Tibetans take out march to mark National Uprising Day in Mysuru

Tibetan organisations worldwide demand China respect human rights and release political prisoners on Tibetan National Uprising Day.

Tibetan organisations took out a march in Mysuru on Monday to mark the 66th National Uprising Day with a call to the government and the United Nations to put pressure on China to engage in dialogue with the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan government in exile in order to resolve the Sino-Tibet conflicts.

A statement from various Tibetan organisations, including Tibetan Youth Congress, Regional Tibetan Women’s Association, and Mysuru Tibetan Students’ Association, stated that Tibetans and their supporters all over the world took to the streets on Monday to mark the anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day.

On the occasion of this anniversary, Tibetans paid homage to the “martyrs”, who lost their lives due to the “inhuman oppressions since China forcibly occupied Tibet in 1959”, noted a statement issued by the organisations.

The organisations also alleged that China had brought out a policy to “destroy” the Tibetan Buddhist religion and that China was “eradicating Tibetan culture, language, and religion”.

Claiming that the issue of Tibet was not merely a question of the survival of Tibetan people but has far-reaching geo-political consequences for India, the Tibetan organisations said China’s recently announced plans to build a hydropower project in Tibet’s Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) river will have a negative impact on the lives of people living in downstream States in India like Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Meghalaya.

The organisations also demanded China immediately release Tibet’s 11th Panchen Lama and all political prisoners in Tibet and respect Tibetan people’s basic human rights, religious freedom, freedom of speech, language, and culture.