By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, Aug 7: An annual religious festival in eastern Tibet’s Kardze County has reportedly been banned after local Tibetans refused to fly the Chinese national flag during the festivities that began from the beginning of this month.
The Dhargye monastery in the Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and lay Tibetans from villages in the prefecture refused to abide by the directives to fly the Chinese national flag resulting in authorities forbidding the religious gathering, the Radio Free Asia reported, citing an unnamed former political prisoner residing in India.
The annual festival that ceremonially consisted of burning juniper leaves known as Sangsol in Tibetan language to appease deities for timely rain and bountiful harvest had been disallowed. Festivities including opera performances, dances as well as the much awaited horse race have all been banned by Chinese authorities as punitive measures for the refusal to comply. Local Tibetans who have spent huge sums of money and time to prepare for the annual event has gone waste, the source lamented.
Over the last few years, festivals and gatherings inside Tibet have increasingly been curbed due to government’s fear of potential protests and hence been banned or heavily scrutinized, experts say.
The restive Kardze County in the ethnically Kham region have portrayed inundated fervor of resistance with multiple cases of self immolation, solo protests and group protests. Just last month (July 2016), around 700 Tibetans from Kardze County’s Datharma region posted a online application that accused the local authorities of colluding with each other to restrict and essentially bully Tibetans, urging the Chinese President Xi Jinping to probe the matters. The application further urged authorities to exercise rule of law and check corruption and misuse of official positions.
