Commemoration of the 59th Tibetan Women’s Uprising day in Dharamsala
By Lobsang Tenchoe
DHARAMSALA, March 12: Tibetan women from every walk of life took part in the Tibetan Women’s Association’s (TWA) commemoration of the 59th anniversary of the Tibetan Women’s Uprising Day and marched from Mcleod Ganj to Dharamsala.
Sonam Dolkar, former Education Director of the Tibetan Children’s Village School and Rinchen Khando, founding president of TWA and former Kalon, attended the commemoration ceremony held at the Tibetan National Martyrs’ memorial at the entrance of Tsug-lag-Khang, the main temple in McLeod Ganj as Chief Guest and Special Guest respectively.
TWA, in their statement, paid tribute to those patriotic Tibetan women who selflessly sacrificed their lives for Tibet on March 12, 1959.
“Today TWA pays its tribute to those patriotic Tibetan women who selflessly sacrificed their lives for Tibet, we hereby pledge to keep their spirit alive. The present generation of Tibetan women inside and outside Tibet remains indebted to them for their courage and determination. With their sacrifice as the inspiration to look up to, we are determined to strive to fulfill their cherished dream of freedom for the people of Tibet,” the statement read.
The women’s group further called on the Chinese President Xi Jinping to resume dialogue with the representatives of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to resolve the Tibetan issue and the Chinese government to respect human rights and review their repressive policies in Tibet. It also urged the United Nations and the world leaders to press China for its atrocities in Tibet.
Following the anniversary function, TWA led a peace march from the main temple in McLeod Ganj to Kacheri in lower Dharamsala to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the Tibetan Women’s Uprising Day.
On March 12, 1959, two days after the March 10 uprising in the Tibetan capital, thousands of Tibetan women took to the streets of Lhasa, demanding freedom and protested against the illegal occupation of Tibet by the Chinese regime. Tibetans observe the day as Tibetan Women’s Uprising day.
