(TibetanReview.net, Apr06’24) — Chinese police have arrested a Tibetan Buddhist monk in Ngaba (or Ngawa, Chinese: Aba) county of Kardze (Ganzi) prefecture in Sichuan province last month when he staged a lone protest against government policies, carrying a portrait of HH the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, reported rfa.org Apr 5, citing both local and exile sources.
It is not clear what slogans the monk, who has been named simply as Pema, shouted. China calls the Dalai Lama a separatist leader even though he only seeks meaningful autonomy for his homeland and has persecuted people for possessing his photos and other publications.
The monk was stated to have staged his protest march along the road the local Tibetans refer to as the Pawo Road (Martyrs’ Road), after a number of protest self-immolation took place on it since or after the year 2009. The arrest was stated to have been made almost immediately after Pema started his protest march.
His condition and whereabouts remain unknown, with the authorities refusing to provide any information to his family.
The monk is stated to be a student ofBuddhist philosophy, while also teaching students at the preliminary Buddhist study section, at the local Kirti Monastery, with the county’s Suruma Village being his birthplace.
The county police, when rung up for information, have denied any knowledge about the monk, even though at least two local Tibetans have confirmed his arrest, speaking on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.
The report said that earlier, another Buddhist monk, Tenzin Khenrap, 29, was arrested in Jul 2023 in Nyagchu (Yajiang) county in the same prefecture after they found a photo of the Dalai Lama in his mobile phone, besides other books and documents published outside Tibet. His whereabouts have continued to remain unknown.
Before that, in Jun 2023, Lobsang Thabkhey, 54, a librarian in the same monastery, was arrested, accused of republishing books brought out by exile Tibetan establishments, and for maintaining contact with people outside the region.
And well before that, in Feb 2023, Tsultrim, a Tibetan man from Tsaruma township in the prefecture’s Ngaba’s Kyungchu county, was arrested after Chinese police found pictures of the Dalai Lama on his mobile phone. The local Chinese court later jailed him for two years, the report said.