China takes heat after tragic flight of Tibetan teenager – Daniel Pepper
From the Christian Science Monitor, an update on the Tibetan refugees who were fired on by Chinese guards while escaping to Nepal:
Kelsang Namtso had become a Buddhist nun just last year, at the tender age of 16. Her friend, Dolma Palkyi, 16, wanted to go to India, and meet the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, before taking her vows.
Dolma says she managed to save nearly $1,400 for the arduous journey through the Himalayas. Half would go to the smugglers. In early September, the girls loaded their backpacks with yak butter, cheese, and barley, and finally set off.
Seventeen days later, Kelsang lay dying in the snow after an attack, captured by Western tourists’ cameras, that is becoming an international incident and a stain on China’s human rights record. [Full text]
-See also from the CSM: “One Tibetan refugee recalls trek to freedom,” the recollections of a man who fled Tibet in 1959 at the age of 11, and “U.N. must ask China to find missing Tibetans – group,” from Reuters.
