Dharamshala, Feb. 12: Chinese authorities in Tibet’s Sog County have arrested four Tibetan monks including a 15 year old juvenile for actions threatening ‘stability’ in the region on Feb.2, a Tibetan source told Phayula.
The monks belong to the 532 year old Dowa Shartsang monastery in Trido town of Sog in the traditional Tibetan province of Kham.
The four have been charged with offense of distributing and pasting around forty pro-independence leaflets in the monastery campus, removing a board installed by the Chinese authorities, pelting stones at the sentry for Chinese government security stationed permanently in the monastery premises.
The same source identified the four as Tsuiltrim Palsang, 20; Lobsang Yeshi, 15; Kalsang Jampa, 22 and Kalsang Dorjee, 23. They have been reportedly taken to the county headquarters but it is not known where they are currently held. Pleas from their family members and relatives for their whereabouts went unanswered.
Sog County was a hotbed for anti government protests by Tibetans in 2008, the year that saw wave of protests across Tibet.
Since 2009, 126 Tibetans have resorted to self immolation protests against the Chinese government’s hardline policies.
