Published by: World Tibet Network News Friday - September 12, 1997

Washington Times, September 11, 1997

By Nancy E. Roman THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Tibetan nun's tale of torture and rape by Chinese soldiers because of her religion prompted House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott to vow yesterday that Congress would try to put an end to such persecution.

"This is America," Mr. Lott said. "We have to be prepared to take action, and I am."

Tsultrim Dolma, 28, said that after she was raped by Chinese soldiers she no longer was pure enough to be a nun.

"After that I felt guilty to be in a nunnery with other nuns who were really very pure," Miss Dolma said in her native Tibetan, through a translator. She met with Mr. Gingrich, Mr. Lott and 30 religious leaders for a half-hour yesterday.

Later she told the House International Relations Committee of being slapped, pushed, beaten with metal instruments, having an electric rod inserted into her vagina, being kicked in the face and of being "spoiled" by the soldiers.

"If I stayed in the nunnery, it would be as if a drop of blood had been introduced into the ocean of milk," she told members of the House.

Mr. Gingrich, of Georgia, and Mr. Lott, of Mississippi, emerged from their meeting with Miss Dolma saying they were committed to passing legislation aimed at curbing religious persecution.

Mr. Gingrich told attendees that ending such persecution was "one of the top priorities of this Republican Congress."

"We owe an obligation to them to do what we can to extend that basic right -- through our example and through our influence -- to the rest of the world," he said.

Mr. Lott and Mr. Gingrich said they were not committed to any particular legislative approach --but to the goal of ending religious persecution.

The bill moving through the House, drafted by Rep. Frank R. Wolf, Virginia Republican, would shut off non-humanitarian aid to countries found guilty of persecuting religious minorities, ban exports to those nations and make it easier for those fleeing religious persecution to get asylum elsewhere.

Mr. Clinton opposes the bill on grounds that it could hurt relations with key allies including China, whose leaders have oppressed Christians, Buddhists and others.

Mr. Lott said those fears cannot drive policy.

"We just cannot cover up our eyes and say, 'Gee whiz' this affects our trade relationship," he said.

However, asked about the possible danger of cutting off exports to key trading partners such as China, Mr. Lott noted that he has not endorsed "any specific bill."

"I said we must address this question," he said putting emphasis on the word "question." He said Mr. Wolf's bill would be a starting point. "I have never met a bill that couldn't be made better."

When Mr. Gingrich was asked if he was committed to a specific bill, he said, "No, but we're going to move a bill."

After her testimony in the private meeting with Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Lott, Miss Dolma went across the street, where she told her story to the House International Relations Committee.

"I am not an educated person," said her translator, reading her story. "I don't know about politics, but I do know what it is like to live under Chinese rule."

Miss Dolma was born in Pelbar Dzong, Tibet, near Chamdo, which was the center of the Dalai Lama's government before the Chinese invasion in 1949.

She took her vows at the age of 17 and left on a pilgrimage to Lhasa, the capital and spiritual center of Tibet.

"It was unavoidable to feel the tension due to the large differences between the Tibetans and Chinese," she said.

Monks from the Sera and Nechung monasteries peacefully demonstrated for the release of their imprisoned brothers Oct. 1, 1987. She said the Public Security Bureau Police moved through the crowd videotaping demonstrators, and then, unexpectedly, opened fire on the crowd.

A number of monks were arrested and dragged to the police station.

Miss Dolma demonstrated for their release and was arrested.

She said Chinese soldiers removed the belt that held her nun's robe and let it slip to the floor.

She was slapped and yanked and "kicked in the chest so hard that I could hardly breathe." She was forbidden to put her robe back on. Finally, she was sent to a 5-foot-by-5-foot cell with only a slop basin and small bucket. That night she passed out on the cold, concrete floor.

During her four-month stay in prison, she repeatedly was interrogated about

why she demonstrated, what she said and why she said it.

"Many monks, nuns and lay people have been arrested, but we know Tibet

belongs to Tibetans," she recalls telling them.

She said after she answered, a soldier picked up an electric rod and hit her with it, knocking her down.

"They shouted at me to stand, but I couldn't, and so one pulled up my robe and the other man inserted the instrument into my vagina," she said. "The shock and pain were horrible. He repeated this action several times and also struck other parts of my body.

"Several times I fell to the floor. They would then force the prod inside of me and pull me up to repeat the beatings."

When Miss Dolma was released, Chinese authorities expelled her from Chupsang. She returned to her village, where she was not allowed to wear nun's robes. She was forbidden to participate in religious activities. She was not allowed to talk freely with other villagers and was forced to attend nightly re-education classes during which she was referred to as "a member of the small Dalai clique, which is trying to separate the motherland."

She tried to re-enter the nunnery in Chupsang but was not readmitted.

She left for Lhasa, and en route was raped by Chinese soldiers.

Participants in the meeting with Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Lott said the consensus was that "this was an issue whose time had come" and said the fight should be patterned after the congressional move to end the persecution of Soviet Jews.