Thousands offered prayers for Jugtso

(Photo: David Huang/Dharamsala) DHARAMSHALA, April 18: Following the self-immolation protest by Jugtso or Chuktso in Zamthang in Ngaba, Eastern Tibet, thousands of local Tibetans at the Jonang Monastery to offer their prayers and last respects. Jugtso, 20, mother of four, set herself alight outside Jonang Monastery in Zamthang around 3 pm local time yesterday. She died at the protest site and was then taken to the monastery where religious ceremonies were carried out. The family members later took the body to her home. According to Dharamshala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), "Family members of Chuktso were forced to cremate the body in haste that same night after orders came from County government and Public Security Bureau (PSB) office asking for an immediate cremation or allow confiscation of the body." Jugtso was a native of Bharma Village in Zamthang County. She is a daughter of Tenkho and Donkyi. Jugtso became the sixth Tibetan to self-immolate in Dzamthang. In Dharamshala, the de-facto capital of exile Tibet, hundreds of Tibetans and supporters carried out a candlelight vigil from the Mcleod Ganj Square to the Martyr's Pillar at Tsuglakhang in solidarity with Jugtso. The deepening crisis inside Tibet has witnessed large-scale anti-China protests and a series of self-immolations that reached 115.