By Kalsang Rinchen
Dharamsala, March 21 – A 27-year-old Tibetan was arrested for defying what the Dharamsala based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy described as “farming boycott movement” in Kardze in Sichuan Province.
Jampa Dhodup, a monk of Tse-Tsang Monastery, was arrested in the afternoon of 19 March 2009, according to the Dharamsala based Tibetan NGO monitoring human rights situation in Tibet.
“Tibetans in Kardze region have led a civil disobedience movement of farming boycott that is in defiance of the prevalent repressive policies being initiated and implemented by the Chinese authorities against the Tibetans,” the centre said in a press release today. Meanwhile, the exile Tibetan government’s prime minister, speaking exclusively to the Voice of Tibet, urged the people of Kardze yesterday to cooperate with the authorities and resume farming activities.
The Chinese authorities announced that “anyone who refuses to do farming will face arrest and their land officially confiscated.”
Some members of Jampa’s family were involved in peaceful protests last year in spring, said the centre, adding that Jampa’s elder brother Tashi Namgyal has been on the run after an arrest warrant was issued against him for his participation in a peaceful protest in Sertha County in March last year. His elder sister, Lhagha, a nun of Pangri-na Nunnery, was arrested for participating in a peaceful protest in Kardze County on May 14, 2008, the centre said. Though she was released later on, she has to appear before county PSB officials every week, according to the centre.
The TCHRD claims 28 incidents of protests were reported from the Kardze region only and more than 60 Tibetans arrested.
