Tag: naqu

Title page of the temporary regulation passed by Diru County government
Title page of the temporary regulation passed by Diru County government

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) recently published an update on the escalating repression in Diru (Ch: Biru) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), in the Tibetan province of Kham.[i] The report quoted a source within Tibet who said that in addition to the continuing arrest and disappearance of Tibetans in Diru County for protesting Chinese policies including against mining activities, local government had issued a temporary regulation prohibiting “freedom of movement, speech and religion.”

The report mentioned that failure to abide by these regulations would result in severe punishments for the Tibetans, such as “dismissal from the monastery, cancellation of welfare provisions, and prohibiting the harvesting of the prized caterpillar fungus.” TCHRD has received scanned copies of the Tibetan version of the regulation. Due to the difficulty and risk involved in getting the regulation out of Tibet, TCHRD’s source was unable to scan the complete regulation.

The original regulation includes 4 chapters and 26 articles mainly focusing on the cracking down on separatism, the “Dalai clique”, putting restrictions on participation in religious gathering such as the Kalachakra Empowerment given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in July 2014 in Ladakh in northern India. The regulation is referred to as “Information Handbook for the Enforcement of Two Separate Regulations issued by Diru County People’s Government” (Tib: diru mimang sizhung gi tenbep khag nyi kyi dril drak lad deb). According to the document, the regulation was passed in June 2014. Its subtitle encapsulates the essence of the regulation: “A temporary regulation on the illegal activities by participating, on one’s own [initiative], in the ‘Great Prayer Festivals’, through crossing the national boundaries, creating and spreading rumors in the public, propagating harmful information, traveling to areas outside of your own locality to [engage in religious] study.”

Continue Reading

Thupten Gyaltsen
Thupten Gyaltsen

Arbitrary arrests and detention have increased amid unusual intensification of state surveillance measures in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

A Tibetan man has been detained and disappeared in Sog (Ch: Suo) County, which neighbours the restive Diru (Ch: Biru) County in Nagchu Prefecture.

Information received by TCHRD confirms that Thupten Gyaltsen aka Thupgyal, 27, was detained by local Public Security Bureau officers on the night of 11 November 2013 from his home at Village No. 5 in Gyalchen (Ch: Jiaqin) Township in Sog County.

For the past few months, unrest has increased in many areas in Nagchu Prefecture due to the repressive nature of Chinese policies particularly the “mass line” campaign which has made Tibetans vulnerable to mass surveillance and propaganda campaigns. In particular, conditions in Diru County has deteriorated a great deal leading to the alarming rise in the number of arbitrary arrests and disappearances

Continue Reading

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. 

Continue Reading

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.

Continue Reading

to top