Peace will bring freedom; Tibetan activists

Mumbai, Nov 23 (UNI) More than 300 Tibetan and Indian protestors, under the banner of 'Friends of Tibet,' were on a day-long fast here at Azad Maidan today protesting against the Chinese occupation of Tibet, even as Chinese President Hu Jintao was in the commercial capital.

The Tibetan protestors, mostly students and professionals from neighbouring Gujarat and Karnataka, slammed the four-day official visit of the Chinese President to India.

Declaring HU as the "world's leading autocrat," Tibetan activists, protested the "ongoing repression and plunder" of Tibetan people and culture by the Chinese regime.

Tsering (27), a farmer from Mudgod district in Karnataka, said his people were "stateless and had no identity of their own" "I am a second generation Tibetan and still living as a refugee in India,'' he said, adding his fervent hope that one day, their peaceful cries would make China free their homeland.

The protestors, many of whom are students from various parts of India, began their fast by singing the Tibetan national song followed by the Indian National Anthem, taking even the police personnel by surprise.

Chanting the Bhuddist prayer of peace and freedom, Tukpa Dorje (19), who is an undergraduate in Baroda, claimed that the Chinese had no reason to occupy Tibet illegally, as they had nothing in common with Tibetans, either language or religion''.

The Tibetan language, being phonetic, has alphabets inspired from Brahmi/Sanskrit words and is written horizontally, while the Chinese language has no alphabets and it is written vertically.

Similarly, the Tibetans follow Buddhism, whereas the Chinese follow Confucianism, which is more of a social code of behaviour and a combination of ancestor-worship and Taoism, he said.

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