Contact is taking a holiday!

To an outside observer, the streets of Dharamsala might have appeared deserted on Monday, February 8.

Shops along the main roads were closed, corrugated metal curtains drawn down and locked over what are usually bustling Tibetan restaurants, cafes, and handicraft stalls. However one had only to walk down to the temple,  to find the local Tibetan population and its supporters.

Thousands gathered to join the Kalon Tripa (Tibetan Prime Minister) Dr. Lobsang Sangay, and his fellow parliamentarians at Tsuglakhang, the Dalai Lama’s temple, to offer prayers and solidarity to their countrymen and women inside Tibet. Whole families dressed in traditional chupas; and the large gathering of monks, nuns, and foreigners chanted prayers.

As candles were lit throughout the crowd, Lobsang Sangay thanked the international community for statements made in support of Tibetans in recent months, and asked for more concrete support as those in Tibet prepare for an especially sensitive time of year. He stressed the urgency of the current climate inside Tibet, and described China’s heavy-handed response to Tibetan protests. In a message from Tibetans across the world, he emphasized the continuing support of the exile community, stating: ‘To Tibetans inside Tibet, you are our inspiration.

‘We will not let your voices go unheard. We will not let your sacrifices go unattended.

‘The Tibetan spirit is strong. It has always been strong. It is strong now, and it will remain strong until there is freedom in Tibet and His Holiness the Dalai Lama can return.’

The gathering was the focal point of a global vigil, commemorating the now 26 Tibetans who have self-immolated in protest to China’s restrictive policies. Participants also offered prayers in memory of protesters killed by Chinese security forces last month.

Up to six Tibetans were reported dead and dozens more wounded after violent crackdowns on demonstrations in ethnically Tibetan areas of China’s Sichuan and Qinghai provinces between January 23  26, during the Chinese New Year holiday. The international media has been unable to confirm exact figures, as communications to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and ethnically Tibetan areas of Western China have been largely cut off. The Associated Press (AP) reported that phone lines appear to be disabled, as all calls they made to the area immediately after the protests were ‘met with a rapid beeping tone.’ Road blocks have been erected preventing entry into more restive areas – especially those with prominent monasteries, whilst foreign journalists have been turned away or expelled. A CNN team was recently denied access to Serthar County in Sichuan, following a recent wave of self-immolations. The reporters said that their car was turned away at a roadside checkpoint due to what Chinese security personnel claimed were ‘dangerous road conditions.’

Security is reported to have been very tight, both in the TAR and other areas with large Tibetan populations, in the lead-up to the holidays. The China Daily stated that the regional government in Lhasa distributed over one million Chinese flags  as well as portraits of Communist Party leaders Mao Zedong, Deng Qinghai , Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao  to temples, schools, and households. Monasteries in particular were instructed to display them prominently. Displaying the items was mandatory over the holiday, a policy which garnered criticism from foreign media sources for its apparent promotion of compulsory patriotic pride.

In defiance of such hard-line policies put in place by the Chinese government, protesters in Sichuan and Qinghai carried photos of the Dalai Lama and the banned Tibetan national flag, throwing prayer flags to the wind. Marchers and demonstrators ate tsampa, the staple barley flour which has become a symbol of Tibetan cultural identity in some areas, while chanting mantras and calling for the long life of the Dalai Lama.

The Economist reported on the January 26 protests in a township in Rangtang County, in which a crowd of Tibetans tried to prevent security forces from arresting a protester. Police reportedly shot into the crowd, killing one person. Two more had already been confirmed dead, with rumours of further casualties, after police fired at demonstrators in Serthar County on January 23.

The Chinese government claims the protests were instigated by outside forces wanting to separate Tibet from China. Their official position on the Serthar protests is that two rioters died and 24 police and firefighters were injured when Tibetans carrying rocks attacked police stations.

On Saturday, February 11, eighteen-year-old Tibetan nun, Tenzin Choedron, is reported to have set herself alight after chanting anti Chinese government slogans close to her nunnery in Ngaba, Sichuan  the epicenter of the spate of self-immolations. London-based campaign group, Free Tibet, said in a statement that the teenage nun, described as a good student, was immediately taken away by Chinese soldiers and police, who then ‘surrounded the nunnery and sealed it off.’ Tenzin, who is believed to have survived the incident, is the second member of the Dechen Chokorling Nunnery, which has a reputation for remaining fiercely loyal to the Dalai Lama, to have self immolated. In October, 20-year-old Tenzin Wangmo died after setting herself on fire.

Tenzin Choedron was the eighth Tibetan to self-imolate protesting Chinese policies in her country this year. Another notable case was a reincarnate lama, 42-year-old Sopa Tulku (Sonam Wangyal), who drank kerosene and posted a sign on a nearby wall before setting himself on fire at around 7am on January 8, in Darlag County, Qinghai. The sign said his motivation was ‘to commemorate the Tibetans who have self-immolated since 2009, for national freedom and religious freedom, for liberty and freedom of speech.’ The sign also asked Tibetans not to lose hope, and to ‘unite, and work hard for the future of Tibet.’ Hundreds carried his body through the streets after recovering it from local police.

The Chinese government has denounced this incident and all other self-immolations in Tibetan areas as ‘terrorist activity in disguise.’ In response to three incidents in Serthar, on February 3, Chinese authorities have denied that they occurred at all. A local government official speaking to the AP about the Serthar immolations refused to give her name, saying, ‘No such thing has happened.’

Meanwhile, security in the TAR and ethnically Tibetan areas of China is reported to be tightening as Chinese authorities prepared for Losar (Tibetan New Year) on February 22, and several significant dates in March, including the double anniversary on March 10 of the Lhasa uprising of 1959, marking the Dalai Lama’s flight into exile, and the 2008 riots sparked by the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

The South China Morning Post reported recently that authorities in the TAR have warned thousands of regional officials that they could lose their jobs and perhaps face further punishment if they are ‘found to have failed to safeguard stability in restive areas or  fled their posts at ‘critical moments.’’

Top Communist Party official in Tibet, Chen Quanguo, told state-run publication, Tibet Daily.‘The voices and images of the Communist Party must be seen and heard, while the voices and images of hostile forces and the ‘Dalai Clique’ must neither be seen nor heard,’

Reports continue to reach the exile community of convoys of military personnel en route to Lhasa. On February 2, Radio Free Asia reported that armed police currently patrol the streets, and authorities have cut the region off from foreign tourists.  Sources also claim that security in monasteries across the TAR and ethnically Tibetan areas of Qinghai and Sichuan has increased. Monks and nuns have been ordered to unite to promote harmony in their regions and are to inform regional officials of any suspicious activity. Additionally, all religious institutions are required to display pictures of the four-generation Communist Party leadership and to fly the Chinese national flag.

To avoid informing on each other, monks and nuns are reported to have begun abandoning their monasteries and nunneries.  A monk at Sera monastery in southern India, citing sources in Western China, has said that as many as seven monasteries and one nunnery in Sichuan and Qinghai are now deserted. ‘The monks are afraid that they may be forced to return, because the Chinese officials are saying they have no authority to leave on their own,’ he told Radio Free Asia on January 31.

In response to conditions in Tibetan areas and the continuing wave of violence, a delegation of four parliamentarians from the Tibetan Parliament in Exile traveled to New Delhi recently to meet with representatives of various diplomatic missions and the United Nations. Despite pressure from the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, five ambassadors from Europe and representatives from a number of other nations met with the delegation. The parliamentarians issued an open letter to the Chinese government, in which they urged China to address the concerns of protesting Tibetans humanely, and to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile.

Days later, the Karmapa, Tibet’s third most prominent incarnate lama who usually remains relatively uninvolved in politics, issued a message to the Chinese government, suggesting to The Times of India that: ‘acknowledging the real human distress of Tibetans in Tibet and taking full responsibility for what is happening there would lay a wise basis for building mutual trust between Tibetans and the Chinese government.

‘Rather than treating this as an issue of political opposition, it would be far more effective for Chinese authorities to treat this as a matter of basic human welfare.’

So far in March, five people have self-immolated in Tibet in protest against the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Four of these people have died.

The first, on March 3rd was a 20 year old Tibetan student, Tsering Kyi, who died after setting herself alight in Machu, eastern Tibet, at a vegetable market.

The second was Rinchen, a 32 year old mother of four, who died after setting herself on fire at the police station at the entrance to Kirti Monastery in Ngaba, northeastern Tibet on March 4.

More recently two more monks have self-immolated in Tibet, bringing the total since 2009 to 28. On the 10th of March, Gepey, an 18 year old monk from Kiti Monastery, in Ngaba, self-immolated and immediately died. His mother was held by police for interrogation for the following two days. The Tibet Post has reported that Ngaba ‘is now under undeclared martial law as parliamentary and armed reinforcements have been deployed in the region.’

On March 14 Jamyang Palden, aged 34, self-immolated in protet in the Dolma square of Rongwo monastery, in northeastern Tibet. The Central Tibet Administration reported that Chinese authorities took him to hospital but later returned him to the monastery. Jamyang is in a very serious condition, it is unsure whether he will survive. Latest reports say his vital nervous system is not responding to medication.

The latest self-immolation was in Rongbo on March 17, Sonam Dhargyal, a 44 year old farmer. Before setting himself on fire he demanded the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet, and in recent years had been reported as saying: “The return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet is of paramount importance, and it will solve the issue of Tibet.” Tibetans who were present say he died instantly.

7000 Tibetans attended his funeral at Rongbo Monastery. There was a confrontation between Chinese security forces and Tibetans, but the security forces withdrew after being outnumbered by Tibetans. There is now unprecedented restriction on the freedom of movement and gathering of Tibetans in the region according to the Central Tibetan Administration.