By Tenzin Choephel
Phayul Correspondent
Kathmandu, October 25 – Several young Tibetan volunteers organized a candle light vigil around the circumambulation of holy Boudanath Stupa this evening for Tibetan victims of the Nangpa La shooting and particularly for the deceased nun Kelsang Namtso from Driru County of Tibet who was killed by Chinese soldiers while trying to flee Tibet for better education opportunity and seeking an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
According to Kelsang, one of the organizers, “being a Tibetan, we are doing this voluntarily and as a Tibetan, I think we should all do whatever is possible for the cause of Tibetan freedom, let our voice be heard to the world, it is obviously clear that in Tibet our brothers and sisters don’t have any freedom. In Nepal also we Tibetans don’t have freedom to organize peaceful demonstration and so we have to do alternative forms of protest like prayer services or candle light vigil”.
According to a reliable source from Tibet the deceased nun was send to India by her parents to seek better nunnery education because she has become a nun two years back but she could not join a nunnery as there is no nunnery in her native place. She was a native of Jije Village in Driru Township, Driru County, Nagchu Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region and she is survived by her two parents, one elder brother and three younger brothers but she was the only daughter of her parents. According to another 16 year old girl from the same village as the deceased nun, “I called home after arriving in Nepal and told my parents about the deceased nun but told them not to tell the parents of the nun about the tragic incident”. As far as we know the family of the deceased nun still doesn’t know about the tragic loss of their daughter.
On 30th September, 77 Tibetan tried to flee Tibet by crossing the Nangpa La Pass between Nepal and Tibet, just before crossing the Pass/Border, Chinese border patrol soldiers saw them and started firing. In the firing Kelsang Namtso, a 17 year old nun was shot dead and another was injured, 43 crossed the border and escaped to Nepal and the remaining 33 including 14 minor children were arrested by Chinese soldiers. 41 Tibetan refugees including 2 guides arrived safely at the Tibetan Refugee Transit Center in Kathmandu on 9th October and they left for India on 20th October. The whereabouts of those who were arrested by Chinese soldiers is not yet known.
According to Samdup who also escaped from Tibet two years back, those who were arrested would probably be first taken to the nearest county police station that is probably in Dingri County Town. The detainees would be interrogated, then they would be handed over to the police station of the Prefecture, that is in Shigatse Town. The interrogation will go on for several weeks and after getting all the details of the detainees, they would be handed over to their respective counties where a fine would be imposed on their household, then to their township and village leader and finally to the household.
