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Burmese Buddhist monks have strongly condemned the Chinese government for their brutal crackdown on Tibet’s monk-led protests in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, which led to at least 12 deaths and many more injuries. 

Speaking with The Irrawaddy on Monday, a leader of the All Burma Monks Alliance, U Pyinya Zawta, said, “We strongly condemn the Chinese government for their crackdown on Tibet’s monks. We appeal to the Chinese government to stop their suppression of monks and initiate peaceful negotiations.” 

An activist of the France Tibet association, right, standing by a photo of the Dalai Lama, takes part to a demonstration against the violence in Tibet, on March 16, near the Chinese embassy in Paris. (Photo:AP)

The All Burma Monks Alliance is an underground monk’s organization inside Burma founded by Buddhist monks in September at the time protests broke out nationwide. 

The crackdown on Tibetan monk-led protests by Chinese security forces is similar to the brutal crackdown on September’s peaceful demonstrators in Burma when at least 31 protesters, including monks, were killed, said U Pyinya Zawta. 

According to the Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency, at least 13 people were killed in Lhasa, while several security guards were injured in the violence on Friday. Some houses and shops were also burnt down, added the report. The exiled Tibetan government in Dharmsala, northern India, put the death toll at up to 80 on Sunday.  

The protests started up on March 10, on the annual commemoration of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. Following the Chinese suppression of the 1959 uprising, the Tibetan religious leader, the Dalai Lama, fled to India.

Meanwhile, a statement released on Sunday by the International Burmese Monks Organization criticized the Chinese government for insulting Tibet’s Buddhist monks and urged dialogue between the Chinese government and the Tibetan leadership.  

In their statement, the monks said, “We strongly urge the Chinese authorities to stop the violent crackdown and to initiate as soon as possible a dialogue which can give rise to the fulfillment of the true wishes of the Tibetans.”

The events have paralleled those of the “Saffron Revolution” in Burma, which occurred in August and September 2007, when Burmese Buddhist monks reciting the “Metta Sutta” (Buddhist chant for compassion) on the streets were beaten, shot at and detained by the authorities.

The International Burmese Monks Organization said they commiserated with their fellow Tibetan monks and are deeply concerned about the future of Sasana, meaning the “dispensation of Buddha.”

However, despite the condemnations, no report covering the Chinese crackdown appeared in state-run newspapers in Burma.   

Observers in Rangoon suggested that the Tibetan and Burmese monks have strong links. “The Saffron Revolution and the news images in September inspired the Tibetan monks,” said a journalist in Rangoon.

Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama called for the international community to launch an investigation into the crackdown on the demonstrators in Lhasa. He accused the Chinese government of committing ''cultural genocide.'' The Dalai Lama once visited Thailand in 1993 to lobby for the release of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In November, the Dalai Lama said, "When I saw pictures of people beating monks I was immediately reminded of inside Tibet, in our own case, where just a few days ago monks were beaten by Chinese forces."

"I am fully committed and I fully support and sympathize with the demonstrators," the Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters Sunday at the Elijah Interfaith Summit of world religious leaders in the northern Indian city of Amritsar.

The Dalai Lama urged the military junta in Burma—a staunchly Buddhist country—to heed the Buddha's teachings. "They should be Buddhists.
Please act according to Buddha's message of compassion," he said.

His comments mirrored the passions among ethnic Tibetans overseas who view the riots in Lhasa as the biggest uprising since the late 1980s.

Lhasa is currently under an extended police presence ahead of a midnight deadline for demonstrators to surrender to the Chinese authorities.