Dharamshala: - On the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India, Tibetan Women's Association (TWA), claims itself to be the largest women's political organization in exile, urges the Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to raise the crucial issue of Tibet with his Chinese counterpart while wishing him a happy 64th birthday.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Tashi Dolma President of TWA said they had called on Xi Jinping to face the Tibet Challenge by holding talks with the Tibetan leadership in exile, particularly with the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Releasing a previous campaign video 'Xi Face the Tibet Challenge', which was initially launched in 2013, the day Xi Jinping formally assumed the Chinese presidency. "Over 200 Tibetan women representing 33 regional chapters of TWA staged the campaign at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi with three key slogans: Xi Jinping, end the repression in Tibet, Xi Jinping, resolve the Tibet crisis now, and Xi Jinping, face the Tibet Challenge," the group said on the eve of Xi Jinping's India visit.
"Sadly, over the last 18 months, we didn't see the Chinese Government under Xi's leadership address the legitimate grievances of Tibetan people inside Tibet," said Ms. Tashi Dolma.
'The situation in Tibet is exacerbated by a deepening crackdown by the Chinese government on any forms of peaceful expressions for freedom by the Tibetan people, thus deepening the anguish Tibetans feel. Human rights situation in Tibet is marked by deterioration of rights protection and an intensification of clampdowns,' she said.
She stated that "there have been arbitrary shootings, arrests, and the indiscriminate use of force in Tibet - actions which have reduced Tibetans to the level of a subject people. The denial of religious freedom and large-scale government sponsored settlements by non-Tibetans threaten to obliterate Tibetan identity."
For the last 30 years of TWA's history in exile, TWA has said 'they have been calling on the Chinese government to peacefully resolve the issue of Tibet. But their stringent and repressive policies have engendered a forbidding situation that has spiraled a spate of self-immolations inside Tibet, of 130 Tibetans including 21 Women.'
"Therefore today, as Xi Jinping steps into India, the exile homeland for Tibetans, we call on him to review China's failed policies in Tibet, to end the crisis inside Tibet and significantly to fulfill the genuine aspirations of the Tibetan people who sacrificed their lives calling for 'freedom for Tibetans inside Tibet' and for 'the dignified return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama back to Tibet'," said Dolma.
A week prior to Xi Jinping's India visit, TWA also has submitted an appeal letter to the Indian Minister for External Affairs Smt. Sushma Sawara urging her to raise Tibet problems. TWA said it's leaders will also engage in a two-day direct lobby campaign with the Indian leaders.
