Dengarkan

At a large gathering of Tibetan exiles in New Delhi, filmmaker and singer Phuntsok Ladadakhi, pays tribute to the protesters resisting Chinese rule in Tibet.

He sings a song dedicated to the sacrifice of the Tibetan people.

Members of the exiled community are assembling to commemorate the 54th anniversary of their national uprising against the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

Hundreds of Tibetans were killed during the rebellion.

Following the failed uprising, the Dalai Lama, the spritual leader and head of the Tibetan government, fled into exile.

But five decades on, the community still hasn’t lost hope.

50-year-old Lobsang Funso is one of the first generation of exiles, born and brought up in India.

“This is a day we can’t ever forget," he says. "All the atrocities, the killings, the separations, everything is carved in our memory forever."

"This day reminds us that we had a beautiful country that was forcibly taken away from us and we have to get it back. We can’t give up, we will grow stronger and there’s no doubt that we will achieve our goal.”

And for the first time, the day has also been named Tibetan Martyr’s Day.

The decision was taken by Tibetan groups to highlight the growing number of self-immolation protests.

Choekyong Wangchuk is the Executive Director of the Tibetan Parliamentary and Policy Research Centre.

“On this occasion the Tibetan Parliament in Exile has conveyed its concern for the Tibetans who have self-immolated inside Tibet, the number has gone to 108 and out of them 98 have succumbed to their injuries. We call upon the Chinese leadership to look into the matter and fulfil the aspirations of the Tibetan people.”

On the annivesary, a Tibetan refugee attempted to self immolate in Dharamshala, the headquarters of the Tibetan government in exile.

This form of protest is not approved by either the Buddhist faith or the Tibetan leadership.

“We have been appealing them, we have been saying that please respect your life," Wangchuk says. "It is very precious for us because we are very less in number, only about 6 million Tibetans as compared to the 1.3 or 1.4 billion Chinese. So our life is very precious and losing even one Tibetan is a huge loss for us."

"We have been appealing them but then they are the ones who know the situation and feel it. It’s they who deal with the Chinese in day to day life. So this is a situation that has been driven by the Chinese leadership and not by the Tibetans Themselves.”

Many Indians also turned up to show their solidarity with the Tibetan struggle.

They urged the government to put pressure on China to resolve the issue through a meaningful dialogue with the Tibetan leadership.

Renu Gambhir is a member of the India Tibet Solidarity Group.   

“India should be the first to speak out against the injustices meted out to the Tibetan people. Our government thinks that we have given them refuge and that’s enough ... but it’s not. They must have all the freedoms that we enjoy and we must help them in every possible way to achieve this.

While the Tibetans themselves feel that India can and should do more, they prefer not to speak about it publicly.

But they’re critical of the way the Nepalese government has been treating their community.

Chimey Lundup lives in Exile in Nepal. He had to travel to New Delhi to join the anniversary protests.

“Nepal is no longer the place it used to be a few years ago," he regrets. "We were happy when the King was in power, but now everything there has changed for us. We are not allowed to protest or participate in any political activity. The Chinese are providing financial assistance to Nepal and in return the Nepalese authorities are muzzling our voice."

"This is wrong; they should not succumb to Chinese pressure because after all we are demanding our genuine rights.”

The Tibetan leadership is continuing its campaign for international intervention in Tibet.

They have also made fresh calls for talks to resolve the issue bilaterally with China.

Wangchuk of the Tibetan Parliamentary Research Centre says they are hopeful that the new leadership in China will respond positively.

“Since on the 10th March itself the new Chinese leadership is also taking charge of their offices and responsibilities the Tibetan Parliament in

Exile has also offered a 4-point suggestion to the leadership. Number one is to start earnest negotiations, number two is to halt the repressive policies in Tibet. Number 3 is to take the cognisance of the real situation inside Tibet and number 4 is to release the political prisoners including the young reincarnate Panchen  Rinpoche.”