Monk commits suicide as Chinese govt intensifies patriotic education in Tibet[Tuesday, 27 July 2010, 5:20 p.m.]
Dharamshala:
A 70-year-old monk named Ngawang Gyatso committed suicide due to
intolerable depression caused by the Chinese government’s draconian
measures to oppress Tibetan monks and forcing them to denounce His
Holiness the Dalai Lama at Ronpo monastery in Tibet’s Nagchu region on
20 July, according to reliable information received by the Central
Tibetan Administration.The events leading to the monk’s suicide
started with the stepping up of patriotic education campaign and the
subsequent arrest of Rongpo monastery’s Lama Dawa Rinpoche, a monk
official named Dhungphuk Ngawang Thokmey and Tashi Dhondup in Lhasa
under the suspicion of contacting the outside world concerning the
reincarnation of Rongpo Choje. They were later released from the
custody.Later, 35-year-old Ngawang Thokmey was arrested for
keeping photos of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in his room and he has
been sentenced to two years in prison. Moreover, monks were
forced to oppose His Holiness the Dalai Lama and counter Rongpo
monastery’s Lama Dawa as a coterie of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. As
the patriotic education campaign intensified, the monastery’s head
discipline officer Tashi Tensang and a monk named Jampa became mentally
ill, which compelled the former to leave the monastery. These
measures of repression became the last straw for Ngawang Gyatso. He has
left a suicide note after killing himself out of sheer desperation.
After confiscating the note, the Chinese authorities have told other
monks that he died due to illness and threatened them not to reveal the
suicide incident to outside. Earlier on 17 July, a group of 17
monks led by a senior monk named Ngawang Losang put forward reasons not
to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to keep contact between the
monastery and Lama Dawa. However, they were compelled to leave the
monastery as their demands were rejected by the authorities. They have
received strict orders to report once a week at the local government
office and not to leave the place for two years. During a
session on denouncing His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the monastery on
21 July, a monk named Khenrab Norbu said it is worthless to live in
the monastery if there is ban on keeping contact between the monastery
and Lama Dawa. He was later arrested after he left the meeting throwing
away the keys, saying it is better if the authorities keep the keys of
the monastery. He is still in police custody.Another monk named Ngawang Norbu was also taken into remand for allegedly pushing an official during the meeting.The
repressive measures imposed by the Chinese government at Rongpo
monastery have led to arbitrary arrests of monks, denigration of
venerable teachers against the monks’ wishes and suicide of a senior
monk.
