The Nangpa La shooting incident occurred on 30 September 2006 when a group of unarmed
Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
refugees attempting to flee
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
via the
Nangpa La pass were fired upon by Chinese border guards.
[ Jonathan Green. ''Murder in the High Himalaya''. 2010. ] The shooting resulted in at least one death and numerous injuries.
[ The victims were shot from a distance by border guards as they moved slowly through chest-deep snow. Although the Chinese government initially denied the shooting, the death of one of the refugees was captured on film by a Slovenian cameraman who was nearby as part of a climbing expedition.][Death on Tibetans' long walk to freedom]
The Guardian 30 October 2006 The video caused expressions of anger from around the world.
Forty-one members of the Tibetan group reached India, while the other thirty-two living members were taken into custody by Chinese border guards. Most of the refugees were later released, although some are still unaccounted for. Some of the individuals who were released stated that they suffered torture and forced hard labor during their captivity.[
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The incident
On 30 September 2006, a group of 75 Tibetans, accompanied by two guides, crossed the Chinese border to join the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...
in exile in Dharamsala
Dharamshala (; also spelled Dharamsala) is the winter capital of Himachal Pradesh, India. It serves as administrative headquarters of the Kangra district after being relocated from Kangra, a city located away from Dharamshala, in 1855.
Th ...
, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. At approximately 10:30 a.m. local time, Chinese border guards of the People's Armed Police opened fire on the group. The gunfire resulted in the death of Kelsang Namtso, a 17-year-old Buddhist nun
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gr ...
. Kunsang Namgyal, a 23-year-old man, was hit in the leg twice, then taken away by the Chinese border guard. Even though the group was not armed, the Chinese initially claimed that their soldiers fired in self-defense. Forty-one of the refugees, along with the guides, reached the Tibetan Refugee Transit Center in Kathmandu
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, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...
, Nepal. Two weeks later they arrived at their destination in Dharamsala
Dharamshala (; also spelled Dharamsala) is the winter capital of Himachal Pradesh, India. It serves as administrative headquarters of the Kangra district after being relocated from Kangra, a city located away from Dharamshala, in 1855.
Th ...
, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.[
Nangpa La Pass is visible from the nearby Cho Oyu mountain and its mountaineering base camps. Dozens of foreign mountaineers who were on Cho Oyu witnessed the incident. The mountaineers were able to produce numerous images and videos of the incident, including images of Chinese soldiers escorting the survivors through advanced base camp at Cho Oyu and footage of the People's Armed Police personnel shooting the refugees from great distance. Sergiu Matei, a cameraman at Pro TV, filmed the incident and broadcast live during the incident on Romanian station ]Pro FM
Pro FM is a radio station in Romania and Moldova, it broadcasts in Romanian language. It was sold by Central European Media Enterprises
Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CME) is a media and entertainment company that operates televisio ...
. Matei also helped hide one of the Tibetan refugees for 10 hours before the refugee was able to cross the border into Nepal.[
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Aftermath
On 12 October 2006, the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua
Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...
, reported that the border guards had been "forced to defend themselves" after the refugees had thrown stones at them while trying to cross the border.
Matei successfully smuggled his footage of the shooting out of the country. On 14 October 2006, Matei was interviewed on the Romanian television station Pro TV. Footage of the incident was shown during the interview.
Chinese authorities initially denied that Kelsang Namtso, a 17-year-old Buddhist nun, had been killed during the 30 September shooting, saying instead that she had been captured and later died in a hospital due to "lack of oxygen." On 23 October 2006, after the release of the footage showing Namtso being shot, the Chinese authorities changed their account. They confirmed that Namtso had been killed by gunfire during the 30 September shooting.
The incident received global media attention concerning the issues of the Chinese occupation of Tibet and human rights violations in Tibet. On 12 October 2006, the United States Ambassador to China, Clark T. Randt, lodged a formal protest regarding China's treatment of the refugees. On 26 October 2006, the European Union Parliament passed a Joint Motion for a Resolution on Tibet, making explicit reference to the shooting.
On 30 November 2006 at the meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
, Switzerland, 16 non-governmental organizations issued a joint statement questioning the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...
on the steps taken concerning the 30 September killing of a Tibetan in the Nangpa Pass. However, the High Commissioner did not respond to questions posed about the Nangpa Pass killing.[Human Rights Watch to China: Permit Independent Investigation into Shooting of Tibetan Refugees]
HRW, 27 October 2006
Missing persons
Of the 75 refugees who attempted to cross the border on 30 September 2006, 17 people remain unaccounted for. At least one individual captured by the Chinese government was released, but said that he had been tortured and subjected to mandatory hard labor.[ The individuals who were not accounted for ranged in age from 7 to 35 years old. Some of the children who are unaccounted for may have been detained for a short time and then released.
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Portrayal in the arts
A documentary called ''Tibet: Murder in the Snow'', based on this incident, was released in 2008 by the Australian production company ''360 Degree Films'', working in collaboration with the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
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wrote a book about the shootings, titled ''Murder in the High Himalayas'', which was released in 2010.