(TibetanReview.net, Nov09’23) – Chinese authorities in the Tibetan prefecture of Kanlho (Chinese: Gannan), in Gansu province, had arrested last month a Tibetan Buddhist monastic teacher for having contact with people outside his local area, said the Tibetan service of rfa.org Nov 8, citing two people with knowledge of the situation.
The report said the monk, Kunchok Dakpa, was taken away from Tashiling Monastery, where he works as a teacher, in the prefecture’s Thewo (Diebu) county in the last week of October.
The report said it was not clear whether it was the regular police or some other Chinese security organ which carried out his arrest. His current whereabouts remain unknown.
The monk is not an activist and does not involve himself in political matters, according to the report.
“Though Chinese authorities frequently summoned and interrogated him in the past, this time he has been arrested and detained,” the report quoted one of the sources as saying.
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Kunchok Dakpa had previously travelled to India to study at the Kirti Monastery in Dharamshala, the report said, quoting an unnamed local Tibetan.
He was stated to have worked in the monastery’s administrative office for about five years after completing his monastic studies.
He then returned to Tibet in 2012 and taught at Tashi Monastery in his home prefecture’s Yipa (Yiwa Zhen) town.
“Kunchok Dakpa has always been a law-abiding individual and has never been involved in political activities that may create chaos,” the report quoted one of the sources as saying. “He is someone local Tibetans respect and admire.”