HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE - APRIL 15, 1996
The following is an account of the situation in Tibet reported to the Human Rights Desk by a new arrival from Tibet. For security reasons he does not wish to be named.
"I am a monk from Kham. After my trip to India I would like to return back to Tibet"
Tight Control in Tibet:
"I arrived in Lhasa on my way to India in December of 1995. When I went to the Jokhang temple, I saw many Chinese police officials keeping a close watch on the people visiting the temple. There were uniformed police personnel in groups of three in all corners and even in the streets of Lhasa I saw these uniformed officers. There were no pictures of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the many stalls in the Bharkor area. I learnt later that even the photo studios in Lhasa refuse to develop any pictures of His Holiness for fear of punishment."
"At a meeting in my hometown, the Chinese authorities announced that all pictures of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the previous 10th Panchen Lama and the young reincarnation of the Panchen Lama recognised by His Holiness should be removed from the monastery and from the school. They also announced that in the school all students should speak in Chinese and not in Tibetan."
Gold Mining and Logging:
"At a place called Tsadaphue, half an hour's distance from Karze Dzong, Chinese gold miners have settled in thousands. They say that in 1995 these gold miners were able to dig upto 60 gyamas equivalent to a little more than 30 kilograms of gold. For 1996, they have set their expectations to 150 gyamas of gold equivalent to a little more than 75 kilograms. These gold miners use so much electricity for their digging process that often we have to suffer power cuts to provide them enough electricity."
"Hundreds of Chinese gold miners have settled in various regions of Kham, putting up little tents and digging up our land and exploiting our natural resources."
"The Chinese are also cutting down our trees and carting them off to China in truck loads and through the rivers. A man who stood at a point near Dhartsedo counting trucks carrying wooden logs towards Chengdu recorded fifty three trucks bearing wood in one day alone. More than double the amount of wood carried by these trucks are being transported to China through the rivers. If a Tibetan tries to steal even one log he is heavily punished."
Tibetans Buy Their Own Land At High Prices
"In 1994, the Chinese planned to impose taxation on each house in my region by measurement but this plan was not implemented later. However, today we have to pay thousands of Chinese yuan to the Chinese authorities to buy a piece of land in our own country."
Phony Medicines Cause Panic Among Tibetans
"In my region, many people are complaining that the Chinese are manufacturing phony medicines and other medical products. The Chinese doctors themselves acknowledge during emergencies that they cannot use the available medicines because they are phony and would instead of curing the patient even deteriorate his condition. In one case, a Tibetan patient who was injected had to be operated because the needle of the syringe got stuck in his body. The Tibetans blamed the Chinese doctors but they said that they were not to be blamed because there were bad products in the market."
Blood Extraction:
"If a Chinese official falls ill, Tibetan lamas and monks of our monastery are carted off in trucks and the Chinese forcefully extract our blood to treat the Chinese patient. If a Tibetan falls ill, five to six Tibetans are called to donate blood. They extract large quantities of blood from these donors but the patient gets only a small portion of the blood. In this way the Chinese are stealing even our blood."
Tibetan Youths Escape to India For Fear of Political Persecution.
Two friends, a 19-year old monk from Medro-gongkar in Lhasa and a 19-year old Tibetan truck driver arrived in Dharamsala recently after undergoing a long and hazardous journey on foot. The monk managed to escape to India on his second attempt. The monk whose name we are with-holding for security reasons was arrested at the Tibet-Nepal border by Nepalese police in 1995 as he made his first attempt to escape to India by entering Nepal illegally.
Imprisonment:
The monk was handed over to the Chinese police along with other Tibetans trying to escape to India. They were held for a day at Dram in a prison next to the Friendship Bridge. The next day, they were taken to an army regiment prison and held there for three days. They were then taken to a prison in Nyalam and locked up for one night after which they were taken to a prison in Shigatse and detained there for a week. While in Shigatse they came across four Chinese military trucks filled with Tibetans who had been arrested trying to escape to India.
After a week they were taken to Gutsa Prison. They were held at Gutsa for twenty three days. On the 24th day, they were taken to the Medro-gongkar Prison and were detained there for ten days.
While in prison, prison authorities continuously interrogated the deported Tibetans about their motives for trying to escape to India. They were asked "Why do you want to escape to India?" "Are you not happy in Tibet?".
According to the young monk, they were most badly treated at the prison in Shigatse. There the prison officials treated them brutally, kicking and slapping them when they were not satisfied with the answers.
Expulsion from Monastery:
When he was finally released from prison after having been detained for over forty five days, he returned to his monastery. However, he was expelled from the monastery by the monastery's Management Committee.
Fear of Arrest and Escape:
The Chinese suspected a friend of the monk and the truck driver of engaging in political activities. The Chinese raided their friend's house and their houses looking for any implicating material. Seeing imminent danger in remaining in their hometown, the monk and the youth secretly escaped to Lhasa and then on to India.
The monk wishes to pursue his religious studies in a monastery in India. At the same time he fears for his father's safety. He learnt from some friends that his father had been confronted by Chinese police officials who threatened to arrest and punish him if he did not reveal his son's whereabouts.
Another 24-year old monk from Medro-gongkar region was expelled from his monastery for engaging in political activities. The monastery had been warned by the local Chinese administrator of monks engaging in political activities.
The monk who escaped with his friends from Medro-gongkar expressed his fear that if he had stayed on in Tibet for longer he would have been arrested by the Chinese on some pretext.
Fleeing Tibetan Refugees Arrested by Nepalese Police
News reports from Kathmandu say that a group of thirty four Tibetans from Tibet trying to escape to India were arrested by Nepalese Border Police as they tried to enter through Nepal.
The Nepalese police detained the refugees on April 3, 1996. The Nepalese daily, `Lokpatra' newspaper reported that the police had been tipped-off by local residents who feared the group might be affiliated with Maoist guerrillas who terrorized Nepal's countryside in recent weeks.
It has been reported that some of the refugees were deported back to Tibet for illegal entry into Nepal while a few have been handed over to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kathmandu.
In the last week of March 1996, the Nepalese police arrested another group of fifteen Tibetans but they were later turned over to the UNHCR.
Human Rights Desk
Department of Information and International Relations
Central Tibetan Administration
Gangchen Kyishong, Dharamsala
Dist Kangra, H.P. India
