To the 91 year old
Beijing, 30 Mar. (Reuters/EP) –
Phuntso Wangye, a former leader Tibetan communist critical of Beijing's policies towards the region died this Sunday to the 91 years old, as announced by his son Phunkam.
"He left us this morning. Before his death he was a member of the Communist Party. After it we have invited the lamas to pray (for your soul), según la cultura tradicional tibetana", He said, in statements given to the British news agency Reuters.
Puntso, that was found hospitalized in Beijing since July, started suffering lung problems in recent weeks.
Born in 1922 in the Tibetan county of Batang, currently located in the Chinese region of Sichuan, founded the Tibetan Communist Party and launched a series of guerrilla operations against the authorities before joining the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949.
Puntso led the troops of the People's Liberation Army in Tibet during 1951 and worked as a translator for leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai during talks with the Dalai Lama in 1954.
Thereafter,, He was a victim of one of the authorities' purges and it happened 18 years imprisoned in solitary confinement before being rehabilitated in 1978.
Puntso rejected the opportunity to be president of the Tibetan regional government and began to toughen his criticism of the central government's stance towards Tibet and the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against the Beijing authorities.
In several letters sent to former President Hu Jintao, criticized local leaders por utilizar la campaña contra el separatismo tibetano en favor de sus propios intereses y por negarse a reconocer el papel que juega el Dalai Lama en la sociedad tibetana.
The dissident Tibetan writer Woeser has described Phuntso's death as "una gran pérdida", while emphasizing that he continued to ask the Chinese leaders, including the current president, Xi Jinping, to reconsider their stance towards Tibet.
