Tibet official: March Lhasa riots won´t repeat

But no extraordinary measures like martial law will be enforced, said Qiangba Puncog at a panel discussion open to media.

The regional legislature in January endorsed a bill to set March 28 as Serfs Emancipation Day for annual observation in the region. Celebrations will be held in Lhasa and Beijing to mark the occasion this month.

Legqog, director of the Standing Committee of the Tibetan Autonomous Regional People's Congress, said the approval of Serfs Emancipation Day is an important move to wage a "tit-for-tat struggle" against the Dalai Lama group.

"We'll, for a long period of time, face austere test in maintaining unification of the motherland, fighting ethnic splittism, and maintaining social stability," said Legqog.

"Since the Dalai Lama and his supporters failed in an armed rebellion and fled abroad 50 years ago, they have been dreaming of restoring the reactionary, dark, barbarian and backward feudal serfdom in Tibet, and they have never stopped activities to split the motherland and undermine ethnic unity," he said.

In 1959, the central government foiled an armed rebellion staged by the Dalai Lama and his supporters.

"The younger generation in Tibet may know little about this history," Legqog said, adding the Serfs Emancipation Day would help "remind the younger generation of the bitter past so that they would cherish today's development, changes and new life."

CHALLENGE REMAINS

Despite efforts to maintain stability in Tibet, officials said disturbance and sabotage from the Dalai Lama group still remains and hinders Tibet's development.