China has punished 15 ruling Communist Party officials in Tibet for participating in the underground "Tibetan Independence" groups, providing intelligence to the Dalai Lama and his supporters and endangering national security, state media reported today.
The 15 officials of ruling-Communist Party of China (CPC) were put under investigation in 2014 for violating party discipline and were punished by the party's disciplinary committee, the party's mouthpiece People's Daily reported.
A statement by the Communist Party Disciplinary Commission of Tibet, posted on its website, said 15 officials received unspecified punishment for violating party and political discipline.
Though, the statement did not disclose which organisations the officials had joined or the quantum of their punishments.
Media access to Tibet is extremely limited and government strictly controls the flow of information from the Himalayan region.
Ye Dongsong, head of an inspection team of the CPC discipline commission, said some officials failed to take a firm stand on issues related to the Tibet question and some grass-root officials in the region were found to be corrupt.
Ye further said that the Tibetan regional government was focused on neutralising separatists and maintaining social stability, cracking down on corruption and strictly monitoring projects in the region.
Ethnic Tibetans, practise a Tantric form of Buddhism, also known as "Thunderbolt Vehicle" or "Vajrayana", and recognise Dalai Lama as their spiritual leader.
Tibetans blame skewed development policies followed by China for its underdevelopment and accuses Beijing of trying to change its demographics by forced settlements of majority-Han Chinese. They also blame China of religious and cultural persecution.
China has accused Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising, of fomenting trouble in the Tibetan Autonomous region with the help of his supporters and trying to separate the Himalayan region from China.
CPC's public acknowledgement that some of its cadres were involved in the Tibetan independence movement and supported Dalai Lama, was unusual and perhaps points to the seriousness with which Beijing now tackles the Tibet question.
