Over 1,200 Tibetans Missing After Crackdown; Blasts Ahead of Tibet Anniversary

[tekisui]

Source: Reuters

DHARAMSALA, India (Reuters) - More than 1,200 Tibetans are still missing since a Chinese crackdown on the region after protests in March last year, a report by the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) said on Monday.

Security forces arrested thousands of Tibetans, often seizing them in the middle of the night on flimsy evidence of being "splittist" and tortured them, the new report said.

"There is still an intense climate of fear in Lhasa today," Kate Saunders, one the authors of the report, told Reuters.

"(Tibetans) have made tremendous steps to show that they answer to the Dalai Lama, not the Chinese state."

The report was released a day before the Dalai Lama speaks on the 50th anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, which led to the Tibetan spiritual leader's escape to northern India in 1959.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Public Security Ministry did not immediately comment, nor were they immediately able to provide a number for Tibetans detained but not formally charged.

Tibetans have staged more than 130 protests since major unrest began in the Tibetan plateau in March last year, the report said.

China regularly defends its rule of Tibet, saying it ended centuries of serfdom in 1959 and has since poured in development money and vastly improved the standard of life.

The Tibetan government-in-exile says more than 200 people were killed in the Chinese crackdown since last year in and around Lhasa.

more: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5281DN20090309
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Blasts Ahead of Tibet Anniversary

Source: BBC News

Two home-made bombs have exploded in a Tibetan region in the west of the country, Chinese state media says.

Two vehicles - one of them a police car - were damaged in the blasts, but there were no reports of any injuries.

The explosions are reported to have occurred after clashes between police and local people in Qinghai Province.

Security has been tightened in Tibetan areas of China on the eve of the 50th anniversary of a failed uprising by Tibetans against Chinese rule.

Last year, protests in Lhasa to mark the anniversary led to deadly anti-Chinese riots that spread across Tibetan regions - the worst unrest there for 20 years.

more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7931851.stm

[NMMOM]

1. Genocide at it's worst!!

How awful that this has been going on for so long. The beautiful culture of the Tibetan people will forever be lost. Because we are now, and probably will be forever in debt financially to China, we must turn a blind eye and pretend that none of this is happening.

Move along now... there's nothing to see here.

I fear that someday in the not so distant future we too, may experience a total takeover by the Chinese. As it is I've heard that they now are coming over here by the planeloads and buying up many of the forclosed properties. Kinda scary.