Tibetan man self-immolates in Ngaba County in eastern Tibet
By Lobsang Tenchoe
DHRAMSALA, Dec 25: A Tibetan man engulfed in fire in a video circulating on social media sites has been identified as Konpe and has passed away after his fiery protest.
Konpe reportedly self-immolated in Ngaba County in Amdo on 6:30 pm(Local Time) in an apparent protest against China’s repressive rule in Tibet on Dec 23.
Of late, video of Konpe’s fiery protest has been circulating across social media sites. In the video, he can be seen marching forward on the street in front of Kirti monastery in Ngaba County while his entire body was engulfed in fire.
Chinese police are said to have arrived within minutes at the protest site and took Konpe to Barkham but he passed away around 5 am(Local Time).
The Chinese police are said to have summoned his family to Barkham to collect his remains, but the Chinese police has dentanted his father claiming that tens of thousands of Yuan were spent on medical treatment for his son.
Konpe, son of Gyakyap and Thindok . Konpe, hails from Chukle Gongma pastoral community in Cha village but moved to Meruma Township in Ngaba region in eastern Tibet’s Amdo Province after his marriage a year ago. He is the 151st Tibetan known to have self-immolated inside Tibet since 2009.
Though the Central Tibetan Administration(CTA) headquartered in Dharamsala has repeatedly urged Tibetans not to resort to drastic measures such as self-immolation, the saga of fiery protests by the Tibetans continues.
“Despite repeated appeals from the Central Tibetan Administration, at least 151 Tibetans have set themselves on fire inside Tibet since 2009. The Chinese government should realise that the cause as well as the solution to this wave of fiery protests lie with the Chinese government itself,” a report by CTA’s official webpage Tibet.net cited President Dr Lobsang Sangay as saying after Konpe’s fiery protest.
