49 days on, CTA Dharamshala remembers Lobsang Palden
49 days on, CTA Dharamshala remembers Lobsang Palden
Dharamshala, Aug 18,
Forty-nine days after Tibetan activist Lobsang Palden, also known as Lobga Rangzen, died following a self-immolation protest outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, Dharamshala will on Thursday become the centre of a major Tibetan remembrance programme.
The Kashag, the cabinet of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), and the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile will jointly organise a two-hour prayer service at Tsuglagkhang from 10 am to noon on August 20, followed by a peaceful march to the Police Ground.
The programme is being organised on the 49th day since Palden’s death and is intended not only to honour him but also to commemorate Tibetans who have died in support of the Tibetan cause, the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) said in a media release.
The 49th day has particular significance in Tibetan Buddhist tradition, marking the completion of the traditional 49-day period of the intermediate state, or bardo, following death.
Palden, whom the Tibetan leadership refers to as a martyr, set himself ablaze on July 2 outside the UN headquarters in New York. Tibetan organisations said his protest was directed against China’s policies in Tibet and the recently implemented “Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress Law”.
The August 20 programme therefore comes against the backdrop of an increasingly international campaign by Tibetan organisations and supporters against the Chinese legislation, which they argue could accelerate the assimilation of Tibet’s distinct linguistic, cultural and religious identity.
The CTA has said that the new law provides a legal framework for what it describes as the further “Sinicisation” of Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians and other communities classified as ethnic minorities in China. These are the views of the Tibetan administration in exile and its supporters.
The law has also attracted criticism outside the Tibetan movement. The CTA says Australia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States have expressed concerns over its possible implications for minority communities.
For Dharamshala, however, Thursday’s programme will have a more immediate and personal significance.
Following the prayer service, the march will begin from Tsuglagkhang and proceed towards the Police Ground. The CTA has appealed to Tibetans and “friends of Tibet” to participate in what it has described as a peaceful expression of remembrance, solidarity and support.
Sikyong Penpa Tsering and other members of the Kashag are expected to participate.
The Tibetan leadership has also sought to draw a distinction between honouring Palden’s sacrifice and encouraging self-immolation as a form of protest. According to the DIIR release, Penpa Tsering has cautioned that the purpose of the march is not to suggest that self-immolation is the only avenue for expressing Tibetan aspirations, stressing that the loss of even one Tibetan patriot is a profound loss for the Tibetan cause.
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The CTA has simultaneously instructed Tibetan Settlement Offices and Offices of Tibet in different parts of the world to organise prayer services, allowing Tibetans outside Dharamshala to mark the 49th day collectively.
For a movement that has for decades made Dharamshala its political and spiritual centre in exile, the August 20 gathering will therefore bring together remembrance, religious observance and renewed political expression—centred on the death of one Tibetan activist whose final protest took place thousands of kilometres away, outside the United Nations in New York.
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