Published by: World Tibet Network News, Friday, May 4, 1996

BEIJING, April 30 (AP) -- Authorities in Tibet have begun banning photographs of the exiled Dalai Lama in monasteries and public places, according to reports from a monitoring group and a Tibetan newspaper.

Plainclothes police went to hotels and restaurants in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, on April 22 and 23 and ordered Tibetans to take down pictures of the Dalai Lama, the Tibet Information Network, a monitoring group based in London, said in a report Tuesday.

Religious Tibetans treasure photographs of the Dalai Lama, who is revered as a god-king in Tibetan Buddhism.

The ban is another sign of tighter religious restrictions in Tibet and appeared to be an extension of earlier attempts to rid Lhasa of the photographs.

In 1994, police confiscated photographs of the Dalai Lama from public markets, according to recent reports by the human rights group International Campaign for Tibet.

Before that, Communist Party members and government officials were forbidden to display the photos. Chinese Communist Party members are required to be atheists.

Chinese authorities have allowed only a few foreign reporters into Tibet since 1989.

Tourists who visited Lhasa said photographs of the Dalai Lama had been taken down by last week in the Jokhang, the main temple in Lhasa, and in hotels and restaurants, the Tibet Information Network reported.

Monks are still allowed to have the photos in their own rooms and the temple office, the report said.

The state-run Tibet Daily announced the ban April 5, saying it would be implemented gradually. The report also said authorities will try to convince religious Tibetans that the Dalai Lama is no longer a religious leader.

In recent months, China's state-run press has argued that the Dalai Lama lacks the qualifications to lead the dominant school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking independence. The Dalai Lama, who leads an exile government in India, has said he seeks cultural autonomy for Tibetans.

China sent its army into Tibet in 1950 and formally took it over a year later, claiming Tibet historically was Chinese territory. The Dalai Lama fled into exile after a failed 1959 uprising.