Tibet Daily accuses Dalai Lama of lying

BEIJING, March 17 (UPI) -- A government-run newspaper in Tibet has accused the Dalai Lama of spreading "gross lies" about Tibet's history with China.

An editorial in the Tibet Daily Monday disputed the Dalai Lama's claim that a failed rebellion by Tibetans against the Chinese 50 years ago was a peaceful uprising, reported Xinhua, China's state-run news agency.

The editorial criticized a speech given by the Dalai Lama on March 10 from his exile base in northern India in which he said the Chinese government had killed hundreds of thousands of Tibetans and transformed Tibet into a "hell on earth."

The Tibet Daily, also part of China's state-run media, labeled the Dalai Lama's "peaceful fight" a rebellion by aristocrats and serf owners seeking to separate Tibet from China to keep workers enslaved, Xinhua reported.

The real thugs, according to the editorial, were the Tibetans, who the editorial claims raped nearly all of the women of the region, including Buddhist nuns, Xinhua said.