Dharmashala (Himachal Pradesh) [India], December 29 (ANI): Member of Tibetan communities on Tuesday held candlelight vigil here in solidarity with a critical situation in Kham Drago, Central Tibet, and called China to end its repressive policies in the region. “Today Tibetan Youth Congress and Students for Free Tibet organized this candlelight vigil to share our solidarity with Tibetans in Kham Drago, where the situation is very critical, where the Chinese government has implemented repressive policies, where the monasteries are demolished, schools are destroyed,” said a Tibetan who took part in the vigil.

“Recently in the Kham Drago, areas of Central Tibet, the Chinese government has destroyed a giant Buddhist statue. The statue is almost 600 feet statue of Buddha. And then, they also destroyed a monastery. So this vigil is s sign of China‘s rising repression of Tibetan practice of Buddhism inside Tibet and this is not just happening in central Tibet that we got to know recently but in many other places,” said another Tibetan who took part in the vigil.

“So China’s attempt to destroy aspects of Tibetan Buddhism culture is their way of homogenizing, criticizing entire Tibet and not only Tibet, East Turkistan, and southern Mongolia also. This is an attempt to Sinicise entire China and China’s occupied country,” he added.

Emphasizing that such Chinese activities are a threat to Tibetan’s religion, culture, and identity, the vigilante said that such acts by “China directly is contradictory to Beijing’s promise of autonomy or rights for what is called minorities to practice their religion and culture.”

“China is doing this even when their Winter Olympics is coming which is after two months.
So, therefore, we are protesting, we are leading this candle vigil, we are spreading awareness of this and we are telling China to stop the repression in Tibet,” he added. (ANI)

China making Tibet dumping ground for toxic waste, not providing resources to protect ecosystem

Washington [US], December 29 (ANI): The Chinese Communist Party is exploiting Tibet by making the region a dumping ground for toxic waste and has failed to provide the area with the resources needed to protect its fragile ecosystem and unique biome, said a report.

The CCP’s wanton disregard for Tibet is evident from the rapid industrial projects implemented in the region over the past several decades. Even Beijing’s recent white paper on Tibet barely bats an eyelid when it comes to environmental protection, mentioning only some small-scale projects in a few Tibetan cities, said Providence US-based journal.

The Tibetan Plateau is the world’s highest geographic area, with an average altitude of 14,370 feet (4,380 meters). Since its glaciers contain more frozen water than anywhere else in the world except for the Arctic and Antarctic polar caps, Tibet has been dubbed the “Third Pole”, the American publication said.

At least a third of the region could melt due to the climate crisis, predicted a report released by International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). The carbon emission rate needs to be cut down for this scenario to be averted, the report claimed, adding that anthropogenic carbon emissions result primarily from fossil fuel mining, deforestation, and emissions from power plants and vehicles.

Due to China‘s industrial activities, including lithium mining as well as mining for nuclear minerals in Tibet, the monsoon cycle of the region has also been deeply affected as the country’s industrial activities create a huge carbon footprint. Beijing has been ignoring Montreal Protocol for its immediate economic gain. The protocol explicitly bans the use of hydrocarbons.

This practice causes drastic harm to the ozone layer that envelops the Earth’s atmosphere and protects us from harmful UV rays. Excessive industrial mining has not only robbed Tibet of its natural resources but has also left the land barren and infertile, said Providence.

Beijing’s restrictions on leading a nomadic lifestyle have also adversely affected Tibetan nomads and their land. The forced resettlement of nomads has left them jobless since they are not accustomed to the life of average job-seekers. The land that they once relied on for farming and livestock grazing does not receive the proper care that it naturally does through nomadic activities, said the US-based publication.

China has been willfully ignoring these concerns, but overseas Tibetan communities during COP26 and voiced their concerns about Tibet‘s fragile environment and its importance to the world, according to Providence. (ANI)