Dalai behind Tibet suicides, says Chinese premier

BEIJING: Chinese premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday expressed concern over self-immolation by young Tibetans to protest China’s occupation of Tibet, saying they “are innocent and we feel deeply distressed by their behaviours’’. At least 25 such suicides — by monks and nuns — have been reported in recent months.
Wen’s comments come even as the ruling Communist Party leaders have condemned self-immolations and described Tibetans committing suicides as “womanizers, criminals and mentally derelict’’.They came during Wen’s annual press conference and are the first expression of sympathy by an important Chinese leader.
But the premier lashed out at the Tibetan government-in-exile and the Dalai Lama for “causing disaffection among Tibetans towards their motherland’’ . He said the government-in-exile is “under Dalai’s direct and indirect control’’. “Its purpose is to separate Tibet and the Tibetan-inhabited areas from China. We have a firm position on this matter.’’