TIBETANS SLAM DALAI LAMA PORTRAIT BAN AS PROVOCATIVE

TIBETANS SLAM DALAI LAMA PORTRAIT BAN AS PROVOCATIVE
2003-11-23
http://origin.rfaweb.org/front/article.html?service=eng&encoding=10&id=121479
Tibet's government-in-exile has described as provocative a ban by the
Chinese government on portraits of the Dalai Lama in two Tibetan areas
in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, RFA's Tibetan service
reports.

Tibetans in Lithang and Karze have been warned they would lose their
land unless they surrendered portraits of their spiritual leader by a
mid-December deadline, according to the government-in-exile, based in
Dharamsala, India.

"Since His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the political and religious
leader of six million Tibetans, it is very important to keep and
display photos of His Holiness to show respect and devotion,"
spokesman Sonam Norbu Dakpo told RFA in an interview.

"We believe that such restrictions are aimed at provoking Tibetans to
violent acts for the Chinese to suppress."

He said the ban aimed to deprive Tibetans of their right to practice
the religion of their choice, which is enshrined in the Chinese
constitution.

"There were also reports of the confiscation of land if photos of
Dalai Lama are not surrendered by [the] deadline," he added.

"This is a serious situation for local Tibetans whose livelihood and
survival is dependent on land and livestock. The exile government
would like to request that the Chinese government withdraw such
restrictions."

A local government official in Ganzi was quoted by Agence
France-Presse as confirming the ban. "This order has been in existence
for years," the agency quoted an official surnamed Li at the Ganzi
Religious Affairs Administration as saying.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India in 1959 following a failed
uprising against Chinese rule in Lhasa.

China regularly accuses the 68-year-old monk of being a "splittist"
and objects to his meetings with world leaders.

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to meet this week in Rome with Pope John
Paul II and address a conference alongside fellow Nobel peace laureate
Mikhail Gorbachev.#####