Contact is taking a holiday!

In a crackdown late last year by Chinese police, Sershul, which is in Kardze in Kham [Ch: Sichuan], more than 30 Tibetan monks from the Dza Wonpo Monastery as well as local laypeople were imprisoned for over a month. According to local sources, in late November and early December 2019, people were detained due to suspicions that they were harbouring images of the Dalai Lama and contacting Tibetans living outside the country, or demonstrating an uncooperative attitude toward officials. While in prison they are reported to have been fed only tsampa and forced to complete two weeks of re-education classes.

During this period, reports the International Campaign for Tibet, Chinese troops in riot gear held intimidating military drills in the town, searched homes and interrogated people. Tibetans in the town were also warned that they would not be allowed to participate in any future “political” activities. The ICT’s source is quoted as saying, “The place has become like a ghost town,” and adding that local people were frightened to leave their homes on account of the intense crackdown.

These detentions follow the arrest of seven Tibetans from the same town for peaceful, pro-independence protests in November of last year. Four of those arrested were monks from Dza Wanpo Ganden Shedrub Monastery who were caught distributing pro-independence leaflets at local Chinese administrative offices. All seven, we understand, remain in prison. These protests were triggered by a Chinese government campaign targeted at Tibetan nomads in the area, which forced families to replace images of His Holiness the Dalai Lama with pictures of Chinese national leaders. Nomads were forced to settle and cut down their livestock numbers, which, due to insufficient government subsidies, has put a serious strain on livelihoods.

News of this crackdown has been slow to reach outside Tibet due to the security clampdown in force.

Back in 2012, Dza Wonpo monastery came under increased police scrutiny when monks refused to fly the Chinese national flag on the monastery’s rooftop, leading to multiple arrests.