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(PTI) Jan. 3, 04 - His Holiness the Dalai Lama has called upon the people of India to follow their country's tradition of 'ahimsa', non-violence.

'For thousands of years, India is following tradition of ahimsa. Indians must show the world that people of different religions can live together peacefully,' he said at a function organised by Sri Sathya Sai International Centre and School for Study and Research in Human Values in New Delhi.

Jan. 4, 04 - London-based Tibet Information Network (TIN) reports that Chinese authorities have conferred the honorary title 'Model Frontier Police Substation' on the Pali Border Police Substation, Shigatse as a reward for its success in arresting Tibetans attempting to escape into neighbouring Sikkim.

TIN quotes a December 8 report by Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, stating that the award is for, 'safeguarding the motherland's unification and peace in the border areas,' and, 'the police substation has cracked five cases of people attempting to flee the country and caught 27 who sought to flee. It has also discovered and handled in good time several dozen problems relating to the social order of the border areas.'

Dharamsala; Jan 7, 04 - Thieves have broken into and robbed Geden Choeling nunnery of its thankas (religious paintings). All of the thankas taken were brought from Tibet, and are considered very precious by the nuns for that reason.

Thieves, black marketeers, and unscrupulous collectors have their own less noble motives for considering stolen religious art precious.

This callous crime should remind us all that the chief value of Tibetan artefacts is that they are a part of a living culture under dire threat.

JTG

(IANS) January 08, 2004 - Addressing reporters at a Tibetan refugee settlement in Chandragiri in Orissa's Gajapati district, the Dalai Lama said Chinese immigrants were gradually increasing in many areas of Tibet. As a result, Tibetans were fast becoming a minority, the Nobel Laureate said.

[Ed. - From the days of America's Wild West to the wars of Yugoslavia to the building of settlements and fences in the Occupied Territories, population transfer, though illegal under international law, has proven itself to be an effective way to retain conquered land. The 'migration' of Chinese into Tibet is expected to take a quantum leap after the completion of the Qinghai-Lhasa rail link.]

SFT Norway: Jan.7, 04 - Students for Free Tibet of Norway today carried out a Candle Light Vigil in front of the Norwegian Parliament to Campaign for release of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.

Despite very cold weather and lots of snow, the Vigil was carried out from 8 am to 6 pm.

From 7th January through the 7th April, Students for Free Tibet Norway will hold a Vigil at the same venue.

[Ed. - Nobody sits shivering in the cold for fun (well, nobody with any sense); so get out there and lend the good friends at SFT Norway a hand if you happen to be in the area.]

The Guardian; Jan. 9, 04 - Tony Blair was today accused of snubbing one of the world's great spiritual leaders, after refusing a meeting with the Dalai Lama.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader - who preaches non-violence in his country's struggle for independence from China - will visit the UK in May, but has been rejected for an audience with the prime minister.

Philippa Carrick, chief executive of the Tibet Society, said: "The Dalai Lama deserves better than Tony Blair's feeble fob-off response."

The Tibet Society said that, in the context of the global fight against terrorism, the prime minister should take the opportunity to support a man who has always urged his followers to use peaceful means in the struggle for their independence.

International Campaign for Tibet(ICT) reports that the fourth World Social Forum, being held in the Mumbai, India, January 16 - 21, 2004,
will host a series of events highlighting the rights of the Tibetan people, including a conference dealing with the common housing and land rights problems of Tibetans and Palestinians.

South African Friends of Tibet - Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, pledged Catholic support for Tibet in a letter addressed to The Christian Friends of Tibet based in South Africa: "I am pleased to inform you that the SACBC [SA Bishops' Conference] endorses the work of the Christian Friends of Tibet in South Africa to promote and defend religious and cultural freedom and other human rights for the Tibetan people and lends its support, when possible, to this cause.

Student's for Free Tibet - Tibetans and supporters hailed BP's decision yesterday to divest its stake in PetroChina, China's largest state-owned oil company. BP has been the target of a campaign by Tibetans and activists since it became PetroChina's largest foreign shareholder after the company's initial public offering in 2000. BP's $578 million dollar investment was the amount needed by PetroChina to build a gas pipeline in Tibet, a project opposed by local and exiled Tibetans as a political move aimed at consolidating China's control over the region.

SFT - Namdrol Lhamo, one of the last two of the Drapchi 14 nuns in prison, was released on September 21, 2003. Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) just received this news from sources monitoring the situation inside Tibet. Namdrol Lhamo was a nun at Tashi Choeling Nunnery. She was 28 years old when she was arrested for demonstrating for Tibetan independence in May 1992. Her sentence was extended when she was caught, along with 13 fellow nuns, secretly recording and distributing tapes of freedom songs and messages to their families. After completing her 12 year sentence in Drapchi prison, Namdrol Lhamo is finally free. Phuntsog Nyidron is the now the last of the Drapchi 14 still in jail.

The speaker of the Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies (Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile), Mr Pema Jungney, attended the World Parliamentary Forum (WPF) in Mumbai, India, this morning after the Forum decided yesterday to accept the participation of Tibetan parliamentarians. "I think this is a great and historic day for Tibetans because our parliamentarians have been recognised at a global meeting," said Lobsang Galak, coordinator of the Tibetan Delegation to the World Social Forum (WSF). This is a reversal of an earlier decision to exclude the Tibetan delegation, and is thought to have resulted from intense lobbying led by Italian delegates to the conference.

PARIS, Jan 21 (AFP) - The head of the French parliamentary committee on Tibet announced on Wednesday that he intended to boycott a speech by Chinese President Hu Jintao before the French National Assembly next week. "I will not be present in parliament for the visit by the president of the world's largest dictatorship," said Lionnel Luca, a member of the right-wing ruling majority. "I will join the associations defending freedom and democracy in both Tibet and China in the Invalides" square, near the French foreign ministry, where a demonstration has been planned to coincide with Hu's speech on Tuesday.

International Campaign for Tibet - More details have emerged about the torture and maltreatment of 18 Tibetans who were forcibly repatriated by Nepal to Chinese authorities in May 2003. Former inmates from the prison cells in Shigatse, Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), have recounted incidents where the 18 deportees were shocked with electric batons, repeatedly kicked in the genitals and forced to stand naked outside for four to five hours at a time, three to four times a week.

One former inmate recalled prison guards beating members of the group of 18 Tibetans while yelling, "Think about why you tried to go and see the Dalai Lama."

Another former inmate in the same prison told the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), "When they put the electric cattle prod in my mouth, you could feel it through your entire body and you faint from the pain."

A 30-year old Tibetan nun has been jailed by the Dept. of Homeland Security in the USA, even though a federal immigration judge had already granted her asylum. Sonam, who doesn't speak english, will probably be incarcerated at least until the autumn, unable to communicate with her jailers. Sonam risked her life by walking for 8 days through snow-covered Himalayan passes to Nepal in order to escape persecution in Tibet, where her father and some friends had been arrested and tortured.

A 30-year-old Tibetan nun has been jailed by the Dept. of Homeland Security in the USA, even though a federal immigration judge had already granted her asylum. Sonam, who doesn't speak english, will probably be incarcerated at least until the autumn, unable to communicate with her jailers. Sonam risked her life by walking for 8 days through snow-covered Himalayan passes to Nepal in order to escape persecution in Tibet, where her father and some friends had been arrested and tortured.

ICT (Kathmandu) - Three Tibetan refugees, including one minor, were handed over to Chinese border police by Nepalese officials at the Friendship Bridge border post at Dram on 13 January, according to ICT sources in the area. The latest deportations follow at least three other reported incidents of forcible repatriation of Tibetans by Nepalese officials at the end of December. According to ICT sources in Dram, Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) personnel from the Tatopani area arrested three Tibetans approximately 20 kilometers south of the Nepal-Tibet border. The army personnel transported the refugees in a van back to the border and turned them over to Nepalese immigration officials. The Department of Immigration officials reportedly walked them over the Friendship Bridge and handed them over to Chinese border security.

On February 2, 2004, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly
passed H.Res.157, which calls on the Chinese government to release
Tibetans held as prisoners of conscience for their involvement in
efforts to end the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The resolution was
introduced in March 2003 by Representative Tom Udall (D-NM) and
cosponsored by 66 additional Members of Congress, including
Representatives Kaptur (D-OH), Rohrabacher (R-CA), Smith (R-NJ), and
Wolf (R-VA). The legislation passed with 391 votes in favor and none in opposition.

See:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c108:2:./temp/~c1088wo38L::

The University of Toronto has announced that it will confer an honorary doctor of laws degree at a special convocation ceremony Tuesday, April 27, at Convocation Hall. 'We are delighted to be able to honour the Dalai Lama at the University of Toronto this spring,' said President Robert Birgeneau. 'In these uncertain times, he stands as a beacon for peace and harmony. His life is an inspiration for those who value human dignity and prize spiritual and political freedom.' His Holiness will also receive the International Acharya Sushil Kumar Peace Award, named in honour of the most revered teacher in the Jain religion, whose life was also dedicated to non-violence and non-absolutism in religion. His Holiness will confer the Kalachakra initiation in Toronto in April.

TYC - Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) which stands for the complete independence of Tibet will undertake a ‘Freedom March’ commencing from February 11 to highlight the ever growing violation of the fundamental human rights and freedoms in Tibet under the repressive regime of communist China and seek support from the international community in general and the United Nations in particular. Foregoing the celebration of the Tibetan New Year in February, TYC activists from all over India and abroad will take part in the said freedom march.