British MPs voice concern for "Unlawful shooting of Tibetans"

By Tsering Tashi (Office of Tibet, London)| World Tibet Network News
Published by the Canada Tibet Committee
November 24, 2006

LONDON, 24 November: An Early Day Motion under the title "Unlawful shooting of Tibetans" was tabled in the House of Commons (Lower Chamber of the British parliament) on Tuesday. The EDM or Early Day Motions number 227 that strongly condemned "the brutal and unlawful shooting by the Chinese People's Armed Police of a group of unarmed innocent civilian Tibetans fleeing Chinese occupied Tibet when crossing the border at the Nangpa La on 30th September 2006" was introduced by member of parliament, Mr. Harry Cohen, and supported by 18 MPs. Mr. Cohen, who belongs to the ruling Labour Party is also the chairman of the UK All Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet.

The EDM is a formal motion given by a Member of Parliament to put on record their opinion on a particular issue and draw the attention and support of other members of the parliament. Although there is little prospect of EDMs being debated, many attract a great deal of public interest and frequently receive media coverage.

In the case of the current shooting of Tibetans trying to cross the Tibet-Nepal border, the media coverage worldwide has been extensive because this time, unlike in the past, it happened to be witnessed by several Western mountainers. The official Chinese version that their soldiers had fired at the Tibetans in "self-defence" therefore remained badly exposed when the world saw disturbing images of the actual shooting as filmed by the Roman TV cameraman and broadcast on the Romanian TV in the report: "Video footage of Nangpa Pass shooting refutes official Chinese statement". The BBC and other global TV networks have used the same footage.

The EDM noted that the incident "resulted in the murder of a 17 year old nun Kelsang Namtso, the subsequent death of one further Tibetan and the arrest of around 30 Tibetans including children under 10 years old". It urged the Chinese government "to conduct a full investigation into this incident and to ensure further that those responsible for any crimes committed are brought to justice, to give a formal assurance that such abhorrent and unacceptable acts will not happen again, to account for and release any Tibetans arrested as a result of this event and to confirm China's commitment to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights".

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