More than 1,000 Tibetans in exile gathered in Dharamshala on Sunday for a candlelight march to mark one month since Lobga Rangzen self-immolated outside the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Participants paid tribute to Rangzen and renewed calls for a “Free and Independent Tibet”.

The march, attended by members of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile and senior officials of the Central Tibetan Administration, began in McLeod Ganj and concluded at Bhagsunag. Organisers said the event was held to honour Rangzen’s sacrifice and urge the United Nations to take up the Tibet issue.

March Held in Memory of Lobga Rangzen

The candlelight procession was organised to commemorate one month since Rangzen’s self-immolation on July 2 outside the UN Headquarters in New York.

Participants carried candles as they marched through Dharamshala, paying tribute to Rangzen while reiterating demands for justice, freedom and independence for Tibet.

Speaking to ANI, Karma Yeshi, Chairman of the Public Service Commission of the Tibetan government-in-exile, said the vigil was intended to honour Rangzen’s sacrifice and draw international attention to the Tibet issue.

“We are holding this candlelight march for our freedom fighter, Martyr Lobga Rangzen, who self-immolated in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 2 July, and it marks one month of his supreme sacrifice today. So that is why we are holding this candlelight vigil to show our solidarity with him and to ask the United Nations to look into the matter of Tibet and to resolve the Tibet issue as soon as possible,” Yeshi said.

Participants Renew Demand for Tibetan Independence

Wangdue Dorjee, a member of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, said the candles symbolised the “light of truth” and represented the community’s continued commitment to the cause for which, he said, many Tibetans had made sacrifices.

“We are here to pay tribute to him for his supreme sacrifice. We believe that we are holding these candles as the light of truth and we have the same demands for which our brave martyrs have sacrificed their lives,” Dorjee said.

The march concluded with participants reaffirming their demand for a free and independent Tibet while remembering those they regard as martyrs of the Tibetan cause.

Former Parliamentarian Calls for Policy Shift

Former Tibetan parliamentarian Namgyal Dolkar said the remembrance event was also aimed at keeping alive Rangzen’s final message and wishes.

She said his self-immolation was a call for complete independence for Tibet and urged Tibetans to remain united in pursuing that objective.

“We have gathered here to mark the one-month remembrance of martyr Lobga Rangzen. We are here, not just to remind the world, but to remind ourselves about his last wishes and his last request to the world and to the Tibetan people, so we are exactly doing the same thing. The sacrifice of life, deciding to burn yourself to death, calling for complete independence of Tibet, requesting all Tibetans to get united because during all these years we have been requesting the Chinese government to have dialogue with us, and there has been no response from them… I think it’s high time that we should reverse our policy and we should ask for complete independence now because things are going worse…” Dolkar said.

Organisers said the march was intended to honour Lobga Rangzen’s sacrifice, express solidarity with the Tibetan cause and call on the United Nations to address the Tibet issue.

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