The US on Tuesday urged China to respect the rights of Tibetans and address their grievances after two monks set themselves on fire, triggering a security clampdown.
The US Department of State also urged China to allow journalists and diplomats to observe the situation in Sichuan Province’s Aba County, which has seen a string of protests and self-immolations by monks.
The State Department said in a statement it was “seriously concerned” by attempts on Monday by two monks at the Kirti monastery — in China’s southwest — to self-immolate in an apparent call for religious freedom.
Although both were reported to have survived and were taken to hospital, a witness said one of the two appeared to have suffered very serious injuries and was “unlikely to have survived.”
“In light of the continuing underlying grievances of China’s Tibetan population, we again urge Chinese leaders to respect the rights of Tibetans,” the State Department said.
It also called for Beijing “to address policies in Tibetan areas that have created tension, and to protect Tibetans’ unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity.”
“We continue to urge the Chinese government to allow access to Tibetan areas of China for both journalists and diplomats,” it said.
Kirti monastery has been the scene of repeated protests against perceived religious repression, rights groups said, and previous self-immolations in the region have triggered a heavy-handed crackdown.
Locals said on Tuesday that police had cut Internet services and blocked roads near Kirti, also ordering groups of more than six people to break up.
One of the two monks who set themselves ablaze was believed to be the brother of Phuntsog, a young Kirti monk whose self--immolation in March led to protests and a major security crackdown in the area. Phuntsog was the second monk at Kirti to set himself on fire since the anti-Chinese riots in Lhasa of March 2008.
“Since the self-immolation of young monk Phuntsog in March, Kirti monks have ‘disappeared’ and returned, broken by torture,” Mary Beth Markey of the International Campaign for Tibet said.
“Suicide is seen as the worst kind of taking of life and prohibited according to Tibetan Buddhist principles, so their actions are a measure of the anguish these young monks feel,” she said.
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