Khenpo Kartse
The detention of Khenpo Kartse, a senior monk at Japa monastery in Nangchen, has a sparked a series of protests and further arrests. Kartse was detained in Chengdu town on December 6 while buying a statue for his monastery. His detention was allegedly due to his involvement in several incidents in Karma town in the Chamdo prefecture in the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
Kartse is known for leading a team of monks to help the relief effort at Yulshul after a devastating earthquake in April 2010, which state media reported left nearly 2,700 dead and 270 others missing. He had also helped in efforts to protect the Tibetan language, culture and religion.
A rally was staged on December 18 to call for his release. According to Tsering Woeser, writer and poet, a group of county officials intervened in the rally and assured the protesters that efforts would be made to release Kartse. Instead, three days later, 16 Tibetans from the rally were detained. Woeser, who owns her own website, writes that original arrest was a “clear indication” of collaboration and communication between Chinese authorities in TAR and the Sichuan province: Chamdu officials had travelled all the way to Chengdu in order to detain Khenpo Kartse.
Tibetans on sit-in protest outside Japa monastery in Nangchen on January 15, 2014.
Photo: RFA listerner
On January 15, hundreds of Tibetans staged a silent sit-in in Nangchen to protest against the arrests. Once again, they were dispersed on assurances that monks would be allowed to visit those detained. Kartse has apparently written a letter from prison, urging his followers to be calm, saying: “I heard that there was recently a clash between police and Tibetans. Please make sure such incidents do not happen again …Please be more broadminded and maintain good relations with the authorities”. The veracity of the letter is, however, in doubt; in it, Kartse writes that he is well, and healthy, but more recent news reveals that his health is in a critical condition. “He is suffering from an inflamed liver, and more than 40 days have now passed since he was first detained,” a source told Radio Free Asia, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Eight Tibetans have also been detained in Chamdo in the Tibet Autonomous Region over their links to a grassroots campaign aimed at forging unity and enhancing literacy levels among Tibetans. While both incidents remain unrelated, the cause of the arrests seems to be largely similar and
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