འབྲེལ་གཏུགས་གསར་འཕྲིན།
www.contactmagazine.net
fr ee
contact
A Free Monthly Publication For Tibetan Issues & Community Information Rgd No. HPENG/2013/51798
Self-immolation in Ngaba Shichung, 41, a farmer and tailor, died after setting himself on fire on September 28 in Gomang Thawa township in Ngaba County. Local Tibetans took the body to his home, but were then confronted by 150 officials who confiscated the body and drove with it towards Ngaba county. They later cremated his body and forced the family members to throw the remains into a river. Around 200 monks from the Jonang Se monastery arrived at Shichung’s home and performed the final rites. Local Tibetans also paid their last respects. Shichung had returned home after attending Man-sTon, an annual prayer ceremony held in the village. He lit a butter lamp in front of a portrait of the Dalai Lama before setting himself on fire. He had reportedly told his friends few days earlier, Troops at the site of “ T h e s e Shichung’s self-immolation Chinese Photo: savetibet.org will not let us live, I think I should burn myself in front of them.” Shichung is survived by his wife, Palo, 36, and two children.
Volume: XV Issue: 10
31 October 2013
Lockdown in Driru by Tashan Mehta The county of Driru in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) is currently under a security lockdown. The lockdown began when locals of Mowa
Taring gathered on the same day to appeal to the local authorities not to use force against the Tibetans in Mowa. They were arrested. This led to a thousand Tibetans gathering outside the Chinese Government administrative compound to participate in a twentyfour hour hunger strike to protest against the arrests. Because of their efforts, a TAR official, Wu Ying Jie, and a Tibetan county official, Dorthup, ordered the forty prisoners freed. Many of the prisoners Police arrived in Driru County to clampdown on the villagers carried wounds on their Photo: Tibet.net heads which had been village refused to fly the Chinese flag inflicted by iron batons. from their rooftops, a space traditionally Flying the Chinese flag on rooftops reserved for sacred prayer flags. is part of the Chinese “Nine Must Chinese flags had been given out Haves” initiative, which outlines nine to villagers, and on September 28 a essential things a Tibetan community three-hour clash with the Chinese and household must have. Since security forces was sparked when September 10, over 1800 Chinese people expressed their disapproval by throwing the flags into the nearby river. Later army and military forces arrived to rein in the locals. “Tibetans who were involved in the anti-Chinese protests were threatened that they would be barred from using hospital facilities,” Security forces parading in Driru County says Ngawang Tharpa, Photo: RFA a Tibetan living in Dharamsala with contacts in the region, cadres have been stationed in the Driru “and their children would be expelled area to make sure that this initiative, from their schools.” along with other measures in President Over forty Tibetans from the nearby Xi Jinping’s “Mass-Line” policy, are villages of Taklha, Baro, Neshod and implemented. Continued on page 5