Dharamsala, August 8 – A young Tibetan writer and university student, Tashi Rabten (pen-name Te’urang), the editor of the banned literary magazine the Shar Dungri (Eastern Snow Mountain) on the 2008 protests in Tibet, is feared missing, according to Tibetan bloggers. Tashi Rabten, a student of Northwest Minorities University in Lanzhou, has not been seen since July 26, when the university closed for summer holiday. Tashi also authored a collection of work called “Written in Blood”.
According to the Washington based International Campaign for Tibet, there are fears for his safety because his recent book is being dealt with as a “political matter”. A Tibetan source told ICT that Tashi has been under surveillance for some time.
“Since protests began across Tibet on March 10, 2008, the Chinese authorities have adopted a harsh and systematic approach to silencing Tibetans and suppressing dissent, and many artists and writers have been detained or ‘disappeared’,” said ICT.
Tashi Rabten is from Dzoege (Chinese: Ruo’ergai) county in Ngaba, Sichuan province in the Tibetan region of Kham and is due to graduate next year. One of his friends was quoted as saying, “He has won great respect and popularity among students, intellectuals and ordinary readers in Tibet as an outstanding and brave young thinker.” Referring to his recent book, “Written in Blood”, the Tibetan said: “It consists of many valuable writings on democracy, freedom and equality. In fact, I didn’t see anything illegal in there. It’s all accurate and true.” The same source said that Tashi’s activities were strictly monitored, and copies of his book confiscated from the university.
Meanwhile, a collection of 25 poems by a Tibetan student named Yung Lhundup who killed himself last year is being distributed by one of his friends as a book entitled The Imprisoned Tibetan People. Yung Lhundup, 17, a junior high school student at the Number One Middle School in Jianza (Chentsa) county in Malho (Chinese: Huangnan) TAP, Qinghai province, committed suicide by jumping from the third floor of the school building on October 18 last year. Lhundup was among the students who set ablaze the Chinese national flag and replaced it with the Tibetan traditional wellwishing scarves (Khatag) on March 27 last year.
Yung Lhundup was a native of Yangrong Dewa of Amdo Tsojhang Kangtsa Zong (spelled as pronounced).
