» 08/21/2008 18:32 INDIA – TIBET – CHINA Dalai Lama’s words misinterpreted, there was no massacre, says Tibetan leader by Nirmala Carvalho The Prime Minister of Tibet’s Government-in-Exile Samdhong Rinpoche tells AsiaNews that there was no massacre by the Chinese army in Tibet in recent days. Any current controversy stems from a wrong translation during the Tibetan leader’s interview with French daily Le Monde.
Dharamsala (AsiaNews) – “There was a language problem in the translation of the comments by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.” said Samdhong Rinpoche, Kalon Tripa (prime minister) of Tibet’s Government-in-Exile. He categorically denies a report in today’s edition of French daily Le Monde according to which the Chinese army shot into a crowd on 18 August in Kham, eastern Tibet, killing 140 Tibetans. The report, which appeared in the French paper’s afternoon edition, was dated Frida
In an interview with AsiaNews, the leader of Tibet’s government-in-exile stressed that the “incident” reported by the paper in reality “never took place.”
Urgen Tenzin, head of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), confirmed the information.
“After hearing the news the TCHRD got in touch with its sources inside Tibet and no one had any information about the massacre,” he told AsiaNews.
The TCHRD also spoke with the Dalai Lama’s Private Office in Dharamshala which confirmed that “the interpreter made a mistake in the translation, misinterpreting His Holiness’s words,” said Urgen Tenzin.
The Private Office is scheduled to issue a statement in the next few hours to shed more light on the matter.
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