By Abdul Bari Masoud
New Delhi: In order to bring urgent attention to the deteriorating environmental situation in Tibet, two Tibetans Tenzin Dhondup and Tenzin Nyima have launched “March for Freedom” from Dharamshala, the exiled Tibetan government’s capital in Himachal Pradesh. They said the world must accept Tibet as an ‘occupied’ country by China.
Addressing a press conference on Monday here the Press Club of India, Tenzin Dhondup said he started solo march titled “March for Freedom: Dharamshala – Nathula” from McLeod Ganj Square, Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh to Nathula, Indo-Tibet border, Sikkim on 2nd November, 2020. The March has passed through the States of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana; and remains to pass through Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim expecting to cover a distance of 2100 km approx in 90 days traversing 40 km a day to reach the final destination. And he was joined by Tenzin Nyima from Chandigarh.
Dhondup and Nyima said the purpose of this march is to bring light to CommunisChina’sna continuous exploitation of the natural resources of the Tibetan plateau for their greed leading to deteriorating environmental situation in Tibet, affecting the rest of the world and particularly the South Asian countries.
They alleged China’s massive industrialization and extraction in Tibet has now moved millions of Tibetan nomads from their traditional grasslands to urban settlements, opening their land for the extraction of resources and ending traditional agricultural practices which have sustained and protected the Tibetan environment for centuries.
“In recent years, China has paid for the infrastructure to greatly expand its level of extraction in Tibet. Tibetans have no power to protect their own land and can only watch the destruction of their resources. While the Chinese government is quick to claim that its presence in Tibet has increased prosperity and development, it is clear that China takes much more from Tibet than it gives, and that as it transport resources from Tibet off to China, it leaves behind massive environmental and social destruction.”
“Tibet was an independent country before the Chinese occupation in 1959. China continues to repress and oppress the innocent Tibetans with baseless allegations and imprisons anyone who speaks out any dissent of democratic expression. Therefore, for sixty years, the peaceful resistance of Tibetans inside Tibet and the global Tibetan movement has shown the spotlight on the Chinese leadership’s Draconian policies and lack of transparency. Tibet stands as a testament to China’s flawed leadership and miscarriage of justice,” they added.
They drew the attention that today, the world is bearing the brunt of China’s unethical acts and their unaccountability.
“It is time we come together to unite and take action to prevent the authoritarian Chinese leadership from further making humanity face its worst crisis ever in human history”.
Prior to Chinese occupation of Tibet, there was no border between India and China.
They warned that the world must learn a lesson by now that China can’t be trusted and should acknowledge the Chinese aggressive policy everywhere else in the world, including the introduction and implementation of the hard-line policies in Hong Kong. They said China should be punished for the recent attack on the Indo-Tibet border by boycotting products made in China.