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From Phayul
The two-month ultimatum for Tibetan members of the Communist Party and government workers to confess that they had or have children in schools run by the exile government in India ended last week. In July, Communist Party authorities in the Tibet Autonomous Region issued measures stating that Tibetan children must confess if they have been to schools in India and whether they believed anything they had been taught there, according to the official Communist Party paper, Tibet Daily.
The measures, issued by the Tibet Autonomous Region Party Committee Discipline Department, state that children who return from schools in exile and parents who fail to bring children back to Tibet could face unspecified ‘disciplinary action’.
Over the past decade, thousands of Tibetan children have made the dangerous journey across the Himalayas through Nepal into India in order to receive an education based on Tibetan cultural values in exile schools and monasteries, Education inside Tibet can be unavailable and unaffordable, says the International Campaign for Tibet.
The new measures, which probably was issued in mid-July, goes further than earlier statements by the Chinese authorities saying that all of the Tibetan children studying in exile were “lured” abroad by the “Dalai Clique” “so that they can be infiltrated [back into Tibet] in a conspiracy aimed at undermining our future capacity.” The measures also state that children returning must confess not only to any participation in “splittist and terrorist activities” abroad, but also to what they thought and believed while in India, and that they may face punishment for the latter.
It is not known yet if any children have been withdrawn from India, nor is it known whether these punishments could apply to any children who have returned in the past few years, according to the ICT.
The new measure is more stringent than the one imposed in 1994 demanding that Tibetan Party members and government workers recall their children from India. This new measure stated that if Tibetans did not follow the ruling they would be demoted or expelled from their jobs, and their children would lose their rights to residence permits if they did not return to Tibet within a specified time. According to the India-based Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, some parents did recall their children, which meant that they were unable to complete their education in exile.
According to Tibet Daily, the new regulations are an essential element of “the struggle against splittism”, and they are in line with the intensified focus on patriotic education among the lay as well as monastic population being implemented by the authorities as part of the crackdown since protests swept across the Tibetan plateau from March 10, continuing into August.
Following is a full English translation of the measures:
Late one night in October 1988 I was woken by a telephone call from the United States. I was living in Japan then, teaching English and writing the occasional book review for the Japan Times. My twenty year work stint in exile Tibetan society had ended a few years earlier when I had been dismissed (with the aid of a violent McLeod Ganj mob) from my post as director of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) for the alleged irreverence of a couple of my plays.
An urgent voice in Tibetan asked “Jamyang Norbu, Jamyang Norbu, can you hear me. I am Thupten Jigme Norbu.” For a while I couldn’t place the name and then realized it was Taktser Rimpoche, the Dalai Lama’s oldest brother.
“Yes Rimpoche I can hear you, how are you?”
“Jamyang Norbu, Jamyang Norbu, do you know what has happened.”
“What is it Rimpoche?”
“They have given up our rangzen.”
“Rimpoche, what are you saying?
“Gyalwa Rimpoche made a statement at this place, Strasbourg…”
And he told me what had happened.
Ambassador Martin Ihoeghian Uhomohbhi of Nigeria, the President of the UN Human Rights Council, this morning overruled an attempt by a Chinese delegate to interrupt a statement on Tibet by a German NGO. A member of Society for Threatened Peoples was speaking with reference to the response given by the Chinese authorities to three human rights experts of the Council, including the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people on the “alleged severe impact of resettlement programs and forced evictions that are currently being implemented in Tibetan areas of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).”
The Ninth Session of the Human Rights Council was having an interactive dialogue on the report submitted to the body by Prof. James Anaya, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights of indigenous peoples. In an addendum to his report called “summary of cases transmitted to Governments and replies received”, the Special Rapporteur detailed the 3 October 2007 communication to the Chinese authorities stating: “It was alleged that tens of thousands of Tibetans are being negatively affected by nomad settlement and resettlement, land confiscation and fencing policies, which are mainly implemented in Golok (Guoluo) and Yushu districts of Qinghai province, but also in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and other provinces that have large Tibetan populations, including Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan. It was reported that these policies have had a very adverse impact on the traditional lifestyles and living patterns in Tibetan areas, affecting directly the fabric of traditional Tibetan life and devastating the economy of these communities. The implementation of these policies contributes to the challenges that Tibetan cultural and religious identity face today.”
To this communication which was joined by the Special Rapporteur Special Rapporteur on adequate housing and the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, China responded on 21 December 2007 claiming “…a series of projects for the benefit of the people in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) have been carried out. These projects support and encourage the rapid development of Tibetan economy and society, regenerate and strengthen agricultural and pastoral lands, and improve living and economic conditions of farmers and pastoralists. The Government stressed that, at the same time, it has paid attention to and respected the thoughts of the Tibetan people and supported their traditional lives, customs, and culture. The Government noted that it has received widespread support and favorable comments about the projects from the farmers and pastoralists.”
The statement by Society for Threatened Peoples delivered by Tenzin S. Kayta while welcoming China’s response alerted the Council that the NGO “believe the issue of consent of the Tibetans involved is fundamental … given the human rights crisis prevailing on the Tibetan Plateau, an independent analysis here would be impossible.” The three-minute statement added: “However, a documentary called, “Dispatches-Undercover in Tibet” released this year by Channel 4 British Television revealed that “the nomadic way of life being forcefully wiped out as native Tibetans are stripped of their land and livestock and are being resettled in concrete camps.”
A representative of the Chinese delegation reasoned that the NGO statement was not relevant to the topic under discussion in the Council to which the Council President ruled that the statement was in order when he even read the first paragraph of the NGO statement. The Chinese delegate then asserted that “Tibet was a part of China and Tibetan people are one of 56 ethnic groups of China” while rejecting notion of the existence of indigenous people in present-day China. “We don’t have indigenous people”, the Chinese delegate claimed.
Society for Threatened Peoples intervention also informed the Council about the interview given to the British TV documentary in which a Tibetan evicted from his grasslands says: “Life here is incredibly hard. People are suffering from hunger and hardship. They have no jobs and they have no food…no land. The only way they can fill their empty stomachs is by stealing. Nobody wanted to move here. But if you ask questions dressed like a Chinese, they won’t dare to tell you the truth. They will only have good things to say because we live in terror…Its just like living through the Cultural Revolution. Everybody is so depressed, they look awful, their faces have become pale, and their eyes are sunken. Everyone is afraid of speaking the truth. I could be arrested tomorrow if they knew what I’ve just said.”
After studying China’s response, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of indigenous peoples, observes that he “will continue to closely monitor the situation and called on China “to take the necessary measures to ensure that the development projects referred to do not infringe the human rights of the people affected and that any such adverse impacts be remedied promptly.”
Responding to China’s position that there are no indigenous people in China, Prof. Anaya stated that while he understands the “sensitivities” that many States have on the issue on the coverage of the term indigenous peoples. However, he encouraged “a human rights-based approach, one which looks to the particular issues involved and the human rights dimensions of those issues.” He added: “I see issues that are common to indigenous peoples throughout the world and the focus that I will be advancing is one on those particular issues on the human rights dimensions of them as I believe my predecessor did in his communication on the situation of Tibetans in China.”
Society for Threatened Peoples urged the Special Rapporteur also urged “the Special Rapporteur to closely monitor the situation in Tibet, including by seeking a fact-finding mission to ascertain the fate Tibetans evicted from their ancestral lands.”
On Monday, the Ninth Session of the Council heard a statement from the new High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navanethem Pillay who said: “Genocide is the ultimate form of discrimination …We must all do everything in our power to prevent it. What I learned as a judge on the Rwanda Tribunal about the way in which one human being can abuse another, will haunt me forever.”
43 Tibetans were arrested earlier today by the Nepalese police. The Tibetans were staging a protest demonstration in front of the Chinese Embassy’s visa section to mark the sixth month of this year’s uprising on March 10.
The Tibetans staged a street play depicting Chinese atrocities in Tibet and the sufferings of the Tibetan people. They also raised slogans against the Chinese government’s harsh policies in Tibet, and called for peaceful solution of the Tibet issue. The Tibetans also prayed for Dalai Lama’s long life.
Officers from Nepal’s immigration office and Kathmandu’s Chief District Office demanded Registration Certificate (RC), a permit issued by the Nepalese government for the Tibetans to reside in Nepal, from the Tibetans at the protest site. Nepal has earlier deported Tibetans without permit apparently under China’s instructions.
The 72 Tibetans who were arrested yesterday are still in police custody. It is the first time since March that the Tibetans arrested for protesting were detained for more than 24 hours by Nepalese police. There is an apparent fear among the Tibetans that the Maoists-led new government will tighten its grip on the Tibetans in Nepal and curb protests against China.
The 43 Tibetans arrested today are held at two separate police stations.
Nepal has witnessed one of the strongest and most frequent protests by Tibetans despite the fact that no major NGOs were involved in the organization and leadership of the protests. The Tibetans in Nepal have formed ‘Tibetan Volunteers Group’ following the March uprising in Tibet, and have been initiating demonstrations and protests voluntarily.
Taktser Rinpoche, also known as Thupten Jigme Norbu, the eldest brother of the Dalai Lama breathed his last yesterday (September 5, 2008 after prolonged illness at his home in Indiana in the United States. Born in 1922 in the small village of Taktser in Amdo province to Choekyong Tsering, later known as Gyayab Chenmo (1899-1947), and mother Dekyi Tsering, later known as Gyalyum Chenmo (1900-1981) Rinpoche was 86.
Thupten Jigme Norbu was recognized as the reincarnation of Taktser Rinpoche at the tender age of three by the thirteenth Dalai Lama and enrolled to Kumbum Monastery in Amdo where he began his monastic studies and was subsequently became its abbot at the age of 27.
In 1950, Rinpoche escaped Tibet to educate people about the atrocities in his country. Before moving to the United States in 1951, he traveled the world meeting government and United Nations officials to establish support for Tibet. Sadly, no one listened.
Taktser Rinpoche played a key role in advising the Dalai Lama to leave Tibet fearing the Chinese Communist Party’s intentions. Though pro-independence, a stand in sharp contrast to that of the Dalai Lama’s middle way approach, Taktser Rinpoche dedicated his life to serving the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people. In 1995, he founded the International Tibet Independence Movement and led three independence walks in Indiana, Washington and Toronto over the next few years.
“My admiration and respect for Taktser Rinpoche knows no bounds. His actions and dedication to securing Tibet’s independence are a true act of patriotism. He serves as an inspiration for all Tibetans,” Sonam Wangdu, Chairperson of the New York based U.S. Tibet Committee, was quoted as saying in a newsreport published in June this year on ITIM website. In the same report, Professor Larry Gerstein, president of the ITIM said of Rinpoche, “Since leaving Tibet in 1949, Rinpoche has been a strong and steady activist for Tibet’s independence.”
He served as the Representative of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile to Japan and North America. He was the first Tibetan to live in the United States.
He also served as Professor of Tibetan Studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Taktser Rinpoche was also a writer and penned his autobiography, Tibet Is My Country as told to Heinrich Harrer in 1959. Tibet was co-written with Colin Turnbull in 1970, and a collection of essays from 1994 by Tibetans in exile, mostly Tibetan Americans called Tibet: The Issue Is Independence – Tibetans-in-Exile Address the Key Tibetan Issue the World Avoids features an introduction by Rinpoche. Along with Robert B. Ekvall he also wrote the first English translation of Younger Brother Don Yod, a Tibetan play by the fifth Panchen Lama Lobsang Yeshe in 1969.
Rinpoche founded the Tibetan Culture Center in 1979 in Bloomington which was later renamed Tibetan-Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center in 2006.
In 2002 however he suffered a series of strokes and had been unwell since.
Even in ill health, Rinpoche remained active in his pursuit for the preservation of Tibetan culture and rights of the Tibetan people. He participated in the Freedom Torch reception ceremony in June 2008.
The Tibetan government in exile mourned the demise of Rinpoche with prayers in the afternoon as offices remained shut.
He is survived by his wife Kunyang Norbu, sons Lhundup Norbu, 46, Kunga Norbu, 45 and Jigme, 42 and their families.
DHARAMSALA—A group of Tibetan monks, originally from Tibetan-populated regions of China’s southwest Sichuan province, has been released from detention in Qinghai province and returned to their home areas, according to Tibetan sources.
The group had been held for more than four months in the town of Golmud, in Qinghai, with monks from other regions.
All had been studying in monasteries in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), and were suspected of involvement in protests there in March against Chinese rule.
Monks originally from Qinghai had been released earlier into the custody of officials from Qinghai’s United Front and Religious Affairs Bureau and taken from Golmud into house arrest near their homes.
Held longer
The group from Sichuan—an area still troubled by anti-China protests—was held in Golmud for a longer time, a Tibetan monk living in India said, citing sources in the region.
“They were told that they would be detained pending receipt of a letter from the Sichuan authorities agreeing to take them into custody,” the monk, who asked to be identified only as Tsering, said.
“Finally, a group of 50 to 80 monks and laypersons arrived at the Aba [in Tibetan, Ngaba] county center in Sichuan on Aug. 27,” Tsering said. “They are being detained in a school compound close to the county government complex.”
“The county officials, the police, and the army are jointly monitoring them. They could be undergoing some kind of political re-education campaign.”
Tsering said the monks being held in the school compound are “not allowed to leave” the complex, though their relatives can visit them at the school.
Among those detained are 27 monks from Kirti monastery and monks from the Tse and Gomang monasteries in Aba.
“There are also some businessmen from Aba who were detained in Lhasa during the protests,” Tsering said.
Separate groups
Another monk, one of those released, said the monks were taken from Golmud and returned to Sichuan in separate groups.
“On Aug. 26, a group of 60 monks detained in Golmud was moved to the Aba area in Sichuan. Officials of the United Front and Religious Affairs Bureau, along with a group of local police, went to Golmud and took charge of the monks belonging to their respective counties,” the monk said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Other monks belonging to different areas in Sichuan were moved in different groups on Aug. 27, 28, and 29 from Golmud under escort by officials from their respective United Front and Religious Affairs Bureaus and the police. The last group of 14 monks was moved on Aug. 29 to the Kardze area from Golmud.”
The monks who were held in Golmud had endured beatings and psychological torture, the released monk said. “As a result, many became ill and several developed heart problems.”
“They have been told not to return to their monasteries in Lhasa. Even [now], in their hometowns, their movements are restricted, and they cannot leave without the approval of the local authorities.”
Original reporting by RFA’s Tibetan service. Tibetan service director: Jigme Ngapo. Translations by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.
Memories Of Movement 