Author page: staff

A Tibetan political prisoner who was released last year after serving a three-year sentence is in poor health with multiple medical complications, reported his niece, Nyidon, in a recent interview with TCHRD.

Born in Kora Township in Karze (Chinese: Ganzi) County, Nyidon escaped into India with an overriding mission: “To tell the story of my uncle to the world” as China continues to keep a tight lid on information coming out of Tibet.

On Saturday, 1 September, China police forces raided Nyitso Zilkar Monastery in Zatoe (Chinese: Zaduo) town, Tridu (Chinese: Chenduo) County in Jyekundo (Chinese: Yushu), Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, and arbitrarily arrested five monks, while dozens were beaten by the People’s Armed Police.

“Around 60 vehicles full of armed police forces raided the Nyitso Zilkar Monastery on Saturday without any explanation, and locals say it’s because of the monastery’s role in preserving and teaching Tibetan language, culture, and Buddhism in the region,” reliable sources in exile told TCHRD this week.

A close cousin of a monk who died of self-immolation was among the two detained recently by Chinese security personnel in Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) County in Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

Both Tibetans, a monk and a layman, remain “missing” after they were arbitrarily detained on 27 August in separate incidents, a source tells TCHRD, quoting local Tibetans in the area.

Lobsang Sangyal, around 22, was detained on the night of 28 August from his residence at Kirti Monastery in Ngaba. Sangyal was a close cousin of monk Lobsang Kelsang, 18, who on 27 August died of self-immolation protest. Sangyal hails from Raruwa nomadic village in Ngaba County.

Jayang Khyenkho, 60, was also detained from his home on 28 August for unknown reasons. He belongs to Bharmatsang family at Kanyag nomadic village in Totsig Township, Ngaba County, the same source tells TCHRD quoting local Tibetans in the area.

The democratization process of Tibetan society in exile has been ongoing since the 1960s, with the Dalai Lama as its driving force and architect. This process culminated in the landmark decision of 2011, when the Dalai Lama formally announced his complete withdrawal from political life but also the dissolution of the Ganden Phodrang, Tibet’s historical form of government, to make way for a fully-fledged democratic government, thus marking a new era of Tibetan government with the separation of religion and politics. In August 2011, Dr Lobsang Sangay, a Harvard-educated academic, became the first elected political leader of the Tibetan people. As the Dalai Lama himself said on 19 March 2011: “The rule by kings and religious figures is outdated. We have to follow the trend of the free world, which is that of democracy…Contrary to the system of the Chinese Communist’s authoritarian rule in Tibet, our small community in exile has been able to establish a complete modern democratic system.”