Tibetan PM urges no protest in Tibet

The Tibetan government-in-exile does not encourage protests inside Tibet or self-immolation, the government's newly elected prime minister said.Visiting the United States, Lobsang Sangay, the Harvard scholar elected in April as Kalon Tripa, or prime minister of the Tibetan exiles, urged the U.S. government to apply pressure on China to give the Tibetan government-in-exile and the international media access to southwest Sichuan province, where several case of self-immolation have occurred since March by Tibetans protesting Chinese Communist rule, The Tibet Post International reported."We do not encourage protest inside Tibet or for that matter self-immolation because we know the consequences," Sangay was quoted as saying. "If you protest in Tibet, more often than not you get arrested, or beaten up, sometimes tortured, sometimes you disappear, sometimes you die."Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, whom China accuses of seeking to gain independence for Tibet, has said self-immolation a desperate cry by Tibetan for help against Chinese repression, the Tibet Post said.Separately, writing in the Washington Post, Sangay said the "desperate acts" of self-immolation are a scathing indictment of China's rule in occupied Tibet."They highlight the dramatic struggle for survival as a people with a unique culture and identity," he wrote.Sangay said the Dalai Lama has "consistently appealed to Tibetans not to resort to such desperate acts.""We urge Tibetans in and outside our homeland to focus on secular and monastic education. Highly educated professionals and learned monks will provide the human resources and the capability to strengthen and sustain our movement," he said.