By Phuntsok Yangchen
DHARAMSHALA, October 7: In continued crackdown at the Nyatso Zilkar Monastery in Zatoe region of eastern Tibet, another Zilkar monk has been arbitrarily detained by Chinese security officials for unknown reasons.
Tenzin Sherab, 28, son of Jamchoe and Pema Dekyi from Dharmar nomadic village, was arrested on October 1 at around 9 am (local time).
Lobsang Sangyal, a monk in south India, told Phayul that Sherab’s family members approached the local Public Security Bureau office to inquire about the monk’s whereabouts, but were turned away without any information.
Sangyal cited sources in the region as saying that Sherab might have been arrested in connection with the peaceful protests that engulfed the area on February 8, earlier this year.
Thousands of Tibetans in Tridu had taken part in a peaceful protest coinciding with the global solidarity vigil called by the exile based Central Tibetan Administration.
Around 400 monks from the Zilkar monastery had led the protest march to Zatoe town with banners, written in blue and red ink, symbolic of the two protector deities of Tibet, calling for the Dalai Lama’s return, release of Tibetan political prisoners including the XIth Panchen Lama and respect for Tibetan lives.
Although no arrests were made during the protest, on February 16, three Zatoe monks – Sonam Gyewa, Lobsang Samten, and Lobsang Nyima were arrested and later sentenced by an Intermediate People’s Court in Siling at a secret trial without the presence of the monks’ family members.
In another official raid at the Monastery this September, dozens of monks were severely beaten by Chinese security personnel and five monks were arbitrarily detained.
The whereabouts of the arrested monks, Sonam Sherab, Lobsang Jinpa, Tsultrim Kalsang, Ngawang Monlam, and Sonam Yignyen, are still not known.
