Tibet under Chinese rule has become "hell on earth", the Dalai Lama has said, marking 50 years since a failed uprising against Chinese rule forced him to flee across the Himalayas to India."These 50 years have brought untold suffering and destruction to the land and people of Tibet," the region's spiritual leader told thousands of Tibetans in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala, the seat of Tibet's government-in-exile.
His comments came as Tibetan exiles and their supporters held rallies around the world while Chinese authorities imposed a lockdown in the Tibetan region in a bid to head off protests inside its borders.
"Having occupied Tibet, the Chinese communist government carried out a series of repressive and violent campaigns," the Dalai Lama said on Tuesday.
"These thrust Tibetans into such depths of suffering and hardship
that they literally experienced hell on earth. The immediate result of these campaigns was the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Tibetans."Lamenting that Tibetan culture and identity were "nearing extinction", he said "even today Tibetans in Tibet live in constant fear ... regarded like criminals, deserving to be put to death".
The 74-year-old leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile also repeated a demand for "legitimate and meaningful autonomy" for Tibet, not independence from China.
Courtesy: Al Jazeera....
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