(TibetanReview.net, Nov05, 2016) – Brutal coercion is being used in the ongoing large-scale eviction of student monks and nuns from Larung Gar, a famed Tibetan Buddhist study institute in Serta County of Sichuan Province, reported the Tibetan Service of Radio Free Asia (Washington) Nov 3.
Armed with details about the monks and nuns after a door-to-door query, Chinese officials are reported to seal and lock the residences of the monks and nuns listed for expulsion while they attended classes or are absent from home for other reasons.
The locks are painted red and numbered and carry a warning that any tampering with it would entail persecution. Exceptions are not being allowed even to enable the monks and nuns to collect their meagre belongings, the report said.
The expulsion of monks and nuns and demolition of their residences has been going on since Jul 20 reportedly under orders from Beijing. The aim is stated to be to reduce the size of the sprawling monastic complex and to delimit its student population to a maximum of 5,000 by Sep 30 next year from its existing strength estimated to be anywhere from more than 10,000 to as much as 40,000.
All students from outside the local area, including from mainland China, are being expelled. It was also reported that even student monks and nuns from within the local area were being encouraged to remove themselves from the institute and offer their residences for demolition with promises of monetary compensation.