DHARAMSHALA, April 8: A Tibetan writer has been arrested by the Chinese police last month for writing about the restrictions imposed by the Chinese government and security beef up in Rebkong County around the March Tenth uprising anniversary on his blog earlier last month.
Druklo (pen name: Shokjang), a prominent writer known for his fearless expression of views critical of the Chinese government, was arrested along with his brother in law. Shokjang had written an article on his blog describing the tense situation and Chinese government’s stepping up of patrolling on the streets ahead of the March Tenth uprising anniversary last month.
Though exact reasons for his arrest are not known, local Tibetans believe his arrest was linked to the article which later appeared in other websites also, according to Tsering Gyal, a Tibetan researcher at the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. Gyal added that Shokjang’s brother in law was released later.
Gyal said Druklo appears to have been arrested from Rebkong where he traveled on March 16. Druklo is a native of Ghyengya village in Sangchu County (Labrang).
Tibetan writers including Tashi Rabten (Theurang) with whom Shokjang was first arrested in 2010 have appealed for immediate release of Shokjang. Theurang in an article translated by High Peaks Pure Earth writes about Shokjang, “He is someone who never deters from expressing his views, and whose courage and aspiration for freedom is unwavering. He devotes his time and intellect in the fight against darkness and oppression. When a mind or voice like his is stifled and silenced for a time or forever, it is the unpropitious cloud of darkness and oppression that ushers a reign of terror in the land.” For full article click here.
Druklo had spent a month under detention after his first arrest in April 2010. He was arrested along with Tashi Rabten (Theurang), another prominent writer, for allegedly spearheading protests by the students of National Minorities’ University of Lanzhou.
He was accused of having links with the Tibetan Youth Congress, the largest pro-independence group in the Tibetan exile Tibetan Community accused of being a “terrorist” outfit by the Chinese government.
On April 6, 2010, around 16 officials from the local Public Security Bureau arrived in the university hostel and ransacked students’ rooms. The officials confiscated cellular phones, laptop computers and books from the students. Shokjang co – edited with Tashi Rabten the banned literary magazine the Shar Dungri (Eastern Snow Mountain) on the 2008 protests in Tibet. He was released from detention on May 8, 2010.
