This news greatly saddened and infuriated me as the world celebrates the beginning of the new year with global citizens and leaders praying for world peace. I have posted this on various related Facebook and news page, and guess what, the response I got is that it is a lie. Why wouldn't the people investigate and solve the issue, instead of just live in denial and blind faith? I was hoping that the new generation of Tibetans are more educated with more exposure would respond differently.
This is not the first time the Tibetan citizens have used violence as they took matters in their own hands, desperate for solutions against the purported “enemy of state” who was endangering the cause of Tibet and His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s long life. I strongly urge the CTA to immediately stop all the propoganda, campaigns and ban against Dorje Shugden and its practitioners.
As Tibetans stand disunited in diaspora and with the 99 years lease for the Indian settlements ending in the near future, wouldn’t it be better for the government to focus on issues such as presevation of Tibetan culture & language due to the re-education that is happening in Tibet, discuss how to effectively execute the Global Solidarity with Tibet Campaign launched in December 2012, look into the environmental destruction in Tibet and so on, instead of focusing on this agenda that further breaks up the Tibetan community and caused continuous civil unrests.
Allowing incidents like the violent attack above and worse, keeping silent about it greatly impact His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s global stature directly, as His Holiness is synonymous and famous for his non-violence approach as a Nobel Peace prize winner. This also mars the image of the Tibetan government and people, especially the new administration under the Sikyong.
As the Tibetans rally about the deteriorating human rights condition in Tibet, perhaps it is time to reflect on whether the standards in the proclamation and adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations in 1948 were observed in continuously promoting and executing the ban of the practice of Dorje Shugden, especially the discriminations and harassments faced by the practitioners and their families.
When the CTA marches ahead to fight for Tibetan dignity, Tibetan identity, Tibetan freedom, and seeking equality, please take a few steps back to check in your own backyard if policies such as the ban is in fact in line with what the CTA wishes to achieve in the motherland Tibet.
When shouting about Tibetans suffering from political repression, economic marginalisation, social discrimination, environmental destruction and cultural assimilation in their homeland Tibet, please see how your own Tibetans (Shugden practitioners) are treated as second-class citizens and worst still, enemies in their own homeland.
I plea for the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile to uphold the charter/ constitution of Tibet, where it states that “All religious denominations are equal before the law” and that every Tibetan shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. These religious rights include the freedom to manifest one’s belief, to receive initiation into religious traditions, practice with matters relating to religious commitment, such as preaching and worship of any religion, either alone or in community with others.
A decade ago, Shugden practitioners were violently attacked by a mob of more than 2000 Tibetans in Mundgod (
http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/the-controversy/what-is-wrong-with-tibetan-society/). A decade later, this type of incidents still happen and an old monk is being attacked at his ‘home’ – the household of a respected spiritual leader of the community.
What is wrong with this picture? How can the Chinese or the global community be sure that the CTA is capable of leading the Tibetan community if safety in one’s own home is compromised and cannot be guaranteed?
