Dalai Lama Under Pressure

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NEW DELHI: The Dalai Lama, who arrives in New York next week, is a worried man: His path of nonconfrontation with China has won nothing from Beijing, which has led Tibetans to take drastic steps. A 50-year-old Tibetan monk died Wednesday of burns sustained when he set himself alight on Monday. Thupten Ngodup’s self-immolation was a protest against Indian police intervention to stop a Tibetan hunger strike.

“The Dalai Lama opposed the hunger strikes, saying he rejected even violence against the self,” says TIME New Delhi bureau chief Tim McGirk. “At the same time he admitted that he hadn’t achieved any progress via his nonviolent path.”

The six hunger strikers hospitalized in India have already been replaced by six others, and with Tibetan frustration at an all-time high, Ngodup is unlikely to be the last casualty of their independence campaign.