Update on Tibet DemonstrationMonday, 20 April 2009, 4:18 p.m.

File Photo/Armed soldiers walk past a Tibetan monk while patrolling Lhasa, Tibet, on 1 February 2009/Reuters

Dharamshala: Suspecting
Tibetans’ role in bombing of a police station in the beginning of
March, around 70 Chinese armed security forces and Public Security
Bureau (PSB) officials conducted house to house raids in a village
located in eastern Tibet, on 14 April, sources from the region said.The
Chinese officials vowed not to leave the area without arresting at
least 10 Tibetans from Gangru village, Pogurshi township in Bathang
(Ch:Batang) County in Karze Tibet Autonomous Prefecture (incorporated
to China’s Sichuan Province).The sources attributed the cause
of the raid to some unidentified persons bombing a police station in
Pogurshi in early March this year. Around that time, banners reading
slogans in both Chinese and Tibetan letters such as “Chinese go out of
Tibet” and “Tibet belongs to Tibet” were seen displayed in the area.
Following the incident, PSB officials came to arrest four Tibetans
suspected for their role, but they managed to escape.The
repressive measures by PSB officials have severely affected the farming
works in the village. The farm lands in the village have remained
unploughed, as every youth in the village became targets of manhunt
campaign initiated by PSB officials causing many of them to flee.According
to the sources, there was no report of any casualties in the bombing
incident. Taking this fact into consideration, the Chinese officials
are suspected for concocting incidents of violent actions by Tibetans
in order to further intensity repression in Tibet.However,
Tibetans have strongly protested the Chinese authorities for raiding
their houses. Moreover, when the Chinese officials visited the village
to force Patriotic education campaigns of denouncing His Holiness the
Dalai Lama in May last year, the residents had expressed their strong
dislike.Monastery Abbot, Monks in Jomda County arrestedThe
abbot and an unknown number of monks of Denma Choekhor monastery in
Jomda (Ch:Jiangda) County in Chamdo Prefecture, monastery have been
arrested by PSB officials on 1 April, according to the sources.The
arrests were made in connection with protests by the monks of Denma
Choekhor monastery against the Chinese government in January this year.Following the protests, monks including the abbot, left the monastery fearing arrests.The PSB headquarter in Chamdo Prefecture had dispatched 15 policemen to arrest the abbot from Jeykudo.On
the same day, the monastery’s former prefect, Ven Sonam Gelek and a
monk named Tseten Sonam, who was on retreat, were taken into custody.Monastery in Karze raided, monks arrestedAround
1 April, the Chinese paramilitary personnel conducted raids in Tsetsang
monastery in Karze Tibet Autonomous Prefecture and arrested a
forty-year-old monk.The monk has been identified as Sonam
Nyima, son of Ngawang Thutob of Lhopa village. He is responsible for
purchasing daily needs of the monastery. His nephew Tsering Gyurmey,
who is also a monk of Tsetsang monastery, was involved in protests in
Karze county on 3 March 2008. He left the monastery after his name came
up in wanted list.Tsering Gyurmey’s 24-year-old younger brother
named Tenzin Ngodup was sentenced to three years imprisonment for
taking part in a demonstration in Karze county on 20 May last year.Arrested Tibetans Taken Around Karze County to Intimidate residents Fifteen
Tibetans, arrested for taking part in farming boycott campaign, were
taken in and around different localities in Karze county, including
Lhopa village and Dhargye Chog Rongpa Tsang, on 5 April.All the
detainees, with their heads shaved and their hands and legs shackled,
were loaded in twenty army trucks to take them around the county.While
they were being taken around in vehicles, the Chinese officials made
announcements through loudspeakers accusing the detainees for causing
instability in the country and called them “separatists”. The officials
warned other Tibetans of dire consequences if they engage in such
activities.Three of the detainees were identified as – Jhampa
Dhondup, Taphel and Tsering Wangrab. Jhampa Dhondup, aged 27, from
Karze County Tsitsang monastery, was arrested on 19 March for
participating in farming boycott. Taphel, around 56-year-old, was
arrested for unspecified conviction on 19 March. Forty-two-year-old
Tsering Wangrab alias Tsering Wanga was taken into custody for his role
in farming boycott movement in Lhopa village.Since 5 March of
this year, detentions and arrests of a large number of Tibetan monks
and laymen in Karze County have continued unabated. However, it is also
very difficult to receive detail information from Tibet as it remains
under severe repression.