Buddhist monks in maroon and yellow robes and ordinary Tibetans, their faces painted in the colors of their flag, marched through downtown New Delhi yesterday protesting the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao (
More than 1,000 noisy demonstrators chanted anti-China slogans and called for an end to Chinese rule of Tibet. The protesters also called on the Indian government to take a tougher stance toward China over Tibet, which Chinese troops have occupied since 1951.
Hu was set to arrive in India later yesterday, the first trip by a Chinese president to India in a decade, for a three-day visit.
PHOTO: AFP
"Hu Jintao: Wanted for crimes against humanity in China's illegal occupation of Tibet," read one poster. "Tibetan people want freedom" and "Wake up India," read others.
India became a center for Tibetan exiles after the Dalai Lama fled there in 1959, settling in the northern town of Dharamsala.
Police stopped marchers before they could reach the Indian parliament building. Last week police barred a prominent Tibetan activist, Tenzin Tsundue, from leaving Dharamsala during the visit.
Tsundue has a reputation for publicity stunts that have embarrassed previous Chinese visitors
Most Tibetans say China has attempted to destroy Tibetan Buddhist culture by flooding Tibet with China's ethnic Han majority.
The protesters singled out Hu, who governed the Tibetan region between 1988 and 1992, saying he had adopted a repressive stance toward the region.
"After he took over as president, he has been pursuing a hardline policy in Tibet," said Dhondup Dorjee of the Tibetan Youth Congress.
Hu is set to meet with Indian President A.P.J. Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visit Agra and Mumbai before heading to Pakistan.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS