By Tenzin Monlam
DHARAMSHALA, MARCH 21: A Tibetan women has been arrested following a solitary protest against the Chinese rule in the restive Ngaba region on March 18, just two days after another Tibetan named Lobsang Dhargyal was arrested for a similar protest.
Sources said that Dukpe, mother of two, was arrested at around 3 p.m. (local time), soon after she took to the streets of Ngaba as she shouted slogans like ‘Long live the Dalai Lama’ and ‘Freedom in Tibet’.
Sources said Dukpe was arrested minutes after her protest by Chinese police patrolling the streets of the town that has seen several self immolations and lone protests over the years.
Dukpe, according to sources of RFA, has been taken to an undisclosed location following her arrest. “So far, no one knows where she has been taken,” RFA quoted a source as saying.
A native of Ngaba’s Raru Township, the young mother worked as a caretaker of the grounds near the statue of the Buddha in front of Kirti monastery.
The politically sensitive month of March puts the Chinese government on high alert every year with extensive measures of surveillance and scrutiny being put in place, especially in areas that have reported protests in the past. The same day saw another Tibetan named Pema Gyaltsen, 24, carry out a protest by setting himself ablaze in Nyarong in eastern Tibet’s Kham province.
