By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, Dec. 2: Four members of a Tibetan family in Dzamthang County in Sichuan Province have been brutally beaten up by Chinese officials after they and other families refused to sell off their land sought by local Chinese authorities for a police barrack and other official usage, according to a report by Radio Free Asia.
The members of the family along with other families protested against the government’s attempt to forcefully buy the lands of the area last Monday (Dec. 30). RFA’s source mentions that in the ensuing curb-down of the peaceful protest “left at least four protesters—Tare Kyi, Samlha, Ratna Dargye, and Lukyi—severely injured, Samlha was left in critical condition,”
Land is invaluable to the families in the area as they are sustained by farming. “The owners are poor families, and the land is their main source of income,” the same source was quoted as saying.
No further information on the families or the land in question is available as of now.
Forceful land confiscation and land grabbing incidents by Chinese officials have been on the rise in Tibet, highlighted by the Thangkor land grab case in Dzoege County in the beginning of October 2015 where Chinese authorities forcefully evicted around 20 families from their land and nomadic grazing tracts. The houses were demolished under the pretext of an environmental initiative to ‘turn the town green’ by the Chinese authorities.
Relocation assurances and compensation had not been provided and the case dragged on since and also resulted in arrests. Few of the arrested Tibetans have been released. However, Jigjey Kyab, Tsepak, Phurko, Sonam Gyatso, and Shetruk are still in custody and are believed to be held in Marthang County presently.
