Name: Tamdin Thar
Age: 64
Sex: Male
Profession: Nomad
Date of Self-immolation: 15 June 2012, 6:30 am (local time)
Location: Chentsa County, Malho, Eastern Tibet
Current whereabouts/wellbeing: Deceased 15 June
His Last Testament: Below
Tamdin Thar – a nomad in his sixties – immolated himself in front of the PLA’s People’s Armed Police military base in Chentsa, Malho. Chinese Security forces immediately doused the flames and bundled him away. Eyewitnesses reported that Tamdin had drunk petrol, as well as pouring it over his body, before setting himself alight. He was also wrapped in barbed wire to deter the police from detaining him. He appeared to have died almost immediately. As the news spread, hundreds of Tibetans swarmed outside the Chentsa County police station and demanded his body so that a religious ceremony could be carried out. The presence of the fast-swelling crowd compelled the authorities to hand over his body. The deceased originally belonged to Lowa, a small nomadic village in the county, before he was forced to re-locate to the county town some years ago under Beijing’s highly controversial and coercive ‘nomad re-location’ policy. Tamdin is survived by his wife and children. His Last Testament: “I take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. I am setting myself on fire as an offering of light with hope that His Holiness the Dalai Lama will return to Tibet, that peace will prevail on earth and that Tibet will be ruled by Tibetans.”
(Translated from Tibetan by Bhuchung D. Sonam)