Source: Tibet Sun
by: Lobsang Wangyal

A monk of Kardze monastery in eastern Tibet has set himself on fire Tuesday morning demanding freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet, according to Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

Dawa Tsering, said to be a 38-year-old monk, burned himself during the annual Cham (ritual dance) ceremony in Kardze. The monk called out slogans demanding the return of Dalai Lama and for freedom and equality in Tibet while he was in flames, TCHRD reports, citing sources in Tibet.

Other monks around him extinguished the flames and brought him to Kardze People’s Hospital. He is said to be in critical situation. Dawa’s is the 10th such self-immolation this year and the seventh in the last one month. Except for Dawa and another monk, all the other suicides have taken place in Ngaba in Amdo region of Tibet, which has become a centre of defiance against the Chinese since March 2008.

One of the immolators was a 20-year-old nun Tenzin Wangmo, who died from burn injuries on 17 October. Four others have died, and the whereabouts of the others are unknown, according to exile Tibetan accounts.

Tibet’s prime minister-in-exile blamed China’s hard-line position for forcing Tibetans to take such desperate steps. The Chinese government has described the string of immolations and attempted suicides as “violence and terrorism in disguise”.