Undisclosed Arrests of Four Tibetans Sweep Through Ngaba as Chinese Authorities Target Monks, Civilians.
Since early September 2024, monks Lobsang Samten and Lobsang Trinley (or Trinpo) from Kirti Monastery, and civilians Tsering Tashi and Wangkyi, among others, have been secretly arrested by the Chinese authorities in Tibet’s Ngaba County, traditionally part of Amdo province. Since their incommunicado detention, their whereabouts and wellbeing remain unknown.
The recent detainees include Lobsang Samten, 53, a senior monk from Khangsar (Ch: Kangsai) in Golog’s Chigdril County, who serves as junior chant master at Kirti Monastery and holds the Karampa (Geshe) title. Lobsang Samten was among 300 monks detained in a 2011 mass arrest at Ngaba monastery, according to Tibetan media sources. Also detained was Lobsang Trinley (also known as Trinpo), 40, from Rong Kharsa (Ch: Kuasha) in Ngaba County, a third-year Vinaya student at Kirti Monastery who organizes ritual ceremonies. Among civilian detainees are Wangkyi, 43, a mother of four currently residing in Ngaba County, and her brother Tsering Tashi, 41, both children of Kalko (Tib: སྐལ་ཁོ།) and Jigje Tso (འཇིགས་བྱེད་འཚོ།) from the Haritsang family of Rong Kharsa. Sources indicate multiple members of the Haritsang family have been detained over alleged connections with Tibetans residing in India. All detainees’ current whereabouts remain unknown.
Reports indicate intensified surveillance and restrictions across Ngaba region, with particular focus on Kirti Monastery and surrounding areas. A pattern of undisclosed detentions has emerged, with released detainees prohibited from sharing any information about their arrests, charges, or places of detention, which severely limits public knowledge of Chinese authorities’ enforcement and unlawful actions against Tibetans.
Chinese authorities have mandated all monks under 18 years of age in the Ngaba area to leave their monasteries and attend Chinese government-run boarding schools. Kirti Monastery’s preliminary studies institute, previously home to over 1,400 Tibetan students and teachers, now retains only about 100 students aged 18 or older, with the rest of the facility shut down.
Moreover, throughout Ngaba County and Prefecture, new education policies require all subjects except language classes to be taught exclusively in Chinese at residential schools. These measures are part of a broader policy using both administrative and coercive methods to restrict the transmission of Tibetan language, religious practices, and cultural identity to younger generations.
The Chinese authorities must immediately end these arbitrary detentions and provide accurate information regarding the whereabouts of the four Tibetans who are currently missing. The Central Tibetan Administration last September raised serious concerns on the reports of authorities’ have forcibly removal of over 1,700 young monks from three monasteries in Ngaba – Kirti Monastery and two monasteries in Dzoge County – and their forcible enrolment in Chinese government-run boarding schools without consent from the children or their parents.
– Filed by the UN, EU, and the Human Rights Desk, Tibet Advocacy Section, DIIR
Monk Lobsang Samten from Kirti Monastery
Lobsang Trinley (or Trinpo) from Kirti Monastery
Wangkyi
Tsering Tashi
