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Chinese authorities have arrested four Tibetans from Ngaba county in Sichuan province, accusing one monk from Kirti Monastery of making dedication prayer offerings outside Tibet and two laypersons of maintaining contact with Tibetans outside the region, two sources told Radio Free Asia.
The arrests in early September come close on the heels of monastic school closures at Kirti Monastery in Ngaba county and Lhamo Kirti Monastery in Dzoge county, as well as the forced transfer of over 1,600 students, aged 6-17, from the Buddhist schools into state-administered “colonial style” boarding schools. More than 1,000 students were affected by the closure of the school at Kirti Monastery.
In the wake of the school closures, authorities have intensified surveillance and imposed tight restrictions on Tibetans in Ngaba county, including a crackdown on communication with the outside world.
“After the school closures in July, a high-ranking official from China’s United Front Work Department was stationed in Ngaba county for several months, implementing even stricter control measures over both the monastery and the local community,” the first source told RFA on the condition of anonymity for safety reasons.
Of the four arrested in September, two are Buddhist monks — Lobsang Samten, 53, and Lobsang Trinley, 40 — from Kirti Monastery. Samten was arrested for allegedly contacting someone outside Tibet for the purpose of dedicating prayers, while the reason for Trinley’s arrest is still unclear, said the sources.
The Chinese government restricts communication between Tibetans and their family members and friends abroad, saying it undermines national unity.
Tibetans, in turn, have decried surveillance by Beijing, saying Chinese authorities are violating their human rights and trying to eradicate their religious, linguistic and cultural identity.
‘Heightened restrictions’
The other two are laypersons — Tsering Tashi, 41, and his sister, Wangkyi, 43 — who were arrested on charges of contacting Tibetans living in South India, home to the largest Tibetan settlement in exile, the sources said.
“There have been many arbitrary detentions and secret arrests of Tibetans in Ngaba county in the past, but given the current climate of heightened restrictions, it is impossible to know their current situation or whereabouts,” said the second source.
Samten, who hails from Khansar township in Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture’s Chikdril county, previously served as the junior chant master of Kirti Monastery and is currently enrolled in the Karampa, or Geshe, study program, which is equivalent to that of a doctorate.
Trinley, who is from Rongkhangsar in Ngaba county, enrolled in Kirti Monastery as a monk in his childhood and was in his third year of Vinaya studies. He also served as an administrator responsible for organizing important ritual ceremonies at the monastery.
The two others are also from Rongkhangsar and were living in Ngaba county town at the time of their arrest, sources said.
Additional reporting by Dickey Kundol. Translated by Dawa Dolma and Tenzin Dickyi. Edited by Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan, and by Roseanne Gerin and Joshua Lipes.