By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, MAR. 24: For the remaining monks and nuns whose compatriots were seen being forcefully evicted out of Larung Gar over the months, positive development in the form of assurances from a senior abbot at the monastic institution may yet quell some of the trauma and amassed tension.
According to Radio Free Asia, which cited an unnamed senior abbot, the forced evictions may soon come to a halt. The number of students at Larung Gar has drastically been slashed after Chinese authorities began forcefully tearing down students’ quarters and evicting them in the name of safety and renovation since July 2016.
A voice recording reportedly of a senior abbot speaking to his students on March 23 which was obtained by RFA’s said, “During 2016 and so far in 2017, a total of 4,828 monks and nuns left Larung Gar, and now about 250 nuns from Qinghai province are left to go. They will leave over three days, from March 25 to March 27, and after they have gone, no one else will have to leave this center.”
The abbot lamented that many followers had to leave despite not having any places to go to while describing the events that unfolded at Larung Gar as “implementation of Chinese government policy”.
Hundreds of evicted nuns from the Larung Gar Buddhist learning centre have been reportedly been put up in desolate camps in Kham Kardze, it was learnt earlier.
The situation in Serta County seems to be tense with a video that surfaced on internet showing Chinese police beating and taking away a random Tibetans into police vehicles at a town in the County where Larung Gar is situated. Sources also say that the Tibetans in the video are randomly beaten and taken away.
Earlier last month, the latest among many appeals and condemnation by the international governments and civil society, a group of six UN human rights experts on February 24 (eve of 34th session of UN Human Rights Council in Geneva) had jointly condemned China for committing grave violation at Buddhist institutions including Larung Gar and Yarchen Gar.
Since July 2016, Chinese officials carried out demolition work at one of the world’s largest Buddhist institutes and evicted thousands of the monks and nuns from the academy. This also resulted in the deaths of three nuns who committed suicide, not able to see the destruction of their academy.
