Official Resolution to Express Mourning and homage
Preamble
As a result of the fact that China makes use of nothing but an entrenched policy of violent repression, a total of 130 heroic men and women in Tibet had set themselves on fire, starting from the sacrifice made by Tapey, a 27 year old monk in Ngaba County on the 27th of February 2009, until the 15th of April 2014, and the Tibetan Parliament in Exile had adopted unanimous official resolutions to express mourning and homage for them during successive meetings up to the eighth session. This was followed by self-immolations, on successive occasions, (131) by Lhamo Tashi la, a 22 year old resident of Tsoe City in Kanlho Prefecture on 17th September 2014; (132) by Konchog la, a 42 year old resident of Domey Gade County on 17th September 2014; by (133) Sangay Khar la, a 34 year old resident of Labrang Achog on 16th December 2014; by (134) Tsepey la, a 19 year old resident of Meuruma Yultso in Nqaba County on 22 December 2014; (135) by Kalsang Yeshe la, a 37 year old monk of Nyatso Monastery in Tawu County of Kardze Prefecture on 23rd December 2014; and (136) by Norchug la, a 47 year old resident of Trotsig Depa in Ngaba County on 5 March 2015. Hence, so far, a total of 136 lay; monks and nuns have carried out self-immolation protests, according to information that have come out of Tibet and have been clearly corroborated. Among them, 117 have lost their lives while the fate of 19 of the remaining self-immolators continues to remain unknown.
The government of China continues to make all sorts of agenda-motivated, false propaganda claims both within China and to the outside world that the self-immolations in Tibet are being instigated by political and religious elements from outside the country and so on. Even more insidiously, the government of China has also been making distorted propaganda claims to try to denigrate the heroic Tibetan men and women who have set themselves on fire as acts of sacrifice for the Tibetan nation and people. On that basis, it has deployed armed forces across the length and breadth of Tibet and subjects the Tibetan people to ethnic discrimination, ethnic contempt, ethnic denigration and so on. To put it simply, China openly implements in Tibet policies that make it impossible for Tibetans to live in their own land and which seeks to transform Tibet into Chinese. Because of these, it has become impossible to get any complete information on such matters as the number of innocent Tibetans across Tibet who had been killed on false pretexts, the number of those who had been arrested or detained, and the number of those who had been and who continue to be imprisoned and tortured.
These heroic men and women who have made a sacrifice of their all, including their very lives and the joys of living, for the fundamental well being of Tibet and its religious traditions, administration, and people, will be very hard to forget in the annals of the Tibetan struggle for freedom, no matter how long the struggle continues, and their actions will definitely remain a thousand-ray luminous chapter in it. Given this background, we feel it an important requirement of the time to adopt a resolution of mourning and homage in remembrance of them.
Resolution
The Tibetan Parliament in Exile expresses appreciation and admiration for the deeds of these patriotic Tibetan men and women; prays that whatever causes for sin they may have been caused to fall into throughout their lives be cleansed and rectified so that passing through the four wheels of the excellent supreme Mahayana recourses, they may definitely attain the stage of liberation and enlightenment; prays that those who have got burned, injured, and detained and arrested by the Chinese government win release at the earliest possible moment and, expresses solidarity and empathy with both those who are alive or dead; offers prayers with great vehemence of purpose to the Ocean of the Victorious among the Three Precious Jewels of refuge that, as wished by these heroic dead or living men and women, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Lord of the Three Realms, be able to return safely to his homeland of the Snowland of Tibet, with the sunshine of freedom rising at the earliest possible moment for the entire Tibetan people in and outside Tibet.
Resolved accordingly by the Tibetan Parliament in Exile on 16 March 2015.
The above resolution was adopted unanimously by the 15th Tibetan Parliament in Exile at its 9th session on 16th of March 2015.
