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As many as 159 Tibetans have set themselves on fire within the borders of China since 2009, according to a tally maintained by Radio Free Asia.
Another ten have taken their lives in Nepal and India, US government-funded organisation data says. Experts believe Tibetans, many of whom are monks, kill themselves in this atrocious way due to the persecution they endure under China's rule of their country. The Chinese authorities last month placed Lhasa under tight control after Tibetan singer Tsewang Norbu died of severe burns. Tsewang Norbu died in the People's Hospital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Tibet's capital of Lhasa in the first weekend of March, reliable sources had informed the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT). Judging by the current security measures to conceal his death and past state practices toward Tibetan political activists, it is likely that his body was not returned to his family and instead secretly cremated. Apparently, to ensure that Tsewang's death was not leaked to the outside world, security was beefed up in the hospital as well as throughout Lhasa, residents of the city have been placed under tight control, reported ICT. Security officers from the local police station, the Domestic Security Bureau, the department of the Ministry of Public Security responsible for dealing with dissidents and activists, and a large contingent of security in plain clothes have been deployed heavily inside the hospital. The patients, medical professionals and hospital staff were reportedly anxious at the heavy deployment of security in the hospital, reported ICT. One source confirmed that the singer was extremely burned and died in the hospital, which is located nearby to the east of Potala Palace and close to the headquarters of Tibet Daily, a Chinese state media news outlet. The singer was earlier reported to have self-immolated on February 25 at the Barpokaling Stupa in front of the Potala Palace's far-right corner. "In those old days armed reaction was a possibility, or many thought it was. Today, Tibetans believe that option is over, and for very practical reasons. Thus, they turn to self-immolation," Italian journalist Marco Respinti wrote in the Bitter Winter Magazine. Respinti, who is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), said self-immolation comes chiefly from a religious hope, considering that a non-violent act can change the world. (ANI)
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