Confirmed reports of Geshe Sonam Phuntsok’s release after the completion of his five years imprisonment term has once again highlighted China’s flagrant impudence to international laws and its hardline policy while dealing with issues of fundamental human rights inside Tibet.
Arrested on 25 October 1999, Geshe Sonam Phuntsok, popularly known as Kardze Lama and regarded extensively as an eminent scholar, became one of the targets of China’s state sponsored scheme of imprisoning and arbitrarily detaining leading religious leaders in order to curb their influence on local people, which China views as a direct threat to their authority.
The arrest and imprisonment of Geshe Sonam Phuntsok distinctly repudiates China’s unabated rhetoric and claims of religious freedom in Tibet as Geshe was charged with “taking photos with H.H. The Dalai Lama”, “illegally conducting religious ceremony on several occasions within Kardze County” and “for conducting long-life prayer ceremony for the Dalai Lama”. On his arrest Geshe Sonam Phuntsok had said, “My arrest and court trial belies Chinese high claim of religious freedom in Tibet and it should be made known to the public”.
Tibetan Youth Congress regards China’s policy of arresting religious leaders such as Geshe Sonam Phuntsok, Tulku Tenzin Delek, the late Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok and others as a low profile resurgence and gradual re-implementation of the policies of the nefarious ‘cultural revolution’ that brought about untold deaths and destruction of more than 6000 monasteries in Tibet. Religion being the backbone of Tibetan culture and identity, China while invoking justifications of ‘endangering state security’ and ‘state secrets’ is treading a more specific approach coupled with a long term plan to annihilate Tibet as a people and culture.
Tibetan Youth Congress has taken every opportunity to raise the issue of imprisonment of religious leaders such as Tulku Tenzin Delek and Geshe Sonam Phuntsok and seek their unconditional release at the UN and at various international forums, be it in the form of the demands of the Dharamsala to Delhi ‘Freedom March’ and the ‘Indefinite Hunger Strike’ in April this year, infront of the UN head quarters in New York.
Inside Tibet, political prisoners after their release remain under strict state vigilance and are ostracized from the society by placing various legal and social stipulations on them, rendering them incapable of leading a normal social life. TYC warns the international community that the release of Geshe Sonam Phuntsok might just be a drama enacted to shove into the eyes of international watchers while in reality he might not enjoy any of the basic human rights and continue to remain under consistent mental torture and virtual imprisonment of the Chinese.
Tibetan Youth Congress is deeply concerned about the health and physical well being of Geshe Sonam Phuntsok following reports of torture during his imprisonment and demands a thorough medical treatment under an independent medical care.
The international community while acknowledging the release of Geshe Sonam Phuntsok must not forget that thousands of Tibetans such as Tulku Tenzin Delek and Panchen Lama are still languishing behind the prison walls of China for crimes they didn’t commit. Let us remind China that the struggle for truth and the fight for justice will intensify with each passing day until the true aspiration of the six million Tibetans of freedom is met.
