(TibetanReview.net, Oct25’24) –As China mustered support from “more than 100” countries at the UN General Assembly committee meeting on human rights in New York City on Oct 22, demanding that its deplorable records on the human rights situation in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong be not subject to any discussion, a Tibet monitoring group in Dharamshala, India, has on Oct 24 asked Beijing to disclose the whereabouts of four Tibetans, including two monks and a woman, who have remained disappeared after their arrest in early September for no known reasons.
Calling them victims of arbitrary detention, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said monks Lobsang Samten and Lobsang Trinley of Kirti Monastery, along with Tsering Tashi and Wangkyi(f), have remained incommunicado in Ngaba (or Ngawa, Chinese: Aba) county of Sichuan Province ever since they were taken away.
Since their arrest, no information has been provided on their whereabouts or the charges against them, the centre said.
Lobsang Samten, 53, originally from Khangsar Township in Chikdril (Jiuzhi) County of the province’s Golok (Guoluo) prefecture, is said to be a Karampa (Geshe) student and also the junior chant master at the Prayers College of Ngaba Kirti Monastery. He was previously stated to have been detained in 2011 along with 300 fellow-monks.
Lobsang Trinley (or Drenpo) in his 40s, originally from Rong khangsar town in Ngaba County, is said to the principal organiser of religious rituals and ceremonies at the monastery.
The centre said the other two detainees, Wangkyi (43) and Tsering Tashi (41), belong to the Haritsang family in Rongkharsar town, Ngaba County. Part of eight siblings, Wangkyi is said to be married with four daughters.
The centre said there have been reports suggesting that people from the Haritsang family had been arrested for maintaining contacts in India, though specific details remain elusive.
The centre quoted an unnamed source as saying: “In recent months, repression in the Ngaba region has intensified, with increased restrictions particularly aimed at Kirti Monastery and nearby villages. Arbitrary detentions and secret sentencing of Tibetans have become alarmingly frequent. Local Tibetans are being silenced through intimidation, making it increasingly difficult for information to surface.
“Even those who are released from detention are prohibited from revealing the charges against them or where they were held, further obscuring the truth from the community.”
The centre noted that this incident has come on the heels of China’s closure of two prominent Buddhist monastery schools in July, which forced approximately 1,600 novice monks to enrol in government-run colonial style boarding schools.
“This move is part of a broader campaign aimed at assimilating Tibetan cultural and religious identity and promoting assimilation into the dominant Han Chinese culture.”