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Against the backdrop of a series of self-immolations in Tibetan-inhabited areas, China on Friday accused the Dalai Lama of plotting the 'murders' to achieve 'ulterior' political goals.
Inciting people to set themselves on fire is a 'crime of murder' in accordance with Chinese law, Losang Gyaltsen, vice chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, said on the sidelines of the ruling Communist Party Congress in Beijing.
"Life is precious. Sacrificing people's lives to achieve ulterior political goals goes against the conscience and morality of human being, and should be strongly condemned," Losang, a delegate to the CPC Congress, was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Li Changping, also a delegate to the CPC congress and a Tibetan official from southwest China's Sichuan Province, said the Dalai Lama should be blamed for the self-immolations in Tibetan-inhabited areas.
"It is the 14th Dalai Lama who should answer your question about the reason of the self-immolations, because he is the plotter of those incidents," Li, a member of the standing committee of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee, told the media at the Congress.
Six Tibetans committed self-immolations in the Tibetan-inhabited areas in the past two days as the Congress opened in Beijing on Thursday, according to Tibetan rights groups.
A total of 69 Tibetans have so far set themselves on fire in protest against the Chinese rule and demanding return of the Dalai Lama from exile.
The official media reported one suicide attempt on Thursday. China, which has stepped up security in the Tibetan-inhabited areas, has been claiming for some time that the Dalai Lama and Tibetan government-in-exile were orchestrating these immolations.