World Tibet Network News Monday, May 18, 1998

Tribune News Service Dharamsala, May 15: The Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) today temporarily suspended its 65-day-old fast unto death to let the international support received so far on the Tibet issue to crystalise. The TYC, started the fast unto death in Delhi on March 10, had been under tremendous pressure from the Tibetan Government-in-exile to call off the fast. The Tibetan cabinet (Kashag) had written to the TYC to end the strike after a Tibetan, Thupten Ngodup, committed self-immolation in Delhi recently. The Secretary, Department of Information and International Relations, Mr. Tempa Tsering, said after verbal requests from the Tibetan Government-in-exile failed to convince the TYC to call off the strike, the Tibetan cabinet was compelled to write a formal letter in this regard. "Though we had been asking them to call off the strike from day one, it took them quite long to take the decision", he commented. The letter reflected the views of the Dalai Lama, who, in his earlier statements made it clear th

at he disapproved of fasts as causing harm to oneself and for being acts of violence.

" After seeing the growing frustration and desperation amongst the Tibetans, we felt that the hunger strike should be called off before it is too late to control things", he said. Meanwhile, the president of the TYC, Mr. Tseten Norbu, said the main reason for suspending the fast was to give enough time for forging ahead insolving the Tibetan issue through peaceful means. "We are also prepared to consider the suggestion given by friends that some time must be given to the new leadership in Beijing to act," he said. The decision had been taken in view of the promises of support from the governments of Poland, USA, Hungary, European Union, especially Norway and Costa Rica, to take up the issue of Tibet at the forthcoming bilateral talks with China and at multilateral fora. In a telephonic conversation from Delhi, Mr. Norbu admitted that there was pressure on the TYC from Tibetan Government-in-exile to call off the strike. He, however, denied that the TYC had succumbed to pressure from either the Tibetan or Indi

an governments. "It appears that the Indian government made it next to impossible for the Tibetan Government to function by mounting immense pressure", he lamented. He observed that the act of self-immolation was in way a cause of embarrassment to the Indian Government except that its timing coincided with the visit of the Chinese General. Asked if a deadline had been set for restarting the fast, in case the desired results were not achieved, he said it was difficult to set a specific time. He however, reiterated that the fast had only been suspended temporarily to give time to the various nations who had promised to take up the issue with China. He regretted that though there was widespread international sympathy for the Tibetan people, no substantial and tangible political results had been achieved.