>>30/9/06 - Shooting of Tibetan Refugees on Nangpa-la Pass
On the 30th September, 2006, around 60 Western Climbers witnessed Chinese Soldiers shooting at a group of Tibetan Refugees at Nangpa La. This is the latest in a string of incidences of shooting of refugees at the border, but the first witnessed by so many people at once. A large group of betweeen 73 refugees, with 2 guides was crossing the Nanpa-La pass close to Cho Oyu, Everest region. Reports claim the Chinese fired 2 warning shotes, then carefully took aim, killing at least 2 and injuring several. Chinese soldiers caught around 20 refugees, including a group of 10 or more young boys. The bodies of the dead are believed to have been chucked into a crevasse by the border guards. A Chinese governmental statement claims that the soldiers were acting in self-defence.
The following are believed to be held captive by the Chinese authorities, although their whereabouts are unknown (courtesy SFT).
Tenwang, age 7
Lhakpa Tsering, age 8
Dhondup Lhamo, age 9
Karma Tsethar, age 9
Sonam Phuntsok, age 10
Dechen Dolma, age 10
Wangchen, age 11
Tsedon, age 12
Sonam Wangdue, age 13
Ming Shomo, age 13
Lodoe Nyima, age 15
Jigme Phuntsok, age 15
Jampel Tsetan, age 16
Jamyang Tsetan, age 16
Karma Tsetan, age 16
Lodoe Namkha, age 16
Karma, age 19
Samten, age 19
Gatsok, age 19
Sonam Palzom, age 20
Dhondup Palden, age 21
Kusang Namgyal, age 22 (shot in the leg, medical condition unknown)
Lobsang Paljor, age 35
Tsering Choegyal, age 33 (monk)
Timeline
September 30 Shooting occurs at 10.30 am local time
September 30 A doctor who belongs to a climbing expedition on Cho Oyu calls a newspaper in his homecountry to tell of what he witnessed
October 2 First reports of shooting appear on MountEverest.net ; source is a western expedition guide
October 4 Major international newsagencies start publishing
October 9 Survivors reach Nepali capital Kathmandu and are granted refugee status by the UNHCR centre in the city
October 10 Romanian mountaineers Alex GAVAN and Sergiu Matei give first eyewitness account of shooting to MountEverest.net . Initially they made a live broadcast from Cho Oyu's Adbavced Base Camp with Romanian radio ProFM and published their dispatch on Gavan's website of the expedition at www.chooyu.ro
October 10 British police officer Steve Lawes is interviewed by the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu
October 11 Cho Oyu mountaineering expeditions have returned to Nepal and the British "The Independent" reports Chinese diplomats in the Nepalese capital are tracking down and trying to silence Western climbers and Sherpas who witnessed the killing of Tibetan refugees on Nangpa La the week before; as a result, several of the foreign climbers leave the country a.s.a.p.
October 11 Slovenian climber Pavle Kozjek contacts MountEverest.net with first pictures of the incident
October 12 US Ambassador to China, Clark T. Randt, personally lodges a formal protest on behalf of the US Government against China's treatment of the refugees, during his visit to the Foreign Ministry in Beijing
October 12 The humanitarian mountaineer who first reported the shooting by Chinese Border Security Soldiers visits the Tibetan Refugee Transit Center in Kathmandu; he meets with some of those who escaped the shooting and talks with them
October 12 The official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, reports that soldiers were "forced to defend themselves" when people trying to cross the border attacked the soldiers (by throwing stones at them)
October 13 MountEverest.net releases first video of the incident: "There is no excuse, China: Nangpa La VIDEO shows border guards sharpshoot refugees"
October 14 Sergiu Matei is interviewed by Romanian TV channel ProTV and footage of incident is shown
October 16 UNPO, the organisation for UNrepresented Nations and Peoples, issues its first appeal following "the extrajudicial killings by Chinese soldiers"
October 17 MountEverest.net begins search for further witnesses to the shooting
October 17 EverestNews.com says a cloud hangs over climbing and calls for opinions from mountaineers: "what should be done?"
October 18 International Campaign for Tibet receives new photos of the shooting from a British climber
October 19 The Tibetan Parliament-in-exile urges UNHRC High Commissioner to take note of Nangpa-La pass shooting
October 21 The survivors who reached Kathmandu move onto Dharamsala in India, the home of the Tibetan government in exile and the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, the Dalai Lama
October 23 Chinese authorities confirm a second person - Kelsang Nortso, a 25-year-old Buddhist nun - was killed immediately during the original incident
October 24 Three survivors - Thupten Tsering, (a 23 years old Tibetan monk), Dolma Palkyi (a 16 years old girl) and Lobsang Choeden (26) - hold a press conference in New Delhi
October 25 ITSN Olympics campaign working group launches an email protest, targeting IOC President Jacques Rogge and Chinese President Hu Jintao
October 26 Human Rights Watch calls for an independent investigation into the shooting
October 26 Radio Free Asia reports China detained 3 mountainguides and over 50 Tibetan refugees in the aftermath of the Nangpa La shooting incident, with fear reigning in Lhasa
October 26 EU Parliament: Joint Motion For A Resolution On Tibet; Voting 66 For, 0 Abstentions, 0 Against
October 31 By the end of October (political) protests, protest demonstrations, protest gatherings and/or e-mail campaigns to condemn the Nangpa La Killings, and prayers for the victims, have taken place in (several) cities in Nepal, India, the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, The Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Italy, France, Germany
October 31 The Epoch Times comes with a long interview with another eye witness: a surgeon from Denmark
November 30 Human Rights Watch publishes an interview with two survivors of the Nangpa Pass shooting
November 30 As the UN Human Rights Council began its 3rd session in Geneva (Switzerland), 16 NGOs in a j
oint statement questioned the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the steps taken concerning the 30 September killings of Tibetans on the Nangpa Pass
December 10 the 58th Intl. Human Rights Day : with human rights rallies taking place in lots of countries, incl. attention for the Nangpa La Killings
Nuns from the group of 43 who made it to Kathmandu read about the shootings at Nangpa-La
