By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala, April 5: A Tibetan youth has been secretly detained for his alleged role in burning Chinese flag after removing it from a government building in Kham Driru, an exile Tibetan having contacts in the region told Phayul.
Driru (Ch: Biru), traditionally a district in the Kham Province of Tibet, is currently a county in Nagchu (Ch: Nagqu) Prefecture of the so-called ‘Tibet Autonomous Region’ (TAR).
Kunchok Namgyal, age 22, from Totho Village of Tsachu Township in Driru County was arrested by Chinese Communist authorities two weeks ago after removing Chinese flag from a local community meeting hall and setting it on fire, Ngawang Tharpa, a Tibetan from Nagchu now living in exile here, said.
Police arrested Namgyal immediately after the daring act of protest, which could end up in harsh treatment in detention, Ngawang said, citing sources in the region.
As of now, according to Tharpa, no one knows where he is detained.
“Not even his family members know about his whereabouts at the moment,” Tharpa said.
Sporadic demonstrations, both by individuals and by small groups, against Chinese Communist rule in Tibet have continued in and around Driru for more than a month following the Tibetan National Uprising anniversary of 1959 last month.
In staging such demonstrations, protesters in Tibet defy severe security crackdowns and brave the near-certainty of facing serious legal consequences, including excessive prison sentences, which is distinctive of Communist China’s dealing with the protests that are broadly treated as acts “endangering state security”.
