Tibetan man missing in Ngaba, authorities in Barkham grill students

Dharamsala, May 8 – As Chinese authorities continue to tighten their stranglehold on the monks of Kirti monastery in Tibet’s Ngaba a Tibetan man belonging to the Chogyam Tsang family has been missing since April 15, 2011, a Tibetan source with contacts in Ngaba told Phayul. 

Officials from the Provincial State Security Bureau in Chengdu and police searched Chogyam’s home and his mother’s house in Chukle Ghongma Township. The same source said it appears that Chogyam is detained in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan. 

“There are many cases of missing people who are apparently being held by State Security or Public Security authorities, and there is no information whatsoever on their whereabouts or current situation,” the source added. 

Meanwhile, a group of Tibetans who tried to stop Chinese troops from entering the Kirti monastery on April 12 had been severely tortured and are being subjected to ‘patriotic reeducation’ sessions, according to the source. “The younger people are held in a detention centre and the older people had been taken to a place near the Ngaba river for ‘patriotic reeducation’ sessions. 

The Chinese authorities in Barkham County - where students of a middle school sat on a fast starting March 17 to express support to a monk named Phuntsok who died after immolating self a day before - had burned books that did not have official approval of the government, the source said. 

Students were warned against keeping in their possession any book without an official stamp of approval from the government. The students from Ngaba County studying at the school were told that they could not return to their homes for an indefinite period, not even for summer vacation that is to start soon, according to the same source. 

Since April 18, older women aged above 60 with citizenship cards have been allowed to visit the Kirti monastery to meet monks there but it was announced on May 6 that visits would be allowed only once a week. 

Chinese authorities have tightened security and its stranglehold on Ngaba in general and the Kirti monastery in particular since Phuntsok's death that sparked off protests by Tibetans and a massive arrest drive by Chinese authorities.

Around 300 monks were forced into military trucks and taken to unknown location on April 21, 2011 and two elderly Tibetans among a group camped near the monastery were beaten to death while they tried to stop Chinese security forces from taking the monks away.