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A Free Monthly Publication For Tibetan Issues & Community Information Rgd No. HPENG/2013/51798
No Respite for Driru by Tashan Mehta Chinese authorities in Tibet’s Driru County have shut down Drongna monastery and surrounded others with paramilitary police. In recent weeks, security forces have been arresting residents, raiding monks’ quarters and family homes, seizing computers and mobile phones. Three monks from the Driru area were detained by police at the end of November while visiting Tibet’s regional capital Lhasa, a source told Radio Free Asia (RFA), while eight monks from Driru’s Rabten Monastery who had studied at Palyul, Sershul, and Sertha monasteries in neighbouring Chinese provinces have also been
Chinese military convoys arriving in Driru county to crackdown on Tibetans Photo: TibetTimes
detained. According to the source, Chinese paramilitary forces now surround Tamoe, Rabten, and Dron Na monasteries. More than a thousand Tibetans have been detained since the Chinese launched their crackdown in Driru in September. Of these, some 600 detainees are being held in Driru’s Continued on page 5
Volume: XV Issue: 12
31 December 2013
Two Die Protesting Againts China’s Rule in Tibet Kunchok Tseten, 30, set himself ablaze in Meruma town in Ngaba County, Tibet, on December 3. Before collapsing, Tseten shouted slogans demanding the return of the exiled Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and for the union of Tibetans inside Tibet with the exile community, “Long live G y a l w a T e n z i n Gyatso, let’s unite our brothers here and those in exile”. Chinese police on routine patrol immediately surrounded him and, after a few clashes with local Tibetan bystanders, took him away. Some bystanders, Tseten’s wife, and a few of his relatives were arrested. All businesses in the town were shut. Sources said that many cellphones were confisticated from the local people as security across the region heightened. His brother has reported that Tseten said this summer “I can’t tolerate the atrocities committed by the Chinese government on us Tibetans, and with all the self-immolation by Tibetan brothers and sisters thus far I would one day sacrifice myself by burning myself”. Tseten lived with his wife Namnang, 28, and two children, Chakdor Kyab, 4, and Paltsel Kyab, 3. The authorities claim that Tseten died shortly after his protest and that they cremated his body; they have handed over an urn reportedly containing his ashes to Tseten’s family.
On December 19, Tsultrim Gyaltso, a Tibetan monk from Achok village in Sangchu County, Kanlho Prefecture, Gansu Province set himself on fire at around 2:30pm (local time) in protest against Chinese rule. He died on the spot, said reports from Tibet. Local Tibetans took the body to his monastery where around 400 monks held a prayer session for the deceased. Tsultrim left behind a hand-written note in which he says that the reasons for his self-immolation protest are to call for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, release of the Panchen Lama and for the welfare of all Tibetans. Tsultrim Gyaltso, in his early 40’s, is described as a Tibetan who was passionate Tsultrim Gyatso left behind a n d a hand-written note Photo: Contact/Lha concerned about the Tibetan culture and religion. He was the son of Lhamo Kyi. Tsultrim has become the 125th Tibetan to self-immolate since 2009.