China cracks down inside Tibet following Nangpa Pass shooting
According to Radio Free Asia China is enforcing a crackdown inside Lhasa following the shooting of Tibetan refugees by Chinese soldiers at Nangpa Pass last month. Additionally, Chinese police have detained two Tibetans and a Nepali for helping Tibetan refugees escape to Nepal.
First, on the detentions:
Chinese authorities in Lhasa have detained two Tibetans and one Nepalese ethnic Sherpa for allegedly escorting Tibetan asylum-seekers from China into India.
The detentions on Oct. 9 and 10 follow an incident on Sept. 30 in which Chinese guards opened fire on a group of Tibetans fleeing across the rugged border with Nepal, killing two people. Hundreds of Tibetans flee from China to Nepal and India every year seeking greater freedom of religion and expression.
Several sources told RFA’s Tibetan service that a team of Chinese Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials from the central Barkhor [in Chinese, Bagojie] area raided a home in Lophuk, in Lhasa city, late on Oct. 9. They detained two Tibetans there, the sources said.
“One of the Tibetans is named Tashi, from Chamdo [Changdu] county in the TAR [Tibetan Autonomous Region], and the other is named Yedor, from Dege Jomda [Dege Jiangda] county, also in the TAR,� said one source who asked not to be named.
“They also detained a Sherpa from Nepal in the Barkhor area on Oct. 10, but his name is unknown,� another source said. “He is also suspected of working as an escort for Tibetans [trying to] escape to Nepal.� One of the three men is being held in Gutsa prison in Lhasa, sources told RFA, but the whereabouts of the other two are unknown.
PSB officers took the precaution of ensuring no one witnessed the Oct. 9 raid, the Tibetan sources said.
“When they raided the Tibetan family where two Tibetans were living as tenants, they instructed them not to tell anything,â€? said one Tibetan. “Before arresting the two Tibetans, they made sure all the neighbors were inside their houses. It seems that nobody including the landlord knew that those two Tibetans were working as [border] escorts.”
Where are Tashi and Yedor being held? Have they been charged with anything? Apparently both are paid guides that help Tibetans escape into exile for a fee (apparently it’s greatly reduced for children). They were detained after the Nangpa Pass shooting, but there’s no implication that they were connected to that group of refugees. Since then other refugees have been stopped and Nangpa la and though not killed, prevented from finding freedom outside of Tibet.
Tibetan sources meanwhile report that 53 other Tibetans have been detained since September as they tried to flee to Nepal. These include groups of nine, 16, and 28 people, detained in the Dzonga area of Ngari [Ali] prefecture, Shigatse city in Shigatse [Rikaze] prefecture, and Lhatze county of Shigatse, respectively. Two monks detained with the group of 28 in Lhatze were released after explaining that they were making a pilgrimage rather than seeking asylum.
These detentions are coinciding with a crackdown inside the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.
In the wake of the shooting, which Chinese authorities have promised to investigate, “Many Tibetans are worried about [the possibility of arrest],” one source said. “There is tension among the Tibetans inside Lhasa city.”
Many Tibetans in Lhasa from the Amdo and Kham regions have felt compelled to leave Lhasa because Chinese authorities there-possibly in response to an international outcry over the shootings-are cracking down, source say.
Of course China is internationally shamed for getting caught murdering innocent Tibetans and their response is to make life harder for Tibetans inside of Tibet. Raising the specter of arrest and brutality and cracking down on freedoms not because Tibetans have done something wrong, but because China’s immoral, illegal behavior has been brought incontrovertibly to the world’s attention. They perpetrate an atrocity and rather than reforming their behaviors and relaxing control over Tibetans, they crack down to try to prevent any other Tibetans from finding freedom outside of Tibet.
China’s behavior doesn’t reform, it just gets worse. No matter how blatantly they are caught abusing Tibetans, their natural response is to crack down. Always crack down. Always lessen freedoms. Always throw more Tibetans in jail. Always find new ways to prevent Tibetans from having control over their lives. This sickening cycle of repression must be brought to an immediate end. Tibet must be free.
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[...] While the world condemns China for the murder of Tibetan refugees at Nangpa Pass, what will China do to police itself? Will the commanders and soldiers who perpetrated this specific act be brought to justice? Will the policies that allow this murderous conduct be repealed? Will China relax their crackdown inside Tibet following the Nangpa Pass shooting? [...]