China detains Tibetan teacher as their smear campaign against Dalai Lama backfires
DHARAMSALA, 20 April: Chinese authorities have detained a Tibetan schoolteacher from restive Ngaba county in the traditional Tibetan province of Amdo “for expressing joy on seeing the Dalai Lama’s video online,” Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), a rights group based in Dharamsala said.
A Tibetan secondary school teacher – whose identity is being withheld for security reasons – was detained incommunicado since 10 April for expressing his joy at seeing the recent video of His Holiness the Dalai Lama interacting with a young boy in front of the school’s morning assembly,” TCHRD said.
“Even though we lack the good fortune of meeting His Holiness, it is a blessing to be able to watch him online albeit in a distorted way,” the Tibetan school teacher has said reacting to the video of the interaction between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and an Indian boy which was available on Chinese social media sites “spread by the people who do not like him, but we must know that the Buddha himself is devoid of any imperfections and flaws.”
“This is an auspicious sign that His Holiness will return to Tibet soon,” the teacher has said and added before he was detained, that “We, teachers and students alike, must pray wholeheartedly as this opportunity to watch him online is as auspicious as meeting him personally.”
Though China has “widely and systematically banned images of and discussions about His Holiness the Dalai Lama by detaining and torturing Tibetans in Tibet,” the rights group added that “a recent viral video of His Holiness is being circulated widely on Chinese social media sites such as Weibo” to give “Chinese online users are given a free rein to make malicious attacks against His Holiness.”
This conclusion by the rights group concurred with what the political head of the Tibetan people and Tibetan netizens have been saying lately, that there is China’s hand behind the resurfacing of the edited video of the Dalai Lama kissing a boy which dates back to February 28 2023.
He further declared that through the CTA’s “investigation and as per prima facie evidence, we found that the initial instigators are pro-Chinese sources.”
