New Delhi: A video shot by some mountain climbers could become a big embarrassment for China. The video allegedly shows Chinese troops stationed on the Tibet-Nepal border killing Tibetan refugees who were trying to cross the border.
Thousands of Tibetans have left for Nepal and India since Communist rulers of China occupied their Himalayan homeland in 1951.
They travel illegally from Tibet to Nepal and then on to Dharamsala in India – the home of their spiritual leader Dalai Lama. But in September western climbers accidentally filmed Chinese soldiers killing Tibetan refugees trying to cross the border – but some of the refugees managed to escape.
It was the shocking video, which brought back in focus the issue of human rights violation in Tibet shot by a Romanian cameraman who was on an expedition to climb the Himalayas.
The video shows how Chinese troops stationed on the Tibet-Nepal border have shot dead at least two Tibetan refugees trying to cross the border.
Seventy-five Tibetans, including many children, were trying to come to India. On September 30 some were shot dead, others arrested by the People's Liberation Army of China.
Forty-one Tibetans managed to escape to India to meet their spiritual leader Dalai Lama. They gathered in Delhi on Monday.
Twenty-seven-year-old Lodsang Choenden managed to escape by hiding in a tent in the base camp of western climbers.
Choenden says, “I was very afraid. The Chinese army found out that I was missing from the group. But they managed to capture 10 children.”
A 25-year-old Tibetan Buddhist nun was killed in the shooting at the Nanpa La Pass, a common escape route for Tibetans fleeing Chinese rule in Tibet.
Sixteen-year-old Dolma Balkyid had spent her childhood with her and saw her dying in front of her own eyes.
Balkyid says, “The Chinese army was aiming at us and firing indiscriminately.”
Human Rights Activist Tenzing Norgay says, “Too many refugees coming to India through Nepal every year – on an average about 2500 coming to India every year. Many of them also face similar fate. But they go unnoticed.”
The incident has caused mass outrage across the world and China will find it difficult to defend the actions of the soldiers.
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