Dharamshala: - The Chinese clampdown on Tibetan freedom continues in Ngaba Country, the hardest punches thrown at the Tibetan monks in the region, whose religious freedom and human rights are being systematically stripped away from them.
Dharamshala: - The Chinese clampdown on Tibetan freedom continues in Ngaba Country, the hardest punches thrown at the Tibetan monks in the region, whose religious freedom and human rights are being systematically stripped away from them.
On the 4th of November, another monk was arrested in Ngaba County, Eastern Tibet. The 19 year old monk, Yonten, of Kirti monastery, was arrested by Chinese officials at his residence at 10 am. His father's name is Kaka, and his mother's name is Donri.
At around 3 pm on the 6th if November, another monk, Lobe, 21 y/o, was also arrested at Kirti monastery. His father's name is Sonam Dharge and his mother's name is Sonam Dolma.
Both of them were detained without reason, and their whereabouts remain unknown.
Ngaba County has seen the detention, disappearance and/or demise of an alarming number of monks ever since the first self-immolation took place at Kirti monastery in March of this year. More than 300 Tibetan monks were detained by Chinese troops in the months following the incident. As per the Chinese protocol, no information was given regarding the prisoners and their whereabouts, nor did they state the reasons for the arrests.
The Tibet Post International spoke with two monks, Kanyak Tsering and Lobsang Yeshe of the Kirti monastery in Dharamshala, regarding the arrest of the Lobe and Yonten. They reported that many armed military troops and policemen dressed as civilians have been deployed in Ngaba County. Over 200 Chinese officials have laid siege to the Kirti monastery in the Sichuan province of Tibet, exercising control over the prayers, schedules and daily lives of the monks.
"Chinese officials have been paying house visits to farmers and nomads in the county, insisting that all children below 18 years should be enrolled into Chinese schools. Any children already in Tibetan monasteries are forced to drop out and put in Chinese institutions as per their demands", Tsering told the The Tibet Post.
"If the families refuse to comply, they are made to pay a fine of 3000 yen for each child studying in a Tibetan institution".
In September, the international media reported the death of a monk, Yeshe Tenzin, in the Nagchu prefecture of Eastern Tibet, having suffered beatings and hard labor during his 10-year prison sentence for campaigning for freedom.
As of September 1, 2010, there were around 824 Tibetan political or religious prisoners, according to the U.S. Congressional Executive Commission on China's Political Prisoner Database, most of whom suffered extrajudicial punishments such as beatings and food, water and sleep deprivation for long periods of time
News of his death comes amid a U.S. State Department report that many of the Tibetan monks and nuns under detention are subjected to extrajudicial punishments, such as beatings and deprivation of food, water, and sleep for long periods.
The Chinese are striving towards the complete isolation of the Sichuan province, a region bloodied by 10 self-immolations, the last of which took place on November 6 by a 35 year old of Tawu Nyatso monastery, who later succumbed to her injuries. Limited access to information and the cordoning off the Sichuan province by Chinese authorities has made it hard to ascertain how many Tibetan political prisoners have been detained till date.
