China should stop cruelty against Tibetans

First the country messed up the world hiding facts about the onset and about the nature of the coronavirus. Next it used World Health Organisation to the hilt in defending itself using its clout over it. Next, it unleashed a barrage of anti-West publicity in general and in particular, anti-US tirade. While all this was going on, China began feeling the heat of investment flight as the industrial atmosphere is not conducive for others to continue business with China.

India is only waiting in the wings to grab the opportunity that comes once in a lifetime. After all, the flight of investment from China is not going to be a small and mean amount. And so along with India, Indonesia, Vietnam and others too are awaiting the development. Unable to focus on the deadly contagion still spreading on its soil and also unable to stop reverse flow of investments, China began adopting a hawkish position towards its neighbours threatening them with landgrab. This has been the hallmark of its foreign policy always. Befriend it, it will grab your land in the name of investments, unfriend it, it will change the contours of its maps. This is for sure. While, this accusation is not without proof, there is another aspect of the country - cruelty towards occupied lands like Tibet.

The repression China has unleashed against Uighurs is well known. Tibet has been a silent sufferer with none coming to its rescue. The colonisation of Tibet, the cultural devastation unleashed by China on the people there and the harsh laws it adopts to 'mend' people not agreeing with it have now crossed all limits of human tolerance. The latest in the string of abuses unleashed against Tibet by the Chinese is the conviction of at least 51 Tibetans through a national anti-crime campaign. The government adopted a nationwide "anti-gang crime" campaign in 2018 to suppress drug and gambling related crimes, however, it has been used to sentence 51 Tibetans up to 9 years in prison for "peacefully petitioning or protesting issues related to religion, environmental protection, land rights, and official corruption.

" The campaign is also known as 'The Sweep Away Gangs, Root Out Evil Special Struggle' that considers any 'spokespersons of the masses' on environmental protection or the promotion of Tibetan language, folk traditions, culture to be classified as a form of gang-crime. Taking part in local dispute mediation by non-officials is also banned, a traditional civil function conducted by lamas or other locally respected figures in Tibet. The political objectives were evident in the official document starting the campaign in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) in 2018. The directive stated that activities that "undermine local-level general elections" or actions that involved a group of individuals "stirring up trouble in land acquisition, leases, demolitions, engineering projects, and the like" were to be considered a form of gang crime, Tibetan activists reveal. The anti-gang crime campaign has singled out Tibetans for their opinions and normal social activities and treats them as criminals. Chinese authorities should end these abusive prosecutions and free all those wrongfully detained.