Latest news with #Dharamshala-based
Hindustan Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Tibet's language, culture under serious threat: Tibetan political leader
The political leader of the Dharamshala-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), Sikyong Penpa Tsering, expressing concern over the Chinese Communist Party's intensified efforts to erode Tibet's identity, has said that Tibet's language, culture, religion, environment, and way of life are under serious threat. The political leader of the Dharamshala-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), Sikyong Penpa Tsering, expressing concern over the Chinese Communist Party's intensified efforts to erode Tibet's identity, has said that Tibet's language, culture, religion, environment, and way of life are under serious threat. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/ Representational image) Sikyong while recently addressing the residents of Norgyeling Tibetan Settlement in Maharashtra said that safeguarding this identity is a collective responsibility of all Tibetans in exile. While stressing the importance of preserving the Tibetan language and culture, Sikyong Penpa Tsering said that Tibetan is among the world's oldest languages, with a script dating back over a thousand years, and warned that without active use and preservation, it risks extinction like many ancient languages. Notably, a recent report by CTA said that Chinese authorities have demolished over 300 Buddhist stupas and a revered Guru statue in the Drakgo County, in the traditional Tibet's province of Kham. Citing sources from Tibet, the report stated that the destruction took place in late May or June 2025 at Lungrab Zang-ri near Janggang Monastery, where Chinese forces razed hundreds of medium-sized stupas of Tibetan Buddhism and three larger Buddhist stupas. 'This latest assault represents, what Tibetan sources inside Tibet call 'second phase of Cultural Revolution', a deliberate campaign to 'Sinicise' Tibetan Buddhism and systematically eradicate Tibetan cultural identity. The destruction aligns with China's broader strategy of cultural genocide in Tibet, designed to erase Tibetan culture by forcibly aligning religious practices with the Chinese Communist Party's political agenda,' the report mentioned. Meanwhile, Sikyong during his address at Norgyeling Tibetan Settlement reiterated that the 16th Kashag (cabinet) continues to seek international support for the Middle Way Approach as a viable solution to the Tibet-China conflict. He encouraged the community to deepen their understanding of Tibetan history and the current situation inside Tibet, and to engage in advocacy through international lobbying efforts.
Hindustan Times
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
European Parliament chairs push for probe into death of Tibetan leader in Chinese custody
Two chairs of European Parliament have called for a probe into the 'suspicious' death of prominent Tibetan Buddhist leader Tulku Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche, according to a report by Dharamshala-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). The report says the chair of the European Parliament's subcommittee on human rights MEP Mounir Satouri and the chair of the delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China MEP Engin Eroglu have jointly written to the Chinese ambassador to the European Union regarding the matter. The report adds that the chair of the subcommittee on human rights has also sent a letter to the Vietnamese ambassador to the EU, echoing the concerns. Rinpoche, who was the head of Lung-ngon Monastery in Gade County, Golog, Tibet, reportedly died while in Chinese custody in Vietnam in March. 'Both letters express grave concern and alarm over the unexplained circumstances of Tulku Hungkar Dorje's death and the subsequent cremation of his body in Vietnam without the consent of his family,' the CTA report says. The chairs called on Chinese and Vietnamese authorities to ensure a transparent, independent and impartial investigation to determine the circumstances of Dorje's 'disappearance and subsequent passing'. According to a statement released by the CTA last month, Rinpoche had been living in hiding in Vietnam since September 2024 due to 'persistent harassment' by Chinese authorities in Tibet. On March 25, he was reportedly arrested from a hotel room in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, in a co-ordinated operation involving the local Vietnamese police and Chinese secret services agents. He was sent to a local public security office on March 28, where he is said to have died the same day. The Dharamshala-based Tibetan parliament-in-exile has also called for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Rinpoche, and disclosure of the findings of the investigation.
