Brief Highlights - Tibet Post International

Retract Congrats to Communists

Montréal, Friday, 8 July 2011: - The Canada Tibet Committee is calling upon the Conservative Party of Canada to retract the congratulatory letter that the party sent to the Communist Party of China (CPC) on its 90th anniversary.

The letter's existence first reported first by Chinese news agencies congratulates the communists on their anniversary and notes that the Conservative party "look(s) forward to future relations between the two parties."

``Wittingly or not someone at the Conservative party fell into a trap that only serves the propaganda interests of one of the most repressive regimes in the world and the right thing to do is to eat the flattering, backslapping words and do so publicly,`` said CTC executive director Dermod Travis.

``The Conservative party under former leaders would have shuddered at the thought of sending a similar letter to the National party of South Africa while that regime practiced its repressive policies of apartheid and someone at today`s Conservative HQ should be wise enough to appreciate that the CPC regime - which only maintains power through military oppression - doesn`t deserve congratulations, but rebuke.``

The CTC urges the Harper government to send a note to its political wing to cease interfering in Canadian foreign policy to avoid such misguided missives in the future.

The Canada Tibet Committee is an independent non-governmental organization of Tibetans and non-Tibetans living in Canada, who are concerned about the continuing human rights violations and lack of democratic freedom in Tibet.

Through the Eyes of Nomads

Dharamshala- The Tibetan exile community of Mc Leod Ganj has witnessed changes on an unimaginable scale since His Holiness the Dalai Lama's first arrival on 30th April 1960. It has moved from being an abandoned, remote British hill station, to a highly developed tourism juggernaut; a sanctuary for Tibetan-exiles, and the locus of co-coordinating the Tibetan struggle. The town has been changing at a breakneck speed.

China Bans Foreign Tourists in Tibet

Dharamshala: Ahead of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, Tibet will be closed to foreign tourists as well as non-Chinese researchers and scholars. According to reports from RFA and AFP news agency, foreigners will not be admitted into Tibet until at least the end of July.

"At the moment we're not admitting foreign tourists," a representative from the China Travel Service in Tibet's capital of Lhasa told AFP. A separate travel agent from Lhasa told RFA: "No travel agencies will take foreigners into Tibet. There must be something political, something the government does not want them to see."

In Lhasa, even Tibetans who are not registered as residents there, were reported being expelled. "Many Tibetans who came from Qinghai and Yunnan were told to return home by the end of June, and Tibetan businessmen without official permits have also been told to leave Lhasa and return to their hometowns,"RFA quoted an anonymous Tibetan residing in the city as saying. The current ban marks the second time this year that Tibet has been closed off to foreigners. During the politically sensitive month of March where Tibetans marked the 52nd anniversary of China's brutal suppression of a Tibetan national uprising, a ban on foreigners visiting to Tibet was imposed.

Also, the birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which falls on Jul 6, is a particularly sensitive occasion to the Chinese government.

Highway in Eastern Tibet Reopens After landslide

Dharamshala: - A crucial highway in Tibet was reopened to traffic on Tuesday, after a massive land slide the day before had resulted in the trapping of more than 100 people in nearly 60 vehicles. The landslide is believed to have occurred due to heavy rain in the past few days.

The highway links the so called Tibetan Autonomous Region with Eastern Tibet, the road was reopened to the public at 8:20 local time after rescue teams cleared the debris from the landslide that have coved almost 30 meters of the road. This is a mountainous of the country. Twenty five officers were mobilized to clear up the almost 900 cubic meters of debris, with an excavator and two loading machines.

In 2010, over 700 people are reported dead and 2,000 more were missing after devastating overnight floods and landslides hit Drugchu (Chinese name: Zhouqu), eastern Tibet.

Class X Board Exam Results Declared

Dharamshala: - The overall pass percentage of the 28 Tibetan schools in this year's Class X board exams recorded 98.93%, an increased around 7 percent from the last year's 91.44%. The result of Class X board exam was announced on 4 June.

The school-wise ranking is (1) CST Chandragiri (100% pass percentage), CST Chauntra (100%), CST CVP Bylakuppe (100%), CST Darjeeling (100%), CST Dholanji (100%), CST Gurupura (100%), CST Kalimpong (100%), CST Kollegal (100%), CST Mungod (100%), CST Mussoorie (100%), CST Shimla (100%), CST Sonada (100%), CST Bhuntar (100%), CST Chauntra (100%), TCV, Lower, Dharamshala (100%), TCV Selakui (100%), TCV-SOS, Bylakuppe (100%), TCV-SOS, Suja (100%), THF, Mussoorie (100%), THF, Rajpur(100%), TCV Gopalpur (98.99%), TCV-SOS Ladakh (98.44%), CST Dalhousie (97.96%), CST Herbertpur (97.30%), TCV Upper Dharamshala (96.77%), CST Paonta (95.56%), TNM, Clementown (90.48%) and CST Bylakuppe (88.89%).

A total of 1864 students appeared in the examination. 1844 students qualified the exams and 20 students were in the category of Eligible for Improvement of Performance (EIOP).

The individual toppers of the year are Tenzin Wangchuk of CST Kollegal), Pratibha Jaswal of CST Shimla, Tenzin Paldon of TCV Selakui and Tenzin Norzin of CST Bylakuppe with 10 Grade Point Average (GPA). Those who secured second position are Spandan Raut of CST Mussoorie, Tenzin Kunkyap of TCV Selakui and Tenzin Wangdak of CST Bylakuppe with 9.8 GPA. The pass percentages of the boys and girls are 98.82% and 99.4% respectively.

Tibetan Association Pays Tribute to Current Tibet PM

Dharamshala: - The Kham Tehor Welfare Association presented a memento as a tribute to Kalon Tripa Prof. Samdong Rinpoche on 21 May for his faithful service under the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The association said that it is a mark of respect on behalf of all its members who felt obliged to thank Kalon Tripa Prof Samdong Rinpoche for his unwavering dedication to the Central Tibetan Administration and the achievements made during the last ten years in office.

A delegation comprising of 20 members of Trehore Welfare association from Nepal, Byllakupee, Delhi, Bir and Dharamsala presented the memento to Kalon Tripa at the Kashag.

Kalon Tripa was honoured with a golden statue of Tara, Great Treatise of Lama Tsong Khapa and a stupa.

The association also praised Kalon Tripa for his lifelong dedication and service in looking after the welfare of Tibetans in exile and more importantly for his devotion and commitment to serve the under His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Live Webcast of Tibetan National General Meeting

Dharamshala: - The Second Tibetan National General Meeting beginning Friday (21 May) at Tibetan Children's Village School auditorium will be webcast live on www.tibetonline.tv.

The webcast of the inaugural and closing sessions of the meeting will begin at 9:30am (Indian Standard Time) on 21 and 23 May respectively.

A total of 418 participants will gather at the meeting to deliberate on the draft amendments to the Charter on the devolution of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's political authorities to the democratically elected Tibetan leadership.

Also read: Charter Drafting Committee Issues Draft Preamble and Related Article.