There is a shared spiritual connection as usual between Buddhists here in Syracuse and Buddhists across the world. When there are problems for Buddhists anyplace in the world there is tension here in Syracuse and prayers. And so there are a lot of anxieties among Syracuse Buddhists due to reports about the recent oppression of a Tibetan group in Nepal.
Sudeshna Sarkar has written for the Tibet Sun "Nepal cracks down on Tibet war veterans welfare group", http://bit.ly/e3VWTj. The New York-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) has said the Nepal police has cracked down on an organization looking after Tibetan resistance fighters. These Tibetan freedom fighters fought a long guerrilla war against the Chinese invasion and annexation of their country in the 1950s and 1960s.
Nepal police dressed in riot gear shut down local elections for the leadership of the Chushi Gangdruk, a Tibetan community group principally looking after the welfare of veterans of the Tibetan resistance force that battled the Chinese People’s Liberation Army from 1958 to 1974. The Kathmandu police raided three locations where the voting was taking place: Swoyambhu, Jawalakhel and Boudha — areas in Kathmandu valley with a concentration of Tibetan refugees.
Vans arrived at the Tibetan voting halls with Nepal police wearing riot-gear and carrying guns and batons who said the raids were ordered on the ground that Tibetans were prohibited from taking part in any election. The organization has said it helps poor and homeless people, cleans the streets and looks after the environment in the Tibetan community.
In 2010 Nepal’s police also prevented Tibetans from taking part in elections for the government-in-exile of Tibetan leader Dalai Lama in Dharamshala in India. Nepal’s “One China policy” has been frequently invoked by authorities as the reason to shut down community activities in the Tibetan community that had previously been allowed, which has included the Chushi Gandruk elections and celebrations of the Dalai Lama’s birthday. There is now an environment of fear and insecurity in Nepal’s Tibetan communities.
Under pressure from China, Nepal has also refused to recognize as refugees those who arrived after 1989. This has significantly limited their social, economic, political and civil rights. Tibetan refugees now are also not allowed to register marriages and the birth of children. And so Buddhists here in Syracuse are in deep spiritual pain about the oppression of Tibetans in Nepal and often pray for their well being.
Mandel News Service: http://www.mandelnews.com
