China detained Tibetan who publicly marked Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday

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Tibetan protester Pasang Wangchuk in an undated photo. (Photo courtesy: RFA)
Tibetan protester Pasang Wangchuk in an undated photo. (Photo courtesy: RFA)

(TibetanReview.net, Aug08, 2015) – Chinese authorities in Karze (Chinese: Ganzi) Prefecture of Sichuan Province had taken away on Jul 6 a Tibetan man after he publicly made a religious offering to mark the 80th birthday of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. The detainee, a 37-year-old father-of-three named Pasang Wangchuk, is believed to be held in a prefectural detention centre, reported Radio Free Asia (Washington) Aug 6. It was his second detention in the last two years.

The report suggested that the man, described as a businessman, had made an incense-smoke offering to the Dalai Lama. It cited its unnamed local source as saying Chinese authorities viewed such actions as political. It was not clear where and in what setting the offering was made, including whether it was before a portrait of the Dalai Lama. The report only said the arrest was made afterwards.

News about his action and detention emerged late due to China’s continued tight control on communication channels in most of the Tibetan areas, including especially in the particularly sensitive Karze area.

Last year, Chinese police detained Pasang Wangchuk after he carried out a lone protest march on the street of Karze town market. He shouted slogans calling for Tibetan freedom and the return from exile of the Dalai Lama in that Oct 4, 2014 incident, the report said. At that time he was release a month later, but with a dire warning. “Police warned him that they would be watching his behaviour for a year,” the report quoted the source as saying.

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