• Monks extinguish blaze • One held • Bouddha tense

KATHMANDU: Tension ran high in Bouddha area today after a Tibetan monk set himself ablaze before his fellow monks and passers-by extinguished the fire.

It coincides with the visit of a 10-member Chinese delegation led by Lt Gen Lang Youliang from Tibet Military Command of Chengdu Military Region to urge Nepali authorities to rein in Tibetans living in the county.

DSP Shyam Lal Gyawali, chief of Metropolitan Police Circle, Bouddha, said a Tibetan in his 20s had tried to immolate himself on the premises of Bouddhanath Stupa, a holy Buddhist site at around 7 am when more that 600 Tibetans had gathered for mass prayer to remember monks and nuns, who had immolated themselves in Tibet.

The monk chanted anti-China slogans as he hoisted the Tibetan flag before setting himself on fire as his fellow monks intervened. He fled before police arrived.

“He must have suffered minor burn injury in the right soldier. We think it was a planned bid not to self-immolate, but to earn cheap popularity and pose a threat to security. We are after the monk,” DSP Gyawali said, adding that his identity was not immediately known.

According to police, the monk had reportedly turned up there after pouring kerosene on parts of his upper garment before setting it on fire with a gas lighter.

Meanwhile, police have arrested one suspect for his alleged involvement in the ‘self-immolation drama.

Eleven Tibetans have set themselves ablaze across Tibet in the past six months ‘to protest repressive Chinese rule in their homeland.’ Earlier, police had arrested 18 Free Tibet activists for their alleged bid ‘to self-immolate’ in Sanepa, Lalitpur, on November 1.

Nepal, home to more than 22,000 Tibetan exiles, sticks to ‘One China Policy’ and has vowed not to allow its soil to be used against its neighbours.