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Tibet instability a rumour, communist governor says

AP

Monks debate during the Monlam Chenmo, also known as the Great Prayer Festival, at the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, China on 4 March 2009. The Monlam Chenmo, falling on the 4th-11th day of the first Tibetan Lunar month, is the greatest religious festival in Tibet and was established in 1409. Tibet’s governor insisted Thursday that his region is stable and will remain so ahead of a sensitive anniversary marking the Dalai Lama’s flight into exile that last year sparked anti-government protests and riots.File photo/AP/Tibet

Tibet’s governor insisted Thursday that his region is stable and will remain so ahead of a sensitive anniversary marking the Dalai Lama’s flight into exile that last year sparked anti-government protests and riots.

Jampa Phuntsok, the regional governor, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency that reports of recent instability in the Himalayan region were “pure rumour.”

He did not specify to which reports he was referring.

Over the past month, overseas human rights groups said defiant Buddhist monks took part in marches, protests, and festival boycotts in ethnic Tibetan areas of Sichuan and Qinghai provinces bordering Tibet.

Last week, a monk in Sichuan set himself on fire and was shot, according to rights groups and Xinhua. It was not immediately clear who shot him. Rights groups said the self-immolation was a protest against religious restrictions.

There have been no recent reports of protests or renewed violence in Tibet itself.

Phuntsok said this year Tibet will have no “big problems” with stability, and the Tibetan people “have confidence in the (Communist) Party and the government.”

Phuntsok’s comments were impossible to confirm. Access to Tibet has been severely restricted since last year’s deadly riots, with most foreigners and overseas journalists barred from entering.

The unrest in Tibet last March — the biggest anti-government protests in the region in decades — prompted a military crackdown that saw the arrest of alleged riot instigators and their sentencing in speedy trials.

Last year’s protests started on 10 March, the anniversary of a 1959 Tibetan uprising that failed to oust their Chinese rulers. The revolt 50 years ago ended with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, fleeing into exile in India.

Phuntsok told Xinhua that last year’s riots had a huge impact on Tibet’s tourism industry and, while there have been improvements, it will be “some time before a full recovery.”

He said last month the regional economy was expected to grow by 10 percent in 2009.

Economic growth in Tibet is a point of pride for the central government, which offers it as proof of its concern for Tibetans.

This year, the government declared 28 March “Serf Liberation Day” and said it would be an occasion to celebrate the formation of the communist government 50 years ago. Beijing maintains that the former government led by the Dalai Lama was a feudal system that exploited rural peasants.

Phuntsok was quoted as saying the day would be marked in Beijing and the Tibetan capital of Lhasa with “grand celebrations,” but gave no details.

China says Tibet has always been part of its territory, while many Tibetans say their land was virtually independent for centuries before the communist army took control in 1951.

Copyright © 2009 AP

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