nagchu – Page 3

11/10/2013 News

Official Chinese notification puts Nagchu Tibetans under secret surveillance

Locations of ‘convenience police stations’ in old Tibetan neighbourhood of Lhasa City as mentioned in the notification.

Days after the violent crackdown on local Tibetans in Diru County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Chinese authorities in Lhasa City have issued a notification to various ‘convenience police posts’ in Lhasa and Nagchu to monitor the movement and activities of Nagchu Tibetans.

Human Rights Watch had earlier reported that by July 2012, 676 permanent “convenience police-posts” (Ch.: bian minjing wu zhan) had been set up in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). These are manned by police officers who are on duty around-the-clock.

According to the notification, police officers would use secret codes when relaying information in real time about the movement and activities of Tibetans visiting Lhasa from Nagchu. The notification mentions that police officers would use secret codes for Diru (Ch: Biru) County, Drachen (Ch: Bachen) County and Sog (Ch: Suo) County, all located in the eastern part of Nagchu Prefecture, when relaying information about individuals from these areas. For instance, the secret code for Diru County is “A”. It appears that each county in Nagchu Prefecture has been assigned a secret code for police surveillance.

09/10/2013 News

Two monks flee Tibet’s Nagchu to escape persecution as ‘social prisoner’

Chinese authorities in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) are persecuting monks and nuns who travel to other Tibetan areas outside of TAR to pursue religious studies, calling them ‘social prisoners’.

Two Tibetan monks, Bhagdro and Deri, who fled Tibet to India early this month told TCHRD that monks and nuns who earn the label ‘social prisoners’ (Tib: chitsok ki tsonpa) are being detained, harassed and interrogated by local Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers. The so-called ‘social prisoners’ are being persecuted for crossing the TAR border and travelling to other Tibetan areas in Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces to pursue religious education.

Bhagdro, 23, and Deri, 21, hail from Lhari (Ch: Jiali) County and Sog (Ch: Suo) County respectively in Nagchu Prefecture. Both monks had left their respective home monasteries to pursue further studies at Larung Gar Buddhist Institute in Sertha (Ch: Seda) County in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Sichuan Province). Fearing that they would be stigmatised as ‘social prisoners’, they chose not to return home and fled into exile to India.

08/10/2013 News

Diru under lockdown: One Tibetan sentenced; more injured by gunshots and disappeared

Tsering Gyaltsen is being treated at Lhasa People's Hospital. — Tsering Gyaltsen is being treated at Lhasa People’s Hospital.

Chinese authorities have sentenced an elderly Tibetan man and disappeared two others even as crisis escalated following protests against Chinese flag-raising campaign in Diru (Ch: Biru) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

According to information received by TCHRD, a Tibetan layman called Dayang, 68, was sentenced to two years and five months for shouting slogans for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Tibetan freedom at a cultural show in Tsachu Township in Diru County. On 3 September 2013, during a cultural show organised by the Chinese authorities in Tsachu, where Tibetans were required to wave Chinese flags and appear happy, Dayang raised slogans challenging the spectacle of forced happiness on local Tibetans.

The same day, Dayang who hails from Dongla Rudo Village in Tsachu Township was allowed to return home. But at around 2 am, a group of Public Security Bureau officials suddenly entered Dayang’s house and took him away as other officers put a cloth over his wife’s head. For the next few days, the whereabout of Dayang remained unknown until it was learned that he was admitted at Diru County hospital getting treatment for injuries he sustained during his secret detention. On 7 October 2013, more than a month after his disappearance, he was taken to Lhasa People’s Hospital for further treatment. Sources said Dayang is kept under strict watch and no one is allowed to visit him. The details of his injuries also remain unknown.

10/09/2013 News

Ancient Tibetan monastery under siege over reincarnation issue; mother of two attempts suicide protest

Lama Dawa Rinpoche (full name: Dawa Rinpoche Khenrap Wangchuk Samten Tenpai Gyaltsen Pel Sangpo) was detained and sentenced to 7 years in prison.

A Tibetan monastery with over 300 years of history has been shut down indefinitely after Chinese authorities attempted to impose its own choice of reincarnation on the monastery in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

Shak Rongpo Gaden Dhargyeling Monastery, located in Shakchu (Ch: Xiaqu) Township in Nagchu County, has been under intense pressure and restriction since 2010 when local authorities arrested and sentenced a senior spiritual teacher, Lama Dawa Rinpoche, to seven years in prison on charges that he contacted His Holiness the Dalai Lama during the search for the ninth reincarnation of Rongpo Choeje, the head lama of the monastery. The previous eighth incarnation of Rongpo Choeje passed away on 14 August 1999. The first Rongpo Choeje founded the monastery under the guidance of the fifth Dalai Lama some 300 years ago.

According to information received by TCHRD, out of 113 big and small monasteries in Nagchu Prefecture, Shak Rongpo Monastery has been blacklisted among the top group of reactionary monasteries, undeserving of any measure of official leniency.

04/04/2013 News

Political prisoner’s early release seen as attempt to avoid detention-related death

A long-serving Tibetan political prisoner, Dawa Gyaltsen, now about 47, was released two years earlier than the expected date for exhibiting “good behaviour”, according to information received by TCHRD from exile Tibetan sources having local contacts in Tibet.

He was serving an 18-year prison term when he was released sometime last month. The exact release date cannot be ascertained immediately. The former bank accountant was first detained for distributing and pasting Tibetan independence leaflets.

There has been no statement yet from Chinese authorities regarding Dawa Gyaltsen’s release two years before the expected date. However, Tibetan sources say Dawa Gyaltsen (Ch: Dawa Jianzan) is in poor health, with the limp in one of his legs having worsened over the years due to ill-treatment and torture in prison for 17 years.

20/03/2013 News

China uses religious propaganda to counter Tibetan self-immolations

In a rare departure from its usual propaganda narrative on Tibetan self-immolations, the Chinese authorities called His Holiness the Dalai Lama, along with His Eminence Kirti Rinpoche “the root cause” of self-immolations in Tibet. In earlier statements, the Chinese leadership had been careful to directly blame Dalai Lama, instead blaming the so-called ‘Dalai clique’ or ‘separatist forces’ for self-immolations.

On 7 March 2013, Chinese state media quoted Wu Zegang, governor of Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province as saying, “We oppose the self-immolation … first of all, [we should find out] the root cause of the [self-immolation] problem, the root cause is the 14^th Dalai Lama, and Kirti Rinpoche, who live outside [Tibet].”[i] But the fact that there had been no credible evidence to prove this reckless claim is beside the point for the Chinese authorities whose fanatical drive to stamp out popular Tibetan protests and criminalize the so-called instigators, inciters and abettors of immolations have only increased repression, instability and violence in Tibet.

16/07/2011 News

Monk Dorgay of Nagchu Shabten Monastery arrested

On 6 July 2011, Dorgay, a monk of Shabten Monastery in Dickyi Township of Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) County in Tibet Autonomous Region was arrested and taken away by Chinese police.

At around 5 am on 6 July, Dorgay, 22, drove his car with 1500-2000 khataks (ceremonial scarves). Praying for the long life of the Dalai Lama, he tied the khataks on trees, electric poles and everywhere in Nagchu region as a celebration of the 76th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Soon after returning to his monastery, Chinese police arrived at the monastery and inquired whether he was the one who put khataks all around Nagchu to which he confessed. Hence, he was arrested and taken away by Chinese police. His whereabouts remain unknown to date. His family members and fellow monks at Shabten Monastery tried to locate him and find out about his conditions but without any success.

28/04/2009 News

China detains three Tibetan monks in Nagchu County

According to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), the Chinese authorities in Nagchu County, Nagchu Prefecture, “Tibet Autonomous Region” (“TAR”) has secretly detained three Tibetan Buddhist monks. On 11 April 2009, Nagchu Public Security Bureau (PSB) detained Khensur Thupten Thapkhey, 47, a former abbot of Shapten Monastery and a 34-year old scripture master,…

03/07/2007 News / TCHRD Statements

Commotion between two communities lead to arrest of 30 Tibetans

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) received confirmed information from reliable sources that a commotion between the migrant Chinese Muslim traders and Tibetan youths on 27 June 2007 in Yagra neighborhood in Sog County, Nagchu Prefecture “TAR” and subsequent protest by Tibetans against the highhandedness of the traders has led to the arrest of around 30 Tibetans.

On 27 June 2007, a commotion between the migrant Chinese Muslim traders and Tibetan youths broke out in the Yagra neighborhood of Sog County while transacting medicinal plant caterpillar fungus (Tib: Yartsa Gunbu, Botanical name: cordyceps sinensis). According to sources, during the initial commotion two Tibetan youths were said to have been tied-up and beaten by a group of migrant Chinese Muslim traders of the area. After the incident hundreds of Tibetans gathered to protest against the treatment meted out to the two Tibetan youths. And the subsequent protest incident in Yagra neighborhood has led to the arrest of 30 Tibetans by the Chinese authorities.

16/09/2004 News

Tibetans arrested for protesting against mining activity

Three Tibetans from Sog County (Ch: Suo Xian) were arrested by the local Public Security Bureau (“PSB”) for protesting against the authorities’ mining activity in the area, according to confirmed reports received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

The three Tibetans, Dejor, 40, Tsering Dawa, 40, and Thartsok, 33, were arrested on 4 September 2004 in Sari Village, Yongnak Township, Sog County, Tibet Autonomous Region (“TAR”). All of them are currently reported to be in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture Detention Centre.