From credible information received from multiple sources in Tibet by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), a total of 572 monks from Ngaba Kirti Monastery were arrested by the Chinese People’s Armed Police (PAP) and Public Security Bureau (PSB) following a two day raid in monks’ residence on 28 and 29 March 2008.
As reported earlier by the Centre, more information on the number of monks arrested following two days of raids in Ngaba Kirti Monastery in Ngaba County (Ch:Aba Xian), Ngaba ” Tibet Autonomous Prefecture” (‘TAP’), Sichuan Province, is surfacing from the area. According to several credible sources, a total of 572 monks including novice as young as ten years old from Kirti Monastery were known to have been arrested in two days’ raid at the monastery by PAP and PSB officials. Before the launch of raids in the monastery on 28 March, hundreds of PAP and PSB reached the monastery, dispersed people, mostly devotees and visitors gathered around the monastery compound, and ordered surrounding shops to be shut down.
During the sudden and thorough raid, monks with modern communication gadgets such as mobile phones, cameras, computers or MP3 players in their residences were known to have been arrested under suspicion of having communicated with the exile Tibetan communities. The PAP and PSB ransacked every room of the monastery, baring every box and cupboard with rifle butts. There were even reports of security forces taking advantage by taking away valuable items from monks’ residences. The sources also confirmed that in an attempt to hurt the religious sentiment of the Buddhist monks, the PAP and PSB officials forced monks to step over the portraits of the Dalai Lama found in monks’ residences. The security forces even took photographs of monks who were coerced to hold the banned Tibetan national flag and portrait of the Dalai Lama to use as evidence of their crimes. The sources confirmed that symbolic ceremonial weapons hung on the statues of protecting deities inside the monastery altar were also reported to have been confiscated, and were accused of being weapons used by the protesters.
On the day of the raid in Kirti Monastery on 28 March, around 30 Tibetans who were arrested a few days earlier were known to have been paraded around the street of Ngaba County in a military truck to intimidate common people from undertaking further protests. Two monks identified as Ven. Lobsang Tenzin and Ven. Lobsang Chodhar of Kirti Monastery were among the group in that truck, according to the source.
On 29 March, PAP and PSB raided each and every residence of Ngatoe Adue Monastery in Ngaba County. There is no report of arrests from these raids at the moment.
In another incident, on 29 March a similar raid was carried out by the PAP and PSB officials at around dusk in the Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery (a branch of Amdo Ngaba Kirti Monastery) in Dzoge County (Ch:Ruanggui/Zoige Xian) Ngaba “TAP” Sichuan Province. Scores of monks were arrested from their residences after the raid, of which identities of only 19 monks are known at the moment. Next morning, around 80 Chinese government officials and a large number of PAP forces carried out sudden raids again in Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery. There is neither clear information on the exact number of monks arrested nor about officials finding any incriminating documents after the raid in the monastery. However, the officials confiscated weapons displayed on the altar for protecting deities in the monastery, which officials alleged to have been used by the protesters. One source confirmed that there are shortages of food, water and medical attention in the monastery after successive protests broke out in Ngaba County.
On 30 March, a similar raid was carried out by PAP and PSB in every residence of Gomang Monastery in Ngaba County, Ngaba “TAP” Sichuan Province. At least twenty monks from the monastery were known to have been arrested after the raid, however, the identities of those arrested have not yet been ascertained. The Centre will continue to monitor the situation and will update as and when more information on these arrests surfaces. In an earlier protest in Ngaba County, at least 15 to 20 monks of the same monastery are known to have been arrested.
On 30 March, at least 20 monks of Ngamey Dongri Monastery (a branch of Ngaba Kirti Monastery) in Ngaba County are known to have been arrested by PAP and PSB officers. The reasons for their arrest are unknown at the moment. There are even reports of a few people surrendering to the authorities but their identities are not yet established. Sources confirmed that several elderly people in the area were reportedly beaten with rifle butts by PAP and PSB officials.
At least 23 Tibetans including a 16 year old school girl Lhundup Tso, have been reportedly killed, hundreds critically injured, and many more arrested, as Chinese authorities resorted to violent crackdowns to quell the peaceful Tibetan demonstrators demanding independence for Tibet in Ngaba protest on 16 March 2008.
TCHRD condemns in strongest terms the acts of Chinese security forces’ in dealing with monks by ransacking monastic institution at will and arbitrarily arresting monks without formal charges. TCHRD strongly believes that all Tibetan people inside Tibet have equal rights to freedom of expression, assembly, movement and other basic fundamental rights enshrined in various international covenants that China is party to and has clearly promulgated in her own constitution