8 arrested for farming boycott in eastern TibetTuesday, 20 October 2009, 2:39 p.m.
Dharamshala:
The Chinese authorities have arrested eight Tibetans for showing strong
dissatisfaction and their refusal to give the reasons for organising
the farming boycott movement at a village in Jomda in eastern Tibet’s
Kham Province last week.Tibetans have resorted to this
non-violent civil disobedience campaign in many parts of Tibet to mourn
the deaths of hundreds of fellow Tibetans, and to show solidarity with
all those who have been arrested, tortured and imprisoned since 10
March last year.According to the information received by the
Central Tibetan Administration, as of 31 August 2009, about 223
Tibetans have died and over 1,294 were seriously injured since the
Chinese authorities brutally clamped down on the peaceful
demonstrations in Tibet since 10 March 2008. Over 4,657 were arrested,
371 sentenced and more than 990 have simply disappeared.A group
of county officials of the Chinese government and army personnel
questioned the local Tibetan community about the causes of the farming
boycott at Lugmar village under Khagang township in Jomda around
mid-October. The residents refused to cooperate with the Chinese
authorities who then took eight Tibetans into their custody. The Chinese authorities constantly harass Tibetans by interrogating them about their decision to stop farming.Meanwhile,
the residents’ decision to abstain from meat consumption has compelled
the local Chinese officials to get meat from Chamdo. Some officials are
even known to be keeping horses, arousing Tibetans’ suspicion of them
eating horses’ meat. The Tibetans, mostly nomadic families,
have stopped taking meat as a mark of solidarity and to pray for all
those Tibetans killed by Chinese security forces during the peaceful
protests in Tibet last year. Since the nomads decided to spare animals,
there has been no buying and selling of meat products in the region.
