By Tenzin Monlam
DHARAMSHALA, August 18: A Tibetan monk has been arrested on August 10 for staging a solo protest against the illegal land grab in Sershul County and its unfair redistribution by the local Chinese officials.
According to Free Tibet, the monk named Lobsang Sopa had setup a tent and protested in front of the county government office against the injustice against the local Tibetan of Bonpo Township.
Lobsang has been actively petitioning and urging the officials regarding a fair redistribution of the grassland over the last few years. Despite several attempts his requests were not heeded by the officials.
Soon after his protest, the police on patrol nearby arrested him and since then his whereabouts and physical condition remain unknown.
The monk also had prepared a banner with writings in Tibetan and Chinese, which read, “The grassland in Sershul County should be distributed in accordance with the law. The ownership of the grassland should be returned to the people without bias and not favor the strong over the weak.”
Forceful land grab and confiscation under the pretext of development by Chinese officials have been on the rise in Tibet. The unjust redistribution of the land is one of the main causes of unrest in the region. The more and better lands are allocated to well offs or well-connected families and the poor are given smaller and inferior lands.
In Thangkor land grab case in Dzoege County in October 2015, 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.
