By Tenzin Monlam
DHARAMSHALA, JAN 12: The Tibetan rights group, Tibetan Centre for Human Rights & Democracy (TCHRD) today condemned China’s ‘systematic violation of right to freedom of religion’ and called the severe restrictions over participating in Kalachakra ‘illegal and unconstitutional’.
“The right to freedom of religion and belief of the Tibetan people cannot be protected and promoted without respecting and acknowledging the centrality and importance of Dalai Lama in Tibetan religion and belief system,” TCHRD said in its statement.
Calling on the Chinese government to stop targeting Tibetans for practicing their religion and belief, the Dharamshala-based Tibetan rights group said that the right to freedom of religion is a fundamental human rights protected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Moreover, even the Chinese constitution guarantees the rights, it said.
TCHRD cited the example of Venerable Jigme Lodoe, former disciplinary master at Rongwo Monastery in Rebkong County, to show the severe religious repression imposed on Tibetans in Tibet.
In his defiance voice message recorded on Jan 9, currently circulating on WeChat, the monk criticized the ban imposed on participating in the Kalachakra teachings.
While anticipating his arrest for speaking on a topic he should not divulge, he said, “His Holiness the Dalai Lama is giving religious teachings. There is no freedom for us Tibetans. This is our fate! That many of our compatriots have to live in foreign lands. We have no opportunity to get audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” Venerable Jigme said while expressing his solidarity with all those who have self-immolated and also prayed to see ‘a day of freedom and reunion’.
Last month, County Public Security Bureau and County Religious Affairs Bureau of Dechen County issued a notice ordering local Tibetans to immediately call their family back and commanded that participating in the teachings organized by the ‘Dalai clique’ is illegal.
The orders also stated severe consequences. For lay people, their passport would be blacklisted, no access to the government welfare schemes and confiscation of the household registration cards. As for the monastic population, the officials of Buddhist Association of China will revoke their membership cards.
