DHARAMSHALA: The contents of a leaked official document exposes the intensive anti-religious campaigns sanctioned by the Chinese government in Driru County, according to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).
“These campaigns aim to systematically convert Tibetan monastic institutions into Chinese government offices and the monastic population into Chinese Communist Party members,” said Ms. Tsering Tsomo, Director of TCHRD at a press conference on 9 November.
“Yet in general policies that aim to restrict the Tibetans have had little or no success. In July 2013, official Chinese media reported the implementation of the party’s ‘adhere to mass line and building harmony’ campaign for the third time in Diru County. The officials and framer of such policies are taken back by its lack of effectiveness reflected clearly by protests and self immolations,” she added.
The campaigns were implemented through local County government and party. It severely curtailed the right to freedom of religion and belief of local Tibetans, particularly the monastics many of whom have been expelled and punished, as the authorities exercise absolute control over the functioning and administration over religious institutions, the rights group said.
The document obtained by TCHRD contains a set of regulations divided into three chapters, 24 sections and 74 articles and has been circulated among relevant County, Township/town level offices, Monastery Management Committees, relevant management committees, monastic and village based permanently stationed cadres.
The regulation identifies and targets 24 activities through which religious institutions (monasteries, temples and hermitages) will be “purged and reformed” in Diru County. For instance, the Chinese authorities will keep an account of all monastic properties, and retain the sole authority to decide over their storage and repair. The authorities will monitor and control religious gatherings and ceremonies restricting local Tibetans from organizing or participating in important religious rituals.
The Chinese authorities will control all financial activities of religious institutions including offerings made to reincarnate or senior monks. Restrictions are placed on monasteries, reincarnate or senior monks, and individual monastics from making donations towards victims of natural disasters, or offering help in the form of loans to poor Tibetans. The regulation intensifies attempts to replace religious vows of monks and nuns with state ideology by making political education mandatory. Every Thursday monks and nuns at all religious institutions in Diru County are required to attend political education sessions.
The Diru County government retains the sole right to recognize and appoint reincarnate or other prominent religious personalities. These religious personalities are forced to lead and participate in political education campaigns, which is aimed at making monks and nuns into spokespersons of the party and the government.
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