Odishatv Bureau
Beijing: Slamming the Dalai Lama for conducting prayers for the Buddhist monks who had self-immolated protesting Chinese rule in Tibet, China today said his support amounted to backing "terrorism in disguise". Condemning the self-immolations by nine monks over the last few months including by a nun on Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a media briefing here today that the Dalai Lama is glorifying self-immolations, inciting more people to commit suicide.

"In the wake of the incidents, overseas Tibet independent forces and the Dalai group did not criticise the cases," Jian said adding, "On the contrary, they beautified, played up such issues to incite more people to follow suit. As we know, such splittist activities at the cost of human lives is violence and terrorism in disguise."

Jiang was replying to questions over reports that the Tibetan spiritual leader fasted and conducted prayers for them at his exile in Dharmashala. On Monday, London based Free Tibet campaign group said Tenzin Wangmo, 20 immolated herself on the same day in Aba prefecture, a mainly ethnic Tibetan part of the southwestern province of Sichuan calling for religious freedom in Tibet and for the return of the Dalai Lama. This was the ninth such immolation in recent months.

The Free Tibet group said in a statement that protests have been reported in the surrounding region and calls for wider protests are growing.

The group added that two persons were wounded in police firing.

Yesterday another Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said "we believe that promoting and encouraging harm to life is immoral."

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