More than 140 nuns and monks expelled from Pekar monastery and Jhada nunnery in restive Driru County
DHARAMSALA, Dec 18: More than 40 monks of Pekar monastery and about 100 nuns of Jhada nunnery in restive Driru County in Nagchu Prefecture in Tibet Autonomous Region have been expelled from their respective institutions, indicating escalation in crackdowns on religious institutions in Tibet.
Sources with contacts in the region said authorities have also ordered nuns who have come from outside TAR to study at Jhada monastery to return back to their native places. Besides monks and nuns from Driru and Gyashoe Township studying in institutions located outside TAR to return back.
Authorities have told relatives and head of the monasteries and nunneries that failure to do so would result in confiscation of the monk or the nun’s household register (Chi: Hukou, Tib: Theltho).
As a result many monks and nuns studying in institutions outside TAR had to discontinue their studies and return back to Driru. Chinese authorities have intensified crackdown in Tibetan monasteries and nunneries in Nagchu and Chamdo region. Monks and nuns of Pekar monastery and Jhada nunnery are being subjected to ‘patriotic education’ on a daily basis, sources say.
The Party Secretary of Driru County had recently issued a regulation containing 59 points, which could be used as a pretext to torture Tibetans, to be implemented in the county.
Sources said recently more than 300 Tibetans, including both monks and lay Tibetans, were severely beaten by Chinese security forces at a place called Tsamdo in Driru County. To instill fear in their minds, the security forces forced the Tibetans to jump across a huge pit. Elder Tibetans who could not jump were severely beaten.
Tibetans in Driru County have likened the situation in the county to hell on earth under the current Party Secretary and have urged for global community to exert pressure on the Party Secretary to stop persecution against Tibetans in the county.
“We hope and pray that no other Tibetan goes through the kind of suffering like we do and if there is any way that international pressure can be exerted on the Party secretary to stop the persecution, please do so quickly because this place has become a living hell”, a source quoted local Tibetans as saying.
