(TibetanReview.net, Mar 04, 2009) — China has confirmed that a 24-year-old monk named Tashi, also known as Tapey, of Kirti Monastery in Aba (Tibetan: Ngaba) County of Sichuan Province had immolated himself on Feb 27 but denied reports that he had been shot by the paramilitary People’s Armed Police (PAP). “He attempted to set himself alight using inflammables while holding a portrait of the Dalai Lama and a ‘snow lion flag’ in token of ‘Tibet independence’ on a street in the Aba county seat at about 1:38 p.m. Friday,” reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Mar 2.
The report said the monk was in stable condition and claimed that “he was deluded by the Dalai clique” and that “such an action went against doctrines of Tibetan Buddhism”.
Exile Tibetan and Tibet groups have reported that the monk was shot three times, with one of them likely hitting him, after which he collapsed to the ground. It was only then that the PAP put out the flame and took him away.