New Delhi, Sept 30: Hundreds of Tibetans in exile held a demonstration in New Delhi on Friday following a recent incident in which two Tibetan monks set themselves on fire in a reported protest over China's tight rein over Buddhist practices.
The protesters in Delhi announced that they were against self immolation, as Buddhism considers suicide as a negative form of action, however they said Monday's incident shows the frustration of Tibetans who could not practice their religion in China.
The London-based Free Tibet campaign said Lobsang Kalsang and Lobsang Konchok, both believed to be 18 or 19 years old, self-immolated on Monday at a monastery in China's Sichuan province, after allegedly calling for religious freedom and saying “long live the Dalai Lama”.
The protesters in New Delhi, held placards reading “Self immolation our desperation”.
Following Monday's incident, China's official Xinhua News Agency said in a brief report that did not identify the monks by name that both were rescued by police, suffered slight burns and were in stable condition.
Lobsang Kelsang is the brother of Rigzin Phuntsog, a 21-year-old Kirti monk who died March 16 after setting himself on fire, said Free Tibet.
Phuntsog's death was seen as a protest against China's reported heavy-handed controls on Tibetan Buddhism and provoked a standoff between security forces and monks.
Most of the recent protests are led by monks who are fiercely loyal to Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled the Himalayan region in 1959 amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule and is reviled by Beijing.
China reviles the Dalai Lama as a separatist and wants to pick a pro-Beijing successor.
The Dalai Lama insists he is only seeking increased autonomy for Tibet, not independence, and opposes Beijing's involvement in selecting its leaders.
China has said that religious law requires that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama be born in a Tibetan area under Chinese control.
The Dalai Lama has said his successor could be born in exile and has even floated the idea of choosing his own successor while still alive - perhaps even a woman.
The Dalai Lama has lived in the Indian hill town of Dharmsala since fleeing Tibet.
China says Tibet has always been part of its territory, but many Tibetans say the region was virtually independent for centuries. AP
