Tibetans returning to Tibet from India after making a pilgrimage and seeking a blessing from the Dalai Lama risk arrest, detention and heavy fines. According to an information from Ngaba county (Ch: Apa county) in Karze “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture” (Ch: Sichuan Province). The source reported that the PSB suspected such Tibetans of having come back to “instigate the masses into…
More reports of arrests and expulsions of monks and nuns in Tibet have been received in connection to the “Strike Hard” campaign. In October 1996, six monks of Taktsang Lhamo Monastery in Kannan prefecture in Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Region Prefecture were arrested by local PSB officials. The six monks were alleged to have instigated a crowd to revolt against Chinese…
In a white paper published by the central Chinese government on February 24, 1998, entitled “New progress in human rights in the Tibet Autonomous Region”, China has exerted considerable effort in providing the claim that Chinese ‘Democratic Reforms’ have led to vast improvements in almost all areas of Tibetan society. The dominant theme of the White paper is the “liberation”…
Lhakpa Tsering was born in Lhasa in 1970. Just 20 years later, on December 13, 1990, he died in Drapchi Prison from sicknesses and injuries resulting from prolonged torture in detention. Despite repeated appeals from his fellow inmates regarding Lhakpa’s critical condition, prison doctors were still refusing him medical attention in the last days before his death. As a boy,…
Tsultrim was arrested by the Public Security Bureau in November 1997 in the town of Dram on the Nepal-Tibet border on his return from India. He had left for India in 1996 to seek blessing from the Dalai Lama and to make a pilgrimage. Tsultrim was known to have been imprisoned in Dram for two months but his present whereabouts…
In Shabrang village, Thonring sub-county, Rebkong county, Qinghai province (Tib: Amdo province), nine women between the ages of 18 to 45 were taken away in October 1997 to be sterilized. A vehicle came in the night and took women to the Rebkong government hospital. County officials had made an announcement several days prior to the arrival of the birth control…
Earlier there were 35 monks residing in Pangsa Monastery but it is reported that some have been imprisoned for political reasons and some have fled to exile to escape the “re-education” work team’s repressive policies, leaving 16 monks currently in the monastery. On 2 September 1997, a six-member work team arrived in Pangsa Monastery, a retreat founded by Togden Jamphel…
Twenty seven monks have been reported expelled from their monasteries. Their expulsions, which took place in June 1997, bring the total figure of known expulsions in connection with China’s religious strike down launched in April 1996 to 3,993. According to the information, received from a reliable source, Chinese work-teams arrived at Sakya Monastery in Lhoka county in “Tibet Autonomous Region”…
Jamphel Monlam, also known as Dadul, is 30 years old. Jamphel’s desire to be part of Tibet’s freedom struggle was strong and he became involved in a political group in Drepung monastery, resulting in a five year imprisonment. Yet Jamphel says it was not the years behind bars that were the worst but the life after release. Release did not…
Every year hundreds of Tibetan refugees attempt the hazardous journey across the Himalayan mountains to escape from Chinese-occupied Tibet. In October 1997,five more Tibetan children died attempting to escape. Their bodies had to be left in the snow with their heads facing toward their ultimate goal: India and the Dalai Lama. Lobsang Nyendak, 22 years old arrived in Kathmandu in…
Phuntsok Gonpo, a 25 year old former Drepung monk, spent five years in Drapchi Prison. He is one of the many Tibetans who have been arbitrarily detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression. Phuntsok describes some of the miseries suffered by political prisoners in Drapchi: specially designed torture techniques; forced prison “exercise” ; restricted visits; and stifling conditions…