Close look at Tibetan protest in Kathmandu

By Jiao Xiaoyang (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-19 09:02

His words reminded me of what Nepalese friends told me, that the demonstrations were a well-organized drama.

Friends with the Nepalese media said that the demonstrators are "pretty skillful" at posing before media cameramen, who are always informed of the protest in time.

Also, they said local journalists can get a couple of hundred dollars by selling to Western media a picture of angry Tibetans being "suppressed" by the police.

Protesters can also sometimes provide such drama with "added value".

Basu Dev Dhakal, publisher of the local Sopan magazine, recounted to me an imaginative drama he witnessed last Tuesday.

"I was passing by near the visa section of the Chinese embassy that afternoon. The police were stopping taxis from moving toward the area. The photographers were ready, and the protesters started arriving, there were maybe 100 to 120 of them," Basu said.

"I saw three groups of people in the protests. One group was decked out in green, as if they were Chinese soldiers. Some of them carried guns and sticks wrapped with foam. Another group was dressed as monks, while a third group was not in any particular dress," Basu said.

"Those in green started beating the other group with sticks and readying to use the firearms. We saw a number of protesters fall onto the ground. They seemed to be bleeding from the head. I was shocked.

"But then I saw that there was no pain on the faces of the 'injured' protesters. The police took the protesters into their van. I did not see any bloodstains on the street."

Basu's story did not surprise me.

I had experienced the Western media's chorus against China after the riots in Lhasa in mid March. I had seen the doctored pictures portraying the rioters then as victims.

Local friends told me that many Tibetan demonstrators in Kathmandu are from Dharmsala, the Dalai Lama's base in India.

In an interview later last week, Nepalese Maoist leader Prachanda admitted the situation and said Nepal's new government will negotiate with India on the issue of the open border, which not only enabled unrestricted flow of Tibetan protesters but also caused many other problems for Nepal.

Prachanda also said the new government will "take strong administrative measures" to address the Tibetan protests in Kathmandu.

Still, local friends reminded me that the protesters are just a tiny proportion of the 20,000-strong Tibetan community in Nepal, most of whom are peace-loving people.

After all that I had seen and heard about the Tibetan protests, I thought some of the Dalai Lama's own words apply perfectly to the situation:

"From the viewpoint of absolute truth, what we feel and experience in our ordinary daily life is all delusion."

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