An editorial in Tibet Daily Monday refuted the Dalai Lama's speech on March 10, saying his label of "peaceful uprising" on the failed armed rebellion 50 years ago is a lie that cannot cover up the violence.

The Dalai Lama delivered the speech at his exile base in northern India, saying the "peaceful uprising" was the Tibetans' fight against the repressive campaigns by the Communist Party of China.

He also said the Chinese government had killed hundreds of thousands of Tibetans and transformed the plateau region into a "hell on earth".

The Tibet Daily editorial said the Dalai Lama's comments were just "gross lies".

History has proved the nature of the Dalai Lama's "peaceful fight" was just a rebellion by the aristocrats and serf owners in old Tibet to seek the separation of Tibet from China, it said.

The rebels ambushed the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on July 21, 1958, in Maizhokunggar County. Then they attacked the organizations and transportation teams dispatched by the central government, killing PLA soldiers and officials. On March 10, 1959, the local government of Tibet started the all-around armed rebellion.

The rebellion forces tortured the people in Shannan Prefecture for more than 10 months between 1958 and 1959. Nearly all the women near Tsethang, including Buddhist nuns, were raped. A tailor called Phuntsog had his heart cut out because his daughter participated in the liberation movement, according to the editorial.

They pulled out a heart of a nine-year-old boy in Potrang Township of Nedong County, cut his body to pieces and hung them on a tree, the editorial said.

The Dalai Lama clique never stopped the violence. They formed an army in 1960 in Nepal to conduct harassing attacks in the China-Nepal border for 14 years and fomented several riots in Lhasa in the 1980s, it said.

They also masterminded the riot in Lhasa on March 14 last year, in which 18 innocent civilians were killed.

It was the serf owners in old Tibet that brought "untold suffering and destruction to the land and people of Tibet" and transformed the plateau region into a "hell on earth", the editorial said, adding the forces destroyed national unification and blocked Tibet's development.

More than 800,000 Tibetan serfs and slaves got their land through democratic reform. More than 4,400 serfs became local officials after cultivation, according to the editorial.

"The so-called 'non-violence' and 'peaceful uprising' were just camouflage for separatist activities. Their ultimate goal is to restore the system of feudal serfdom," it added.

The lies were also attributed to support from international forces, the editorial said.

"The rebels were backed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency who helped train guerrillas. The rebels also received 250 tonnes of military materials, including transmitter-receivers and arms airdropped by the CIA."

Regardless of China's repeated stern representations, the U.S. House of Representatives and the European Parliament passed resolutions on Tibet last week.

The resolutions disregarded the history and reality of Tibet, and turned a blind eye to the tremendous improvement in the past 50 years and the will of the Tibetan people by trying to justify Tibet's dark ages, the editorial said. "All these are an attempt to internationalize Tibet-related issues."

"The politicians seemed to have forgotten their disreputable roles in the 1959 rebellion and each violent riot in history."

The newspaper said it would publish a series of editorials to refute the Dalai Lama's claims.

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2009)