BEIJING, Dec 5 (AFP) - Too many Tibetan Buddhists are chasing unobtainable utopian ideals and ignoring the impoverished Himalayan region's urgent need of economic development, according to an official report seen here Thursday.

In a front-page editorial, the Tibet Daily accused religious circles, as well as some party officials, in Tibet of "impeding progress" by clinging to backwards customs and superstitions.

"These people see religious belief as a panacea for all their worries and problems, and oppose any kind of scientific development," said the commentary published in the November 26 edition of the newspaper.

"They don't devote their efforts towards the general good, but waste them in the pursuit of an imagined utopia," it added.

The editorial was the latest in a series of strongly-worded attacks on religious practises in Tibet, which have included official calls for large-scale reforms aimed at eliminating the influence of the region's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

While other editorials and speeches by top officials have concentrated on the damage religious and separatist forces have wrought on social stability, the latest commentary "Throwing Off the Spiritual Yoke" focused on the threat to Tibet's long-term development.

"They don't send their children to school but to the monasteries, because they don't want them to receive scientific teachings," the editorial said.

"If we cannot rid ourselves of these elements and oppose the domination of an idealistic religion, the notion of a 'developed' Tibet will be nothing more than an empty phrase," it added.

The newspaper also criticised Tibetan officials for allowing religion to supplant communism as their guiding path in life.

Such weaknesses on the part of party and government cadres are an open invitation to the Dalai Lama to expand his separatist activities in Tibet, it said.

Communist party members in China are prohibited from pursuing religious activities.

"We must arm the people of Tibet with a Marxist conception of religion, show them its negative influences and relentlessly expose the acitivities and separatist objectives of the Dalai Lama," the newspaper said.