DHARAMSHALA, June 16: More than 60 men from Gewar village in Tongbar town where a Tibetan man killed himself in anti mining protests last month have been detained around June 9, reported the Radio Free Asia.
Chinese authorities in Zogang County in Tibet’s Chamdo region summoned the men including the two village leaders to a meeting in Tongbar town, a Tibetan exile living in Europe told the RFA. The same source said that Tibetans who had been to India were also asked to report to the authorities.
The men are said to be subjected to interrogation regarding last month’s protests that led to the death of Phakpa Gyaltsen, 32, who stabbed himself twice before jumping to his death to protest a mining project in the region.
Chinese officials told the gathered Tibetan men that one male member from each family must go with them to the County seat in Zogang where the Tibetans are currently held, according to the source.
“We hear that they are being regularly interrogated,” he said.
Following Gyaltsen’s death, hundreds of Tibetans took to the streets of Tongbar in protest demanding that Chinese stop all plans of mining in the region.
Now, Chinese authorities are cracking down on local Tibetans using mobile phones or the WeChat microblogging service to contact outsiders, one source said, adding, “All communications, including exchanges of photos, are being monitored in Tongbar town and the nearby villages.”
The authorities now are strictly monitoring the Internet and cellular phones to ensure that no information of Tibetans’ detention goes out. As of now, details of the Tibetans currently held are not known.
Tibetans have long argued that China’s grand projects in Tibet are planned and implemented without consultation, consent, and knowledge of the local Tibetans. Protests against mining by Tibetans in various regions of Tibet were reported in the past.
The Dharamshala based Central Tibetan Administration maintains that Beijing, “under the guise of economic and social development, encourages the migration of Chinese population to Tibet, marginalising the Tibetans in economic, educational, political and social spheres.”
