Shootings In Nangpa La Pass Again???

I was shocked to read this post over at Everest Is Ours today. Word has come in from the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy that there have been more shootings in Nangpa La Pass.

The report sounds eerily similar to the events that occurred last year in which an unarmed party of refugees fleeing Tibet into Nepal were fired upon by Chinese soldiers. The incident resulted in a number of arrests, including some small children, and the death of a young nun.

This new report says that 46 Tibetans were using the pass to one again flee into Nepal. The Chinese Border patrol again fired live ammunition at the refugees, who scattered in fear, leaving their possessions behind. The incident occurred on October 18th, and three people were arrested, and nine are still unaccounted for. No one is believed to have been shot to death at this point, but it's hard to say what the fate of the nine missing people is. The other members of the group managed to safely reach Kathmandu.

The Washington Post has also picked up the story and they are reporting that seven people, including a sick, elderly man, were captured before the shooting began. Of course, the Chinese are denying the whole affair.

I'm sure we'll hear a lot more about this story in the days ahead, as the Tibetans involved come forward to tell their story. Considering what happened last year, I didn't think I'd be posting anything like this again so soon. The Chinese are trying to remain on their best behavior as the eyes of the World turn on them for the Olympics next year. Considering their track record though, I'd be willing to bet that this story is closer to truth than they would care to admit at this time.

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Recollections Of Nangpa La

Yesterday I mentioned that the highest raning Chinese General in Tibet was being forced into retirement because of the International outcry over the Nangpa La shootings from last year. As I explained in that article, a group of refugees from Tibet were crossing the pass on their way to Nepal when they were ambushed by Chinese soldiers who shot one young woman, a nun no less, to death and took a number of young children into custody.

The incident may never have come to light at all, except there were a group of climbers on Cho Oyu nearby who witnessed everything, snapped some pictures, and even shot video. Eventually they got the story out to the Internet by sending word to ExWeb who then took up the cause.

Now, nearly a year later, and more of the story is coming to light. Alpinist Magazine has published a first hand account of the entire incident on their website. The story entitled Borderline is written by Pavle Kozjek, a Slovenian climber who was there on Cho Oyu and witnessed the entire scene. He give a riveting first hand account of what happened that day, and what was going through his mind, and that of the other climbers, who were there with him.

The article is an excellent read, and I highly recommend it to anyone who followed the whole affair last year. As you read it, you can appreciate the fear and anxiety of those that witnessed the horrible act, as they didn't know how the Chinese would react to them. It's a sobering peace about a man who went to the sixth highest peak on Earth to challenge himself but ended up being challenged in ways he never thought possible. Very powerful!

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Nangpa La Update: Chinese General Forced Into Retirement

Remember the incident in Nangpa La pass last year? I blogged fairly extensively about it at the time. The incident involved a number of refugees from Tibet using the pass to sneak across the border into Nepal, but they were ambushed by the Chinese military, resulting in the death of a 25 year old nun, who was reportedly shot in the back, and the capture of more than a dozen young children.

The new broke because a group of climbers on Cho Oyu witnessed the incident, and actually filmed some of it from afar. When they returned from the mountain, they told the story to ExWeb and it filtered out to the rest of the Internet from there. The mainstream media followed some time later, although they were quite slow to pick up on the story and very little was made of it for the most part.

Well, now it seems that the top Chinese General in Tibet is being forced into early retirement over the incident. According to a quoted Forbes report, Lt. Gen. Meng Jinxi has taken criticism over the while affair, and now being forced to step down from his post. The General is also a part of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee, but the word is that he won't be invited to it's congress when it meets this Fall.

While this news doesn't really bring any justice to the family and friends of the nun who was gunned down, nor does it help the refugees who were injured or captured in the raid, it does show that someone is being held accountable for the whole affair. It took some time in coming, but at least we know that some diplomatic pressure somewhere put a little heat on the Chinese, even if it wasn't much of a public display.

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