Tibetans continue to rally against 2008 Beijing Olympics

Hundreds of Tibetans here continued to rally against China hosting the 2008 Olympics, saying that the Beijing should fulfill its pledge on human rights or give up hosting the Games altogether.

Shimla, Aug 9 : Hundreds of Tibetans here continued to rally against China hosting the 2008 Olympics, saying that the Beijing should fulfill its pledge on human rights or give up hosting the Games altogether.

"We do not want the Olympic there in China. We will protest on that time," said Yashi Yangzom, a member of the Tibetan Youth Congress.

Protests have been mounting as Beijing prepares for their one-year countdown to the Games on Wednesday.

Exiled Tibetans living in India are planning to hold their own Olympics ahead of the Beijing Olympics to draw international community's attention towards their freedom struggle.

The "Tibetan Olympics 2008" scheduled to be held between May15-25, 2008 in Dharamsala. The Tibet Olympic torch is to be carried from New Delhi to Dharamsala.

Protesters also accused Beijing's of holding spiritual leader Panchen Lama in captivity and also decried the rail line linking Tibet to the Chinese mainland.

"The first is the eleventh Panchen Lama. The second is a railway track making in China, we want to know how much resources they are taking away from Tibetan," said Yashi.

Tibet's 11th Panchen Lama, Gedun Choekyi Nyima, is said to be in Chinese captivity since July 1995. Nyima was named the reincarnation of the previous Panchen Lama by the Dalai Lama on May 14, 1995.

The Chinese authorities have designated their own Panchen Lama, but few Tibetans recognise the child as legitimate.

The Tibetan designated Panchen Lama disappeared in July 1995, and in 1996, the Chinese Government said he has been put under 'Chinese protection on the request of his parents'.

China has repeatedly turned down requests for access to the boy who the Tibetans term as the 'Youngest Prisoner of the World'.

An estimated 134,000 Tibetans live in-exile, a majority of them in India and Nepal.

The Dalai Lama set up his seat of power in Himachal Pradesh, after he and his followers fled to India in 1959, nine years after China occupied Tibet.

The Dalai Lama says he wants greater autonomy, not independence, for his predominantly Buddhist homeland, but China considers him a separatist and accuses him of continuing to promote Tibetan independence.

ANI