Indian journalist tells Tibet's reality, slaps separatists' lies

• Source: Xinhua
• [09:38 October 23 2009]
• Comments

 
A participant reads the "Report on the Economic and Social Development of Tibet" during the Second Forum on Tibet, in Rome, Italy, Oct. 22, 2009. (Xinhua Photo)

A famous Indian journalist and publisher revealed the true reality of China's Tibet here on Thursday, refuting lies made by the Dalai Lama and his separatist followers.

In an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of a two-day forum on development of Tibet, Narasimhan Ram, editor-in-chief of the Hindu and Group publications, said the separatists told lies about Tibet to the world.

They told lies not only concerning the death toll in the March 14 riots in 2008, but also concerning the real purpose of the Dalai Lama's remarks of not seeking for independence, he said.

"Unnamed Tibetan exile sources said that up to a hundred, if not hundreds of, people died in the March-April 2008 riots; and that Chinese security forces cracked down on or brutalized unarmed protesters or opened fire on crowds of civilians," Ram said.

"The reality is the riot that broke out in Lhasa on March 14, 2008 claimed a confirmed toll of 18 innocent civilian lives, and it was the handiwork of violent, thuggish, ransacking mobs," he said.

Ram said the rioters in Lhasa "committed murder, arson, and other acts of savagery against innocent civilians and caused huge damage to public and private property."

He said information released by Chinese law enforcement authorities tended to be treated with scepticism, if not derision, by the Western media.

"However, as the evidence on the nature of the riots piled up, the realization dawned that it was too much to expect any legitimate government of a major country to turn the other cheek to such savagery and such a breakdown of public order," he said.

Speaking at the forum, Ram corrected distorted lens made by the propaganda of the so-called "Tibetan government-in-exile" in Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama and some Western media.

"A notable feature of recent Western media coverage of Tibet is the way journalism feeds off the disinformation campaign unleashed by the Dalai Lama's headquarters and the votaries of Tibetan 'independence,' without any attempt at independent reporting," said the senior Indian journalist, who paid three trips to Tibet.

The West demanded China "initiate" a "sincere" dialogue with the Dalai Lama to find a "just" and "sustainable" political solution in Tibet, he said.

"But this is precisely what China has done for three decades," he added.