BEIJING- A Beijing-based Tibetologist on Thursday condemned the separatist forces behind a chain of self-immolations by monks and nuns in the Tibetan areas of Southwest China's Sichuan province this year.

In her article, Hua Zi described self-immolation as an "extreme act of violence and terrorism" that is shocking and mournful.

"Several young lives were lost despite the local government's utmost efforts to save them," she wrote, a renowned researcher with China Tibetology Publishing House.

Most of the self-immolation attempts were reported in Aba county of Sichuan's Aba Tibetan-Qiang autonomous prefecture. Nearly all the victims were current or former clergy of the Kirti Monastery.

In the wake of these self-immolations, China's religious circle lamented these young people's rashness and the consequences they caused, and expressed concerns over how such acts might damage the reputation of Tibetan Buddhism, she wrote.

The Tibetans in exile, however, represented by the Dalai Lama and some overseas Tibetan groups, responded to these acts with "astonishing swiftness" and "an extreme attitude," according to the article.

"They published photos of the self-immolation scenes, along with the victims' photos and personal information. Certain groups even put up a list of cash compensation for the victims: 400,000 rupees for each death and 300,000 rupees for the injured.

"It is regrettable, as well as perplexing, that the Dalai Lama, known for his 'non-violence' stance, never uttered a word of persuasion for such self-immolations to immediately stop."

The Dalai Lama told the BBC in a recent interview that those setting themselves alight were courageous.

The high monk also led fasting in Dharamsala, the northern Indian hillside town where the "Tibetan government-in-exile" is based, to voice support for the extreme acts. "Some dubbed the monks and nuns who burned themselves as 'heroes' and 'fighters,' and suggested monuments be erected in their names."

Others wrote articles trying to justify their self-immolations, she said. "It was under such clamor and instigation that a Tibetan in exile set himself on fire in Nepal [two weeks ago]."

The writer called for an objective analysis of the causes and potential consequences of the self-immolations, so as to keep such tragedies from happening again.

She pointed to a clique jockeying for power in the overseas Tibetan community under the 14th Dalai Lama, saying these so-called "religious leaders" have continued to instigate extreme acts in pursuit of their "Tibet independence" agenda.

The Kirti Monastery's former head monk once served as the private aide to the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, after he fled to India in 1959 and, later, became a senior religious official of the Dalai Lama's "government-in-exile."

The Kirti clique recently set up a team to work closely with key groups and agencies under the Dalai Lama and his "government-in-exile" in an effort to regain the clique's clout, she wrote, quoting Song Tendargye, chief of the religious affairs bureau in Aba county.

The team, under the instruction of the Dalai Lama group, is tasked with establishing contacts, collecting information and plotting destabilizing acts in Aba.

Meanwhile, a gang of four Kirti Monastery monks were widely suspected to have masterminded a series of suicide attempts. On March 2, 2011, they plotted a self-immolation and spread photos of the scene on the web within two hours, Hua Zi wrote, quoting Ha Jun, deputy chief of the religious bureau in Aba.

"It's infuriating that young monks and nuns, who knew nothing of the historical and political background behind the 'Tibet freedom' and 'Tibet independence' claims, were incited into taking their own lives," said the writer.

These self-immolations were in fact a political plot by those who are  attempting to split China and seek "Tibet independence," she wrote. "By playing up the Tibet issue in the international community and smearing China's ethnic policy, they intended to create excuses for the so-called 'independence of Tibet.'"

Such political activity runs counter to the tenets of Buddhism but is correlated to the prolonged fusion of religion and politics in Tibet's feudal history, according to the writer.

"Extremism is detrimental to the development of Tibetan Buddhism, and unless curbed effectively, it will harm national security and social stability," she wrote.

"We must expose these violent criminal acts hidden under the cloak of religion," she said.