http://agamsgecko.blogspot.com/2008/05/tibetans-steadfast-with-no-let-up-in.html
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
TIBETANS STEADFAST, WITH NO LET-UP IN CHINA'S REPRESSION
Help. I'm running out of new ways to say 'Resistance, Repression
Continue' for a headline. These people just won't give up.
A Tibetan woman who re****tedly protested peacefully on March 16 and 17
in Ngaba County, Kham (Ch: Sichuan) was arrested on March 18 by
Chinese security forces, allegedly because she was the first person to
have taken down a door plate at the local town****p office. She was
released after nine days in prison, in an extremely critical
condition. She had spent those nine days receiving torture from the
prison guards.
There were many bruise marks on her body, she was unable to speak and
eat food, constantly vomiting and could hardly breathe properly.
After the release, her relatives immediately took her to the County
government hospital for treatment. However, the County government
hospital refused to admit her to the hospital to receive timely
medical treatment, apparently under influence and intimidation of the
local Chinese authorities. She was completely denied from accessing
timely medical treatment in the hospital.
The 38 year-old mother of four children, Nechung, remained in this
condition until she finally died on April 17, without receiving any
proper medical care. How many people participated in this slow murder,
we can only guess. But as if that wasn't enough depravity,
Even after her death, the Chinese authorities issued terse warning to
Tibetan monks for offering prayers and ritual rites for her deceased
soul.
Nechung's four children are all actually still children, and her
husband has been on the run since her arrest. Ngaba County was the
site of one of the earliest re****ted massacres of protesters near
Kirti Monastery, where the first photograph of slain demonstrators
showed their bodies lined up on the ground awaiting religious service.
Heavy suppression and determined resistance continue in Kham.
Additional People's Armed Police were deployed in Ngaba County on
April 28. Chinese officials arrived at Namtso Monastery and attempted
to raise the Chinese flag, but a monk tried to stop them. The monk was
severely beaten. Many of those arrested in this area are detained at a
prison near Chengdu, and among them are many with broken limbs who are
also being denied proper medical care.
In Sershul County, Kardze prefecture, Kham, Chinese government "work
teams" called the monks of Voen-po Monastery to a meeting on April 20.
Statements opposing "separatists" were announced, along with orders to
fly the Chinese flag over the monastery, but the monks refused. On
April 25, three local people were arrested and severely beaten by
police.
In Derge County, Kardze, Kham, Chinese "work team" indoctrination
squads instructed the monks at Dza Gonsar Monastery to sign letters
opposing "separatists" on April 30. The monks rejected this and the
PAP have surrounded the monastery and imposed tight restrictions upon
it.
Anyone who is suspected of harbouring unapproved attitudes, whether or
not they actually act upon them, is liable to be rounded up. On April
29, without any justification, a 41 year-old former monk Nyima Drakpa
was arrested in Bardzi town****p, Tawu County, Kardze, Kham. Ten years
ago he had been arrested under suspicion of putting up pro-Tibetan
independence posters in the county.
Back again to Sershul County, where the PAP conducted a raid on a
village near Voen-po Monastery on April 28.
During the raid, altars that had ****traits of His Holiness the Dalai
Lama were mishandled. During one such incident, a girl by the name of
T. Lhamo boldly shouted that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is our
supreme protector and that His Holiness should be immediately welcomed
back to Tibet. She also shouted Long Live His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
She demanded the reasons why Tibetans could not have the ****trait of
His Holiness the Dalai Lama at their altars. In addition, she also
demanded an explanation for the arbitrary arrests of A-drel Lama
Rinpoche and monks of the local monastery.
T. Lhamo's body was later found, after she apparently committed
suicide by strangulation with a rope. As that blind monk in Ngaba told
his family before taking his own life (re****ted here April 28), even
he couldn't bear to see such repression.
CTA re****ts further details of some of those 30 Tibetans who were
sentenced in Lhasa at the end of last month. Chinese authorities have
alleged that all of them were involved in the March 14 Lhasa riot. The
monk Pasang (he was named in the international media coverage), who
was given life imprisonment, as well as most of those who received 15
year sentences, are monks from Dhingkha Monastery, Toelung County.
Some of the others are from Phenpo Lhundup County. In these two
counties, demonstrations only took place after the Lhasa riot. Of
course the defendants were not allowed to have lawyers, so no one
could question this discrepancy.
The re****t quotes a person from Toelung County (who wishes to remain
anonymous) that the same "crimes" were punished in this travesty with
inconsistent sentences. Those from villages were given longer
sentences for the same "crime".
Another arrest mission, this time by Public Security Bureau officials,
has resulted in the target being shot dead, in Chamdo County, Kham
(now incor****ated into the "TAR"). Around 9 in the morning on May 4
the officials came to Lathok Yuchu town****p to arrest Akar Ta**** at
his home. He was alleged to have been involved in the Lhasa protests
(who isn't, these days?) and suspected of past involvement in
political activities. Akar Ta**** resisted arrest, there was a scuffle
with the soldiers -- one of whom was stabbed by Ta**** -- and he was
shot dead.
Tibetan students from a middle school in Drango (or Drakgo) County,
Kardze, Kham, shouted patriotic slogans on May 2, such as "Tibet is an
independent country" and "His Holiness should be welcomed to Tibet and
be enthroned." Around the same period at Samtenling Nunnery, also in
Drango County, the 300 resident nuns defied authorities by hanging
banners that stretched nearly two kilometres. The banners proclaimed
pro-independence slogans in both Tibetan and Chinese script. Chinese
"work teams" were immediately dispatched to "patriotically" re-educate
the nuns, who promptly walked out of their institution leaving the
"work team" with no one to "re-educate."
For an idea of the onerous restrictions now bearing down on residents
of Tibet's sacred capital, see this Letter from Lhasa, written April
27. There's a lot in there on Chinese security forces' masquerade
games, especially during the period foreign journalists were around in
late March. Prison conditions and severe mistreatment are also
featured in this letter by an anonymous resident, but I'd prefer to
end on a more hopeful note (I realise I've been awfully depressing
lately).
But even in this difficult time you still see brave and good actions.
Yesterday I saw a little boy, around one or two years old; that I
believed displayed a good example of Tibetan spirit. The baby looked
as if he had just learnt how to walk and was out with his grandmother
and her little dog. They were standing in front of the Jokhang Square
where military in blue ensures nobody crosses the square.
The baby walked up the three steps to the square and started to make
prostrations towards the Jokhang while his grandmother also prayed but
her frail body prevented her from prostrating as well. When the boy
finished he looked at the guards, then at his grandmother, and then
started to walk closer to the temple. The guards looked at the baby,
not knowing what to do.
After about ten meters the baby boy stopped and prostrated again, then
turned around, walked back to one of the guards and took his hand to
say goodbye. Seeing this reminded me that all Tibetan people want is
religious freedom and the right to preserve their culture.
So there you go. That child just said it all.
(I'll catch up with Woser's re****ts tomorrow)
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