Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement. On the same day that the march was launched, monks from monasteries in Lhasa, as well as in eastern Tibet, led nonviolent demonstrations, shouting slogans supporting the Dalai Lama and independence for Tibet. Chinese authorities brutally suppressed peaceful protests that continued for days, leading to rioting in the capital and a wave of large public demonstrations that have rippled across the country.

The March to Tibet and the Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement aim to revive the spirit of the Tibetan National Uprising of 1959, and engage in nonviolent direct action to bring about an end to China’s illegal occupation of Tibet.

Marching to Tibet

by JASON MAGDER, The Gazette

In a few days, Michael Willcock's travel companions could either be shot, arrested or sent to a concentration camp near the India-Tibet border.
The Vanier College graduate is the only Canadian to have joined a group of Tibetan refugee monks on a march from the Indian town of Dharamsala - the seat of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama - back to Tibet. They set out on March 10, the 49th anniversary of Tibet's national uprising against China.
"They have all accepted the fact they could die or they could be tortured when they get back to Tibet," said Willcock, 22, who is holed up in a tent on the grounds of a monastery in the Indian city of Nainital after Indian officials barred him from the march.

Until last week, Willcock, who is filming the trek for a documentary he plans to produce, was one of six foreigners on the march. Indian police arrested the other five, who hail from the United States and Europe, on May 23 and ordered them to leave the country.
Indian authorities said the foreigners had violated the terms of their visitor's visas by taking part in a religious activity, according to the Times of India.
Willcock evaded police by crouching in the bushes. After fleeing, he was unable to rejoin the march because police were prohibiting any foreigners to pass without proper papers. He made his way to a nearby town and then travelled to a monastery in Nainital, about 100 kilometres away, to conduct interviews. He pitched a tent on the grounds of the monastery and plans to stay there until he can figure out a way to get back to the march without being stopped by local authorities.
"I'd really like to get back there and document everything that's going on because it's a very pivotal moment," he said by cellphone this week. "They're not letting anyone through without papers. It's going to be difficult, but I am going to try to get back as soon as I can."
The march is intended to bring world attention to the cause of the Tibetans. For the monks, however, it's also a way to get back to their homeland.
"They just want to see Tibet, or touch the ground, one more time before they die. They want to be back in their homeland when they die," Willcock said.
Many of the monks on the march are among the 100,000 Tibetans who were exiled from their home country in 1959 at the same time as the Dalai Lama. Some of the marchers were born in refugee camps in India.
"It is a non-violent resistance against an oppressive and violent force," Willcock said, alluding to China, whose military crackdown in 1959 prompted the uprising. "It's in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela."
The marchers now are at a standoff with Indian police at the bottom of a ravine near Almora, a town about 200 kilometres from the Tibet border. It would take about a month for marchers to travel the mountainous terrain. It's unclear when the march will continue, but the monks are determined to press on.
"It would be very difficult for police to surround 300 people and take them up the ravine and off to jail - they don't have the resources for that," Willcock said.
ndian police have stymied the protesters on several occasions during the march.
Four days in, while trying to cross from one Indian state into another, marchers were stopped by police and many were arrested. While some marchers were held in jail for two days, Willcock was detained for just an hour.
"They thought I was an Indian national until I opened my mouth. Then they sent me out," Willcock said.
"It's too bad, because I wanted to stay to document what was going on inside the jail."
Willcock said he believes Indian police are following the group closely and are even monitoring their phone calls. To make sure his footage isn't seized by local authorities, he has been mailing his tapes to Belgium, and he plans to pick them up after he has finished shooting footage, sometime in September.
Despite resistance from local law enforcement, Willcock said there has not been any major violence toward the group.
The monks who have been his travelling companions for nearly two months have taught him a lot about compassion, he said.
"Some have scars all over their bodies or bullet holes, but they have completely forgiven the people who tortured them or killed their families and who are responsible for all their suffering," Willcock said.
"I want to bring back that message and show people that people are trying to solve their problems in a way that doesn't involve war or violence or killing other people, but purely from the heart, showing love and compassion. I think the best way to fight for freedom is peaceful resistance."
The monks have already forgiven their attackers for transgressions they will perpetrate against them in the future, he added. The monks believe they won't have an easy time crossing into Tibet and could be killed even before they set foot in their homeland.
Willcock said he hopes to capture that pivotal moment on film, though he'll try not to get too close, having vowed beforehand not to cross the frontier.
"I have never feared for my own life because I never considered actually crossing the border," he said.
Willcock's mother, Dawn Bramadat, said she's incredibly proud of her son's journey, but it's hard being so far away and knowing he may be in danger.
"He didn't get a visa to get into China and therefore into Tibet, and I was a bit relieved when that happened," she said from her home in Notre Dame de Grâce. "He will have to stop at the border, and that will be hard for him, knowing he will be separated from his friends and fellow marchers."

Protest march by Tibetan exiles stopped in northern India

LUCKNOW, India — Authorities in northern India have again stopped a protest march by more than 300 Tibetan exiles heading for their homeland.
The demonstrators, including Buddhist monks and nuns carrying pictures of the Dalai Lama and "Free Tibet" banners, want their arrival to coincide with this summer's Beijing Olympics Games.
The marchers began their journey March 10 in the Indian city of Dharmsala, headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
Indian police detained a group of the marchers for two weeks, but the protesters restarted their walk March 15 and were allowed to proceed.
Now they have been stopped again and authorities in Uttarakhand state say they are trying to convince them to return to Dharmsala.
Authorities in India fear the protest march would embarrass China, with whom New Delhi is trying to improve economic ties despite a lingering border dispute.
Tenzin Choedon, a spokeswoman for Students for a Free Tibet, one of the groups organizing the march, said the protesters are determined to continue their walk to Tibet.
"They are determined to carry on with this non-violent direct action," Choedon told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Nainital, one of the main towns of Uttarakhand.
India has generally allowed the Tibetan exiles to protest peacefully, but as anti-China protests gathered momentum before the Beijing Olympics, the government has said that it would not tolerate actions that embarrassed China.
India is home to the world's largest Tibetan exile community, with more than 100,000 exiles.

TIME interview with THE DALAI LAMA

San Francisco, USA, 16 April 2006 (By Amanda Bower, Time Magazine)

Dalai Lama: Tibet Wants Autonomy, Not Independence

Tibet's spiritual leader speaks.

The Dalai Lama's schedule is usually set seven years in advance, but the Tibetan spiritual leader made a rare change to his plans in order to attend a San Francisco conference convened by Muslim leaders to discuss religious tolerance. His Holiness, as Tibetans call him, spoke with Time's Amanda Bower about Islam, his hopes to return to his homeland after 47 years in exile, and his hobby of tinkering with timepieces.

TIME: What was so important about this conference that you changed your schedule to attend?

THE DALAI LAMA: I have two major commitments. Number one is the promotion of human values � not because of religious belief, but because of biological reasoning. We need peace of mind. Peace of mind is good for health, good for community, good for family, and also for physical growth. A peaceful mind is more proper. A disturbed mind, harmful. My number two commitment, as a believer, is for harmony among the different religious traditions. In the last 20, 30 years, I made these two commitments whenever I had the opportunity. As far as the promotion of religious harmony is concerned, I think I made some contribution, at least between the Tibetan Buddhist community and our Christian brothers and sisters. I think we have very good, close understanding. For example, there are many Christian practitioners now showing their respect and understanding about Buddhist concepts, as there is among Buddhists now an appreciation of Christian contribution for the betterment of the world and humanity.

Personally, from my childhood, there is a Muslim community in Lhasa [Tibet's capital] for the last four centuries. Very peaceful. Very gentle. No quarrels. Nowadays, in the outside world, sometimes people get the impression Muslims are more militant. I think that is wrong. I think these wrong impressions must be eliminated. They are no good for the world. [Islam] is one of the important world religious traditions that we must respect.

But everyone gathered here is a moderate. Do you think the extremists who have been giving Islam a bad name will listen to what you have to say?

[Laughs] I don't think they will listen. In my Buddhist community, the radicals don't listen... But our attempt is to try to explore the same values, send messages, and make them known to other people. Some mischievous people always remain. Doesn't matter. It's a mistake to generalize the behavior of a few individuals to the whole tradition. Since 11th of September, some Muslims really carry some violence, including terrorism. This should not be considered representative of the whole Muslim faith. A few mischievous individuals are everywhere, among the Hindus, among the Christians, among the Muslims, among the Buddhists.

China's President Hu Jintao is visiting the U.S. at the same time as you are, and you have urged your supporters here not to demonstrate against him. Why?

Since we already have some official contact with the Chinese, we believe it is very important to create impressions that we are very sincere, we are fully committed.

Two weeks ago, the Chinese government said it would allow you to visit your homeland, which you fled in 1959, if you abandoned your pursuit of independence for Tibet. But haven't you long said that you want autonomy, not independence, for Tibet?

Oh yes. The world knows the Dalai Lama is not seeking independence. The world knows. Still the Chinese do not know. [Laughs]

Do you have any heaviness of heart about giving up hope for Tibetan independence?

No. It's not necessary. Of course the present situation, in reality, I think that 99% of the Tibetan population is very, very unhappy. Every year, I think more than 10,000 Tibetans come to India. Some escape, some with permission. Every single Tibetan, when you meet them, is crying, complaining, including some Tibetans who have high level positions and are party members. I think many foreigners who visit Tibet and who have some close contact with local Tibetans also get the same impression. There are a large number of police forces there. Why? Too much suspicion, too much fear. If what the Chinese government claims is true, there's no need for security like that. This is very bad, not only bad for Tibetans, but also for the People's Republic of China as a whole.

As far as the future is concerned, look at the European Union. In the past centuries, those nations talked most about their sovereignty. Now, today, the common interest is more important than each individual nation's sovereignty. Tibet is a landlocked country, a large area, small population, very, very backward. We Tibetans want modernization. Therefore, in order to develop Tibet materially as a modern nation, Tibet must remain within the People's Republic of China. Provided Chinese give us a full guarantee of preservation of Tibetan culture, Tibetan environment, Tibetan spirituality, then it is of mutual benefit. [Besides] foreign affairs [and] defense [are] all the things which Tibetans can manage by themselves. Tibetans should have the full autonomy.

As a hobby, you like to collect and repair watches. It seems an unusual thing for a Tibetan monk to do.

Many Tibetans, including many monks, like wristwatches. I think monks are more fond of watches than lay people. Lay people have a lot of other things. [Laughs] I don't buy them for myself, they are all presented by other people.

Obama says Bush should weigh boycott of Olympic ceremony

LEVITTOWN, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - President George W. Bush should boycott the opening ceremony of the Olympics if China does not take steps to help stop genocide in Darfur and improve human rights in Tibet, U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Wednesday.

But Obama qualified that by saying any decision should be made closer to the date of the Olympic Games in Beijing in August.

"If the Chinese do not take steps to help stop the genocide in Darfur and to respect the dignity, security and human rights of the Tibetan people, then the president should boycott the opening ceremonies," Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, said in a statement.

"I am also deeply concerned about China's failure to support efforts to halt the genocide in Darfur. Regarding the Beijing Olympics this summer, a boycott of the opening ceremonies should be firmly on the table, but this decision should be made closer to the Games," he added.

Obama, who holds a lead over his rival Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York in the race to become the Democratic presidential nominee, did not go as far as Clinton in his statement on China and the Olympics. Clinton's call for Bush to weigh a boycott did not include any qualifiers about making the decision at a later date.

Clinton and Obama are vying to become their party's nominee to run in the November election to pick a successor to the Republican Bush.

Bush plans to attend the Summer Olympics opening ceremonies in Beijing in August and so far has resisted pressure to change his plans in response to a violent crackdown against protesters in Tibet by Chinese authorities.

China has also been accused of refusing to use its influence on the Sudanese government to get it to stop what the United States calls a genocide in Sudan's Darfur region.

At a rally earlier in the day, Obama was asked about China and said the United States needed to take a stronger and more consistent stance toward Beijing when it comes to human rights issues.

"In our policy toward China, we have not been consistent enough and tough enough in pushing them to deal with Tibet properly but also (on) their continued support of Sudan, a country that has been engaging in genocide against the peoples of Darfur," he said.

But Obama also said the United States lacked leverage with China because the country holds so much U.S. debt.

"It's very hard to tell your banker that he's wrong," he said. "And if we are running huge deficits and big national debts and we're borrowing money constantly from China that gives us less leverage."

(Reporting by Caren Bohan, editing by Patricia Zengerle)