World Tibet Network News Saturday, Jul 04, 1998

TIBET INFORMATION NETWORK 1 July 1998

Lhasa Bomb; More on Drapchi Disturbances

There has been a bomb explosion in the centre of the Tibetan capital Lhasa. According to reports reaching TIN the explosion took place a week ago,on the eve of the US President Bill Clinton's visit to China, but with security tight in Lhasa since the demonstrations and shooting of prisoners in Drapchi Prison two months ago, exact details of the casualties and damage caused by the bomb have still to be confirmed. Meanwhile, as sometimes conflicting reports continue to come in on the events in Drapchi Prison on 1 May and 4 May, a letter has reached TIN from the Tibetan capital which claims to have been written by political prisoners currently inside Drapchi itself. Hand-written in Tibetan, the letter explains how the two demonstrations began and describes the way in which they were dealt with by the authorities. The bomb exploded between 10 and 11 in the evening on Wednesday 24 June, near the City Public Security Bureau (PSB) Building, which is situated about one kilometre north of the Jokhang Temple. The expl

osion was heard as faraway as the University to the south-east and rattled windows in the nearby Ramoche Temple area.

There are reports of three, perhaps four, casualties but these are not confirmed and the timing of the explosion suggests that the target - as with a number of previous bomb explosions over the past two years - was a building rather than people. This may have been the PSB building although it was reportedly buildings facing the PSB to the south that sustained the most damage, with all their windows blown out by the blast. Streets in the area, which is also near the Telecommunications Building, were closed until early the next morning. A part from six truckloads of security personnel in evidence on 25 June the area did not remain cordonned off. Previous bomb explosions although there have been a number of bombing incidents in Tibet both be fore and since, 1996 was the year when the Chinese authorities finally acknowledged they were happening - though not immediately. On 13 January 1996 a bomb exploded in Sog County in Nagchu, northern Tibet, damaging two shops. A young monk in India later claimed responsibilt

y, saying that it was a protest against China's imposition of its own choice of boy as there incarnation of the Panchen Lama, as well as against migration by Chinese Muslims. On 18 January 1996 a bomb exploded at the house of Sengchen Lobsang Gyaltsen, a lama and political dignitary who led the pro-Chinese faction in the dispute over the Panchen Lama; one person was said to have been injured. On 18 March 1996 another bomb went off outside the Tibet headquarters in Lhasa of the Chinese Communist Party, the sixth reported explosion in nine months, and the first clearly political target in the series. On 11 May 1996 the authorities admitted for the first time that bombs had gone off in Tibet.

They blamed "the Dalai clique" but gave no details. Nine days later, on 20 May 1996, they announced that they would "resolutely crackdown on cases of explosion and assassination" as part of the "Strike Hard" campaign which had been launched in Lhasa earlier that month. On 25 December 1996 yet another bomb went off, this time outside the offices of the Lhasa City Metropolitan government. The explosion was confirmed bythe authorities, the first time they have given details of a bombing in Tibet. House to house enquiries were carried out throughout the Tibetan quarter of the capital and the following day vehicles leaving Lhasa were stopped and at least six check points were set up on the road to Shigatse. Following this incident and at various stages since then there have been official efforts to rally support against the bombings, condemning them as acts of terrorism staged by the "Dalai clique". However, two months ago, at the beginning of his two-week tour of the United States, the Dalai Lama was quoted in a

n interview as warning against the dangers of militancy at a time when China was, he felt, in the process of changing for the better. He said he needed an alternative to violence to offer to the Tibetans, who heac knowledged had become frustrated and emotional. "This [past] year", he was quoted as saying, "there [have been] nine cases of bomb explosions in Tibet. Although they used the explosives on buildings, not human beings, there is a danger, a shift". A first-hand report on the Drapchi violence? The letter that has reached TIN, claiming to be written by political prisoners inside Drapchi, begins by expressing support for the exile Tibetan Hunger Strikers in Delhi, which suggests it was written before the Strike was finally called off on May 15th. It goes on to describe the protest in Drapchi prison on 1 May, saying that the prisoners had been called to a meeting to celebrate "Labour Day".

The prison authorities' plan, the letter says, was to film the event to show a positive image of the prison and to provide evidence to the European Union Ambassadorial delegation whose visit to Drapchi was imminent that political prisoners there were beingwell-treated. No sooner had the meeting and the filming begun than a prisoner named Kardar from Gonjo in Kham (in eastern Tibet, outside the Tibet Autonomous Region) shouted"Free Tibet!". The letter says that at least ten prisoners joined him in shouting slogans, the meeting was suspended and those who hadparticipated, including Kardar, were "put into solitary confinement and tortured". This version matches fairly closely with previous reports of the 1 May incident, which refer to the protest being started by a non-political prisoner serving a 13-year sentence called Karma Dawa. Kardar is likely tobe an abbreviation of this name. He and another prisoner, Karma Sonam, reportedly led the slogan chanting, which according to one version included calls for the T

ibetan flag to be raised instead of the Chinese one. Where the letter differs markedly from more recent - though not necessarily more reliable - versions is that it makes no reference to any security police shootings on 1 May. Some of the latest reports say that police fired over prisoners' heads, but that one monk in his mid 20's was shot and killed. Named either as Lobsang Gelek or Tenzin Choephel (which could be the lay name of Lobsang Gelek), this monk was described as coming from Damshung County in Lhasa Prefecture north-east of the capital. Both names feature in a list of four monks, all aged around 20, all originally from Damshung, who were arrested on 14 April 1995 for staging a demonstration in the Barkhor in Lhasa, shouting for a Free Tibet. What does appear to be confirmed from a number of sources is that since the 1 May incident Kardar (Karma Dawa?) has died, with one unconfirmed report that the prison authorities were alleging he had committed suicide by taking poison.

The political prisoners' letter goes on to say that on 4 May, described as "Youth Day", the authorities again called a meeting of prisoners. This time, it says, they selected representatives from eight prisoner accomodation blocks, including over 60 monks from block 5, which the letter says houses monks who have been involved in previous demonstrations. In all, over 500 prisoners were called to the meeting in the prison courtyard, including a number of nuns, some elderly and some much younger. Once again the camera crews were about to start filming when prisoners coming to the meeting suddenly started shouting "Free Tibet" slogans. "The voices of protest echoed throughout the prison complex," the letter says. "The shouting was so loud that a member of the security personnel fired into the crowd. One monk was instantly killed and another monk was hit in the chest - his chances of survival seem slim." Several shots were fired, the letter says, and the prisoners standing near the security man who fired the shot

s attacked him and he "was beaten severely". According to the letter, the protest, which involved non-political prisoners as well, "was a result of the ill-treatment of the prisoners in the prison. It also demonstrates the will and determination of political prisoners for their protest to be heard outside the prison walls" and their support for the Delhi hunger-strikers. The noise of the protest led to other prisoners still in their cells joining in the slogan-chanting. "Now the situation for the prisoners in Drapchi prison is critical", the letter says. "All the prisoners involved in the protest are being kept in solitary confinement and are receiving routine torture." There are not enough dark (windowless) solitary confinement cells in Drapchi, the letter says, so prisoners have been transferred to other prisons where such cells are available. "The Chinese are surprised by the bravery of the protesters" the letter concludes. "The Public Security Bureau banned prison officials from returning to their homes

for many days to prevent news of the protest from spreading outside the prison walls."