China’s silence after glacier disaster demonstrates its policy of suppressing Tibetan suffering: Report

Lhasa, Sep 1 (IANS) The silence of Chinese authorities after the glacier avalanche struck Tibet is a continuation of its decades-long policy of suppressing Tibetan suffering, erasing Tibetan identity and controlling the narrative of Tibet in the world, a report has detailed.

Entire communities were left in shock, and families were torn apart after the glacier avalanche hit Tibet. However, what stands out is not the disaster but the Chinese authorities’ silence on the issue, as they did not release any information regarding the casualties caused by the disaster. Chinese authorities’ refusal to reveal details regarding casualties fits into its long-standing policy of suppressing information regarding Tibet whenever people of the region suffer disproportionately, a report in Tibet Express detailed.

“Whether it is uprisings, self-immolations, or environmental disasters, the state’s instinct is to conceal rather than confront. This strategy serves two purposes: Control of narrative: By silencing reports of Tibetan deaths, Beijing avoids international scrutiny and domestic sympathy. Denial of identity: To acknowledge Tibetan suffering would be to admit that Tibetans are distinct, resilient, and enduring — qualities the state seeks to erase,” Khedroob Thondup, nephew of the 14th Dalai Lama, mentioned in a report in Tibet Express.

The glacier avalanche that hit Tibet is a warning to the world. It demonstrates that Tibet’s fragile environment, already impacted by climate change and reckless development, is a harbinger of crisis to come. According to the report, the international community must acknowledge that China’s silence is not of numbers, but of lives.

“The silence after the avalanche is not accidental. It is policy. It is the continuation of a decades-long strategy to suppress Tibetan suffering, erase Tibetan identity, and control the narrative of Tibet’s place in the world. The world must recognise this silence for what it is: a cover-up, not of numbers, but of lives. And until those lives are named, counted, and honoured, Tibet remains buried under more than snow — it remains buried under the weight of deliberate erasure,” Thondup wrote in Tibet Express.

Meanwhile, US-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused China of resorting to censorship and tighter controls on information amid deadly flash floods that have left people in Nepal and across the border in Tibet reeling from devastation.

According to HRW, the Chinese social media platform Weibo, which operates under Beijing’s censorship demands, prominently pinned a memorial hashtag — ‘Mourning the victims of the Gyirong mudslide disaster’ — at the top of its trending topics, alongside eight other disaster-related hashtags.

The lead post featured a China Central Television (CCTV) news anchor essentially reading out a Politburo communique, in which Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly called on China’s top leaders to observe a minute of silence for the victims.

“The victims’ own voices are largely absent from the trending topics, which focus on the death toll, rescue operations, and the mechanics of the disaster,” the rights body noted.

Citing reports, HRW said that journalists in China have been barred from the disaster zone and from interviewing families, leaving them dependent on official information narratives. It alleged that Chinese authorities have also punished at least 10 people for “rumourmongering” related to the disaster.

The rights body further said that Chinese official media relied on AI-generated images and videos purporting to show the likely origins of the mudslide. Referring to international media, it said the full original footage circulated globally — showing Gyirong Port on the Chinese side of the border being overwhelmed by floodwater as people run for their lives — was being censored.

The massive flood that struck Nepal’s Rasuwa originated in the Tibetan region of China on August 26. It swept through the transboundary Bhote Koshi River, leaving hundreds dead and causing massive destruction in the Himalayan nation.

–IANS

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