Dalai Lama urges legitimate autonomy for Tibet

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Tuesday accused China of having killed hundreds of thousands of his people and transforming his Himalayan homeland into a "hell on earth."     In a speech on the 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against China, he reiterated his demand for "legitimate and meaningful autonomy" for Tibet and told his followers that "the justice of Tibet's cause will prevail." "These 50 years have brought untold suffering and destruction to the land and people of Tibet," said the Dalai Lama, speaking outside the main Tibetan temple in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala. "Having occupied Tibet, the Chinese communist government carried out a series of repressive and violent campaigns. "These thrust Tibetans into such depths of suffering and hardship that they literally experienced hell on earth. The immediate result of these campaigns was the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Tibetans."     "Even today Tibetans in Tibet live in constant fear," he went on. "Their religion, culture, language, identity are near extinction. The Tibetan people are regarded like criminals, deserving to be put to death." Chinese troops entered the devoutly Buddhist region in 1950 to "liberate" it from feudal rule, according to Beijing, but Chinese control there remains widely unpopular. A failed uprising in March 1959 prompted the Dalai Lama to flee to India.