By Kalsang Rinchen
Dharamsala, March 26 – Chinese authorities in Jomda County, Chamdo Tibet Autonomous Prefecture (TAP) have arrested 2 Tibetan monks who were accused of setting ablaze a government vehicle on the night of March 10, the 51st Tibetan national uprising day, Monlam Tharchin, a Tibetan MP said.
Officials and Police from the county arrested Karma Palden, 24, and 2 others from Zigar monastery on March 11, 2010. The three were taken to the county detention centre but 2 were later released. However, another monk named Gelek, 20, was arrested and locked up with Karma Palden. The two were tortured severely in detention and paraded in the streets to intimidate passersby.
In Qinghai, around hundred students of a monastic school founded in 1985 by the late Tenth Panchen Lama held a vigil on the 51st anniversary of the Tibetan uprising day (March 10, 2010) to mourn the death of Tibetans in the nationwide crackdown on protesters that started in March 2008 from Lhasa. The students of Bido monastery in Qinghai province held a prayer of thousand butter lamps for the victims of the Chinese government’s crackdown in the past two years, according to the Voice of Tibet radio service.
A Tibetan monk on condition of anonymity has told the radio that there have been no arrests so far but the Chinese authorities are looking for student leaders who initiated the vigil. On the ground the situation appears to be tense, as the Chinese security forces have placed heavy restrictions on the movement of people. The students of the same school had sung a song called “Tsenpoi Phonya” (king’s messenger) at a protest in the school in March 2008 to express their support to the anti government protests all over Tibet. The school was shut down for eight days during that period to prevent protests and demonstrations in the area.
