Nangpa-La eyewitnesses give testimony of the tragedy   From left: Kate Saunder, Luis Benitez and Dr. Pierre Maino Dharamshala, 23 March, TibetNet: Luis Benitez and Dr. Pierre Maino, who witnessed the shooting at Nangpa-La in September 2006, yesterday gave testimony and shared their experience of pain with over 100-odd Tibetans and non-Tibetans at the Gangkyi Hall. The two climbers' visit to India was organised by the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) based in Washington D. C. Before their talk, Kate Saunders from the ICT gave a brief introduction of the two climbers and showed the footage of Nangpa-La incident. The 12-minute footage captured the whole incident after the shooting. It recorded the Chinese soldiers checking out the body of Kelsang Namtso who was shot dead and around 40-odd Tibetans who were captured and taken into their custody, among whom two were wounded and they were walking with sticks as they were escorted by the Chinese soldiers.   A clip from the footage It also captured one of the Tibetans with a frightened look and hiding in a tent of the climbers. Unable to speak a word of English, he made a plea for help with fingers crossed and His Holiness the Dalai Lama's name on his lips. The climbers said that they gave him food and took him to the pass in the middle of night. In his comment on this tragic event, Dr. Maino from Denmark said that it is around 8 in the morning when they heard the shooting. First he said he couldn't understand what was going on. After witnessing the event, he said that he knew Tibetans were trying to pass Nangpa-La to escape. "It was very horrible incident", he added. Mr. Benitez from US said that he had many interesting mountain climbing trips. "But for the first time I ever see this take place. It is not something that ends with experience, it is something to be never stopped telling", Benitez said. He said that here in Dharamshala he could see the possibility of how Tibet could be. The two climbers said that they are very angry as they think how someone could take human life that casually. Both in their comments said that the Chinese soldiers were very young and it is horrible to see young people doing such things. When asked about the reaction of other climbers, Benitez said that they was 100 plus climbers in his team and all of them got too emotional and became so absorbed that except one all other climbers decided to go home. After releasing the footage, the Chinese authorities said that the border police fired the Tibetan passers-by in self-defense, but the footage clearly shows that the Tibetans were unarmed, said kate Saunders, adding that it is the first visual documentation of the China's treatment of the Tibetan people in Tibet. After their talk, the floor was opened for the audience to ask questions and even the non-Tibetans seemed very touched and were curious about everything like reaction of the UNCHR and etc. Benitez and Maino yesterday received an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His Holiness said that he appreciated that this footage has enable the people of world to know about why Tibetans escape Tibet. The talk was organised by the Department of Information and International Relation of the Central Tibetan Administration.

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Last updated: 23-March-2007