CHENNAI: On the 61st anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day, a group of Tibetan students in the city took out a peace march at Elliot's Beach in the city to draw attention to the Chinese occupation of
Tibet.
One of their chief concerns is that although there are 100 suspected cases of COVID-19 in Tibet, there has been no official confirmation due to the lack of transparency and freedom of speech. So far, media reports are available of only one confirmed case in Tibet, reported at the end of January.
Karma Choeying Palmo, the president of Tibetan Students’ Association of Madras (TSAM), told Express, "We got to know from our relatives in Tibet that the general talk there is that there are around 100 cases
of coronavirus in Tibet but they have not been able to confirm it from Chinese authorities."
On the annual march, she said, "Year after year, we take out the peace march to pay tribute to our people who lost their lives for Tibet’s freedom. However, between our march last year and now, things have not changed much," she added.
The students carried placards of ‘The world needs to hear the truth’, ‘Tibet is not part of China’ and also called for the ‘middle way’ approach which was taken up by the Dalai Lama since the 1970s when he stopped seeking Tibetan Independence. The middle way is to seek a degree of self-rule for Tibet.
The march began with the students, mostly from the Madras Christian College and the University of Madras, carrying the placards and the Tibetan flag and marching almost a kilometre near Elliot's Beach.
In a statement, Palmo said, “We welcome the recent announcement of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet’s decision to visit Xinjiang (an autonomous territory in Northwest China) this year. However, we strongly urge her to visit Tibet and press China for unfettered access in order to monitor the deteriorating human rights conditions in Tibet.”
“I offer my earnest prayers for a healthy and long life of our most revered leader, His Holiness the Great 14th Dalai Lama. In March 1959, he was forced to flee under extremely difficult circumstances. I pray
that His Holiness will soon return home where Tibetans inside and outside Tibet will be reunited and basic freedom restored in Tibet,” the statement said.