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http://www.dossiertibet.it Tibet : High-ranking Tibetan religious figure and his niece self-immolated in Dragkar A high-ranking Tibetan religious figure and his niece, a nun, died on May 6.On the day Thubten Nyandak Rinpoche, 45 and his niece, Atse, 23, were honoring Tibetans who died in the self-immolation protests;with butter lamp tributes, their house caught fire.As the Chinese authorities ruled the case as an accident, the press and media did not highlight the event.Thubten Rinpoche was the former abbot of Dzokchen monastery, the site of recent Tibetan protests.He was a strong advocate of Tibetans’ rights, culture and unity.His niece Atse was well known as well, for her strong support towards the welfare of Tibet. A few days before May 6, Thubten Rinpoche organized a prayer service in honour of Tibetan self-immolators. At the meeting he gave a speech about future plans for supporting the Rangzen Movement and towards the end of the service, monks, nuns and other attendees made prayer offerings of butter lamps. The day before he died, he had asked his students to move the many butter lamps to his house and then sent them all away, including his Chinese pupils. On the morning of May 6 he, and Atse prayed at their home for the self-immolators. In a call made to his family he stated that it was necessary to do a good deed and that they would offer the butter lamps for the benefit of those who set themselves on fire for ” the cause of Tibet.” Soon after his house caught fire, Thubten Rinpoche and his niece were found dead. The police authorities arrived on the scene and declared that the incident was an accident and that the duo did not sacrifice their lives. The police also warned the community to not speak about the incident in public.Fearing that the authorities would close down the monastery, the monastery supervisor agreed to abide by the instructions. The relatives of Thubten Rinpoche accepted the authorities’ version of events. The Chinese gave them 10, 000 yuan and several bags of rice in exchange for their silence. Very few media houses reported the incident as it was classified as an “accidental fire”. The locals did not proclaim the two as “heroes” because they feared the consequences it would entail. However, the local Tibetan community believes that they may have self-immolated “for the cause of Tibet.” Although Thubten Rinpoche and Atse gave up their lives for Tibet, their relatives polluted their legacy by taking bribes offered to them by the Chinese authorities. Even so, the family and the local Tibetan community hope that like the many other Tibetan heroes that set themselves on fire to protest for Tibet, their names too will be remembered.
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