Ensure free media inside Tibet: Tibetans-in-exile

Dharamshala, Mar 23 Several Tibetans-in-exile here have tonsured their hair en masse and expressed solidarity with the anti-China protestors in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

They also appealed to the world to mount pressure on the Chinese authorities to ensure free media access in Tibet. "More than one hundred people have already cut their hair. The Chinese Government has kicked out all the mediapersons from Tibet and information is not emerging from Tibet. All the countries should mount pressure on the Chinese to allow the free media inside Tibet," said Ugen Tenzin, Director of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. Meanwhile, according to agency reports, scores of Tibetan clergy continued with their chain hunger strike and offered prayers for those martyred in the Chinese crackdown on Tibetan protestors in Lhasa and other adjoining provinces.

"We are hoping that our chants and prayers will reach them. There are so many people captured by the Chinese regime," said Sonam Dechen, an activist of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress. Tibetan religious leader, the Dalai Lama has been urging the Tibetans to resort to non-violent means and his middle-way-path is regarded as a 'pragmatic political approach' that meets with the demands of the Tibetans of gaining greater autonomy as well as respecting the territorial integrity of China.

Dharamsala has been the scene of daily protests over the past several days.

ANI