Lhasa riots: China admits shooting protestors

Beijing, March 21: Thousands of soldiers were seen in Lhasa on Thursday amid reports of a huge military build-up as China admitted for the first time it had shot Tibetan protesters. Long military convoys were on the move in Tibet while troops also poured into nearby provinces after a week of violence directed against China`s rule of the Himalayan region, witnesses, activist groups and media reports said. "We saw a big convoy of military vehicles with troops in the back," German journalist Georg Blume said from the Tibetan capital Lhasa early on Thursday. "One convoy was about two kilometres (1.2 miles) long and contained about 200 trucks. Each had 30 soldiers on board so that`s about 6,000 military personnel in one convoy." A week of protests against China`s 57-year rule of Tibet erupted into rioting in Lhasa last Friday. Demonstrations have since spilled over into nearby Chinese provinces with sizeable ethnic Tibetan populations. China said rioters killed 13 innocent civilians in Lhasa while denying that it used deadly force to end the protests. Exiled Tibetan leaders have said about 100 people were believed to have been killed in the Chinese crackdown. The Dalai Lama, Tibet`s spiritual leader who fled his homeland after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, on Thursday expressed concerns for the many people he said had fallen victim to the Chinese security forces. "We don`t know exact numbers. Some say six, some say 100, but places have been cut off. There are movements of Chinese troops. I am really worried a lot of casualties have happened," he said from his base of exile in northern India. Xinhua said security forces had shot and wounded four protesters "in self-defence" during protests in the remote Tibetan-populated county of Ngawa in Sichuan last Sunday. Activist groups, however, have said at least eight people were killed by security forces in the Ngawa protests. They circulated photos this week of dead bodies with apparent bullet wounds to back up their allegations that Chinese forces were using lethal force despite official claims to the contrary. The unrest has been a public relations challenge for China in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics in August, an event the nation`s communist rulers had hoped would showcase a harmonious country. While no government has called for a boycott of the Games, China has faced increasing international pressure to resolve the unrest peacefully and to hold talks with the Dalai Lama.


Communist run China has always been anti-India and is eying Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and is meddling in Sikkim. Also, China is supporting Pakistan against India. Last but not least, all the Naxlite/Communist outfits in India are supported by Communist elements in China. India would be naive if its does not see the Chinese-Pakistan nexus as India's threat. Now is an opportunity for India to work for the overthrow of the Chinese communist regime by calling for a Buddhist revolution in China led by the Dalai Lama. The Dalits of India who swear by Ambedkar should also join in this revolution. Hindutva forces in India would be a natural ally. A Buddhist revolution is India's safest defense against China-Pakistan nexus against the integrity of India.