Tibet Truth Blog
August 14, 2009
A traditional way-of-life which has flourished on the high grasslands of  Tibet is being silently strangled through policies which can only be understood as a form of cultural genocide, as hundreds-of-thousands of Tibetan nomads are being forced from their land. Communist China decided to ‘modernize’ Tibet’s ancient pastoral and nomadic economy, which has co-existed with the unique habitat of the Tibetan Plateau for millenia.
However operating behind the propaganda claims of  ecological protection and improving the conditions of Tibet’s nomadic population, is a policy that seeks to imprison some 2 million Tibetan nomads and exploit Tibet’s natural resources. Aimed at satisfying the needs of mainland China, the huge economic potential of Tibet’s considerable reserves of gas, oil,  minerals, water and timber provides no benefit the Tibetan people. Who, driven from their lands by communist China’s jack-booted paramilitary thugs, now find that open skies, yak-hair tents and snow-capped horizons have been replaced by barbed-wire and what are effectively concentration camps. Traumatized, confused and intimidated they are abandoned to grieve at the loss their lifestyle.
Concentration Camps Await (Golok in Amdo Eastern Tibet)
This state-engineered ethnic-cleansing operates on a scale not witnessed since the insane policies of Stalinist Russia, when countless numbers of  Crimean Tatars, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Karachays and Meskhetian Turks
had their land forcibly confiscated. The deportation of Tibetans into concentration settlements shares similar totalitarian
objectives, to eradicate cultural and national identity and exert greater political and military control.  Such aims were revealed by remarks made last year by Tibet’s communist overlord Zhang Qingli  who noted in an internal Chinese journal that the “peace and contentment” that nomads derive from so-called improved housing “is the fundamental condition for us in holding the initiative in the struggle against the Dalai clique.”
Communist China Fences Of Kham’s Grasslands
Beijing is determined to crush resistance to Communist Chinese occupation and is investing considerable money into the creation of Tibetan reservations and concentration settlements. According to an October 2008 official communist
Chinese report, the authorities occupying Tibet’s eastern region of Kham (which was annexed and renamed into Sichuan Province) declared that some 470,000 nomads would be resettled, from an estimated total of 530,000 nomads.  In the neighboring region of Amdo (annexed and renamed as Qinghai Province) during 2004 the communist regime demanded that by 2011 all Tibetan nomads would deported from their traditional lands.
Creating Tibetan Reservations
The planned extinction of Tibetan nomadism by Communist China has shamefully attracted little concern from the so-called international community, history screams from the sidelines and once again liberal democratic societies remain silent.

Tibet Truth Blog
August 15, 2009
Lao Tzu, one of China’s great Taoist philosophers contemplating upon the challenges presented to a governing authority suggested that, “If you want to rule the people with impunity, fill their bellies and empty their minds.” That instruction has been accorded considerable political and economic investment by China’s communist regime, which employs consumptive distraction as one of a number of remedies against popular dissent and social agitation.
It is applied with particular zeal in occupied Tibet, where in an effort to undermine and corrupt the cohesive fabric of Tibetan culture and identity, the questionable consumer benefits of Chinese colonization are paraded on virtually every street. It is a sobering and troubling sight to witness Tibetans as stangers in their own cities, overwhelmed by China’s neon excesses which have so completely transformed towns across Tibet. Tibetans have suffered considerable social and health costs from such colonialist ‘development’, not that such an impact would concern the communist regime, which welcomes the gradual erosion of traditional Tibetan values.
Beer Promotion On Nearly Every Street

That process has been given a particularly worrying momentum by the increased availability of cheap alcohol and profusion of bars and nightclubs in Tibet’s major centers. Rather like the ‘fire-water’ poisoning of Native American peoples, which the ‘white-man’ tolerated and encouraged as a crude means of oppression and control, the devestating impacts of which continue . The communist Chinese authorities recognize and are gratified by the debilitating and corrosive societal effects alcoholism poses. A Tibetan population suffering the divisive and distracting fractures caused by alcohol abuse and dependency, the scale of which has not previously been experienced in Tibet, is less able or willing to organize and participate in political resistance.
It is an increasing health issue amongst Tibetans. According to a 2008 field-study, in part conducted by Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College in London the extent of alcohol related disorders has reached 31.6% for males and nearly 10 % for women. While a 2003 investigation recorded that “Alcohol use disorder was the most serious problem in Tibet with a point prevalence of 41.89% and a lifetime prevalence of 43.6%%. A number of associated mental health problems were also noted amongst those Tibetans examined with neuroses reaching a level of 26.7% and over 20%
instance of anxiety related disorders.Insidious Oppression
Insidious Oppression
Such results reflect the trauma and misery experienced by Tibetans under Chinese occupation who exist in a condition of almost perpetual anxiety, faced with the debilitating effects of poverty, unemployment or overwork, and enduring slum living conditions See File The oppressive forces which deny Tibetans their freedom and culture, is encouraging a dangerous slide into alcoholism. That suits the purposes of communist China which is intent of undermining restance to
its occupation of Tibet and eradicating forever any sense of a seperate Tibetan identity. Let us hope that Lao Tzu’s counsel does not prevail.
Lhasa Beer To Increase Production to 200,000 tons
The so-called Lhasa Beer Company, in part owned by Carlsberg (which has been an active player inside the Chinese market http://www.carlsberggroup.com/Company/Markets/Pages/China.aspx and recognizes Tibet as a growing area of
consumption) exports to the United States, where its American operation is run by George Witz. It’s website
http://lhasabeerusa.com/about-d/about contains some curious information on Tibet including the following whitewash:
“The culture of Tibet is deeply ingrained with compassion for all of life and that which supports it. They lived close to and revered the glories of the natural world. In their time they did not cut their forests or mine the earth for its bounty and lived in harmony and with a very light touch on the land. But times have changed and the forces of modernity are impinging on their traditional way of life which is becoming marginalized. They must adapt to the modern pressures and evolving circumstance in which they find themselves or face that their traditional way of life and their entire body of spiritual knowledge, which already has been seriously weakened, could slowly become extinct in its own land” (emphasis added)
The industrialized production and widespread availability of alcohol across Tibet is part of the machinery of communist China’s cultural oppression, a point which does not seem to concern Lhasa Beer USA. One wonders if perhaps Mr. Witz’s ancestors were Jewish? If so how would he have felt about an American businessman importing and promoting Polish beer produced in Nazi-Occupied Poland?

CTA
August 28 2009
Dharamshala — Gonpo Dhargye’s wife and his five children have been staging sit-in protest in front of the local police station in Jomda County in Tibet’s Chamdo Prefecture demanding his immediate release since 20 August, sources said.
Gonpo Dhargye, a local government official, was arrested along with his colleague by Chinese security forces on 27 June for failing to enforce patriotic education campaign at a monastery in Pema township in Jomda county.
Many local residents who tried to stop the forces from arresting Gonpo Dhargye were detained at Kyabche monastery and severely beaten up. Later, five detainees, including Gonpo Dhargye and Norlha who were considered ring leaders, were taken to Jomda county.
Gonpo Dhargye’s wife said her husband was arrested on baseless charges, adding, the family would die of hunger if their sole breadwinner is not released. So, we will die in front of the police station, she cried out. The police officials told her that they will soon decide her husband’s case, but they haven’t taken any decisive action yet.
Gonpo Dhargye is believed to be in poor health condition. His wife and five children, the eldest son being 11-years-old, are facing enormous hardships

Central Tibetan Administration
August 27, 2009
Dharamshala: Four Tibetan men who took part in the peaceful protests in Lhasa last year were sentenced to imprisonment with terms ranging from two-and-a-half to fifteen years by the Lhasa Intermediate People’s Court in the beginning of this year, sources said.
They have been identified as Wangchuk or Lobsang Wangchuk, Tsultrim, Choephel and Lhakpa Tsering.
Three of them joined peaceful demonstration against the Chinese government’s repressive policies in Tibet in Takste County, while one protested in Lhasa in March 2008.
They are believed to be serving their jail terms in a prison located in Chushul County near the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.
Lobsang Wangchuk, aged 26, son of Sonam Tsering, belongs to Dechen township in Taktse County. He received imprisonment up to 15 years for his role in the peaceful protests in Taktse last year. He had studied at Sangag monastery in Dechen township and later worked as taxi driver.
Tsultrim, aged 23, who is the elder of Lobsang Wangchuk and Choephel, aged 24, were sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail.
Lhakpa Tsering, aged 22, who was a painter by profession before he was arrested for participating in the peaceful demonstration in Lhasa. He is serving five years imprisonment.
The security clampdown by Chinese security forces and police across Tibet since 10 March last year left more than 220 Tibetans dead and over 1,294 were seriously injured. Over 5,600 were arrested, 290 sentenced and more than 1,000 have simply disappeared, as per information received by the Central Tibetan Administration.

Remembering Tsangyang Gyatso, Gendun Choephel, Dhondup Gyal, Tsering Wangyal, Dawa Norbu and others
By Bhuchung D. Sonam
Tibetan World Magazine  July 2009
Your old road is
Rapidly ageing.
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changing.
— Bob Dylan
The confrontation against writers and intellectuals in any society generally comes from two sections — the mob and the authority. While the former is a congregation of the ultra orthodox who are untouchable by winds of change, the latter is a force all out to silence creative voices, since creativity means change and the change signifies danger to those in power. History is filled with such incidences – lack of societal receptacle for fresh thoughts and rule of thumb by those in power, a toxic cocktail that often drives the intellectuals into exile, social ostracism and in many cases to their demise. Over and above these conditions there seems to be, in our society, a trace of collective karmic result that by a freak twist of fate hammers the heads that rise above others.
It all began with His Holiness the Sixth Dalai Lama, Rigzin Tsangyang Gyatso (1683-1706), or the Precious Ocean of Pure Melody — his rebellious life, non-conformity to established social norms, challenging received wisdom, love for creative expression, desire to bring change and tragic early death.
The poet Dalai Lama was born on 1 May 1683 in Mon, presently Arunachal Pradesh in India, and in 1697 he was enthroned at the Potala Palace as the Sixth Dalai Lama. Growing to a tall, handsome but simple youth, Tsangyang never liked the strict regimens and the grand routines in the huge palace. He spent a great deal of time in outdoor sports and worldly affairs with his friends. By the time he was twenty years old, he had made his mind not to take the vows to become a fully ordained monk, thus creating an uproar in the Potala Palace and endangering the very institution of the Dalai Lama. The regent, Sangye Gyatso, became desperate as his successful rule over Tibet depended on how the young Dalai Lama was brought up to befit his name.
In the ensuing years Sangye Gyatso’s political intrigue, miscalculated alliance with the Dzungar Mongols, failed assassination of Lhazang Khan, the Qosot Mongol and bitter rival of the Dzungar, proved fatal. Lhazang’s retribution ended with the beheading of the regent, deposing of the Dalai Lama on 27 June 1706 and taking him by force to China. As Tsangyang and the Mongol escorts reached Kunga-nor, a small lake in Kokonor region, he died or most likely was murdered. Some claim that Tsangyang Gyatso simply disappeared and, as The Secret Biography of the Sixth Dalai Lama mentions, led a secret but fruitful and peripatetic life as a yogi. At the time of his death, murder or disappearance he was 23.
In his short, chaotic life, Tsangyang penned some of the finest poems and love songs ever written in Tibetan. Free of didacticism and elaborate imageries of traditional Tibetan cantos, he wrote and sang out of his experience and longing to be who he was. There is spontaneity in his poems and universality in his message. To this day his songs are sung by Tibetans scattered all across the globe.
If the maiden forever lives
The wine ceaselessly will flow
And in the tavern this youth
Eternally will seek his refuge.
Then for two centuries there was silence. As the twentieth century dawned, and the wheel of change was at full throttle elsewhere, our kismet punctured. The demon popped up its ugly head. This time it was the over-cautious, squabbling
and intriguing ruling Lhasa aristocrats who were up in arms against the small frail bespectacled monk. The monk’s ideas for Tibet wobbled their weak hearts carefully hidden beneath the fine silk brocades. They pounded him with their inadequacies.
Gendun Choephel (1905-1951), the foremost of modern Tibetan intellectual, was born in 1905 in Rebkong, northeastern Tibet. He was a bright student and a brilliant monk who created chaos in the debating courtyards with his antics and often unconventional, but brilliant, dialectical skills. He travelled in India and Sri Lanka like a vagabond, craving for knowledge. By the time he returned to Tibet karma had turned against him. He was imprisoned in February 1946 for crimes of treason, and underwent unimaginable suffering and humiliation. (while in Kalimpong GC had met Ragpa, Changlochen and Kunphe-la, three influential and somewhat reform-minded people for whom he supposedly helped design the emblem and wrote the manifesto for their Tibet Improvement Party. Although Lhasa aristocrats never
officially stated, this was said to be the main reason for his imprisonment)
In his life Gendun Choephel scanned everything that passed by him and produced numerous books from Buddhist philosophy to the Tibetan art of making love. He wanted change in Tibet that never came. When he came out of Nangtse Shak Prison in May 1949, his hair was long and his manner strange. He took to drink and cigarettes to dispel his extreme disillusion. The brightest star that shone in the Tibetan sky exploded under constant poundings of censure, short-sightedness and the witless whims of a few elites. The demon was on the loose. Gendun Choephel passed away in
Lhasa at 4 pm on 14 August 1951. He was 47.
Dhondup Gyal (1953-1985), the enigmatic rebel poet and writer, was born in 1953 in the tiny village of Gurong Phuba, northeastern Tibet. After braving a broken family and lack of early education opportunities, his diligence and love of books led him to discover his creative ability and the need to inspire others. When opportunity knocked its door he excelled in his studies and soon acquired a unique voice. The originality in his writing was supplemented by a strong sense of Tibetanness and patriotism, which also drove him into many fights, both verbal and physical, with anyone who looked down upon Tibetans.
As an iconic figure, one of his many contributions is to restore a love of and interest in Tibetan language amongst Tibetan youths. A section of conservative Tibetans failed to understand his defiant moods and seemingly unconventional style of writing, not knowing that his new creations were firmly based on Tibet’s rich literary past. He was perfectly in tune with the era and let his pen dance to the shifting melody of time. The harmonious rhythm of his pen was but a new voice for the ancient tradition. However, the confrontation never ceased. He was threatened with dire consequences when his short story titled Tulku was published in 1981.
Feeling constricted by such a suffocating social environment, he eventually decided to lift the weight off his back. Our karma twisted. In November 1985 Dhondup Gyal apparently committed suicide in his room in Chabcha. He was 32.
In the heat of Indian summer where butter sculptures melt, the demon followed us like the shadow of an empty glass. It searched the entire length of the Tibetan diaspora scattered across the earth and in the far-flung corner of Colorado, it found Trungpa, the poet and meditation master.
Chögyam Trungpa (1939-1987) was born in Kham, eastern Tibet. After the Chinese occupation of Tibet, he escaped into exile and became a leading meditation master, a prolific author and an astonishing poet. He spewed out a range of verses constantly reminding us about the fleeting nature of existence. At times he wrote to say that we are fools blindly dancing around a fire of ignorance. The range of his writing was matched only by his eccentricity.
Along the winding road of his life as a father, a master, a husband, and a poet, he invited controversy and gathered flakes, which he nudged off with a wave of his incisive pen.
‘The best minds of my generation are idiots,They have such idiot compassion.The world of charity is turned into chicken-food,The castles of diamond bought and sold for tourism …’
Trungpa passed away in 1987. He was 48.
The vicious circle was turning. Our karma dwindled. Calamities were in the offing.
Ngodup Paljor (1948-1988) was a little-known figure. But he was among other things a translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a professor of Tibetan studies at the University of Hawaii, the founder of The Alaska Tibet Committee and a vibrant poet. Through his forced travel from Tibetan hills to the Indian plains and eventually to cold Alaska, he was a refugee, a monk and a layman.
Sitting in the mountains he juggled between his perfect Tibetan, Hindi, Pali, Thai and English. The final words, however, were always reflective of the country he left behind.
‘I remember the face of Mt. Everest
The Queen of the Earth
I grew on her lap
And played with her children.’
On 25 October 1988, Paljor died in an accident at the Port of Anchorage, Alaska. He was 40.
In the midst of our uncertain exile existence many flowers bloomed only to be blighted by untimely frosts of communal wrath. The devil has many shapes and forms.
K. Dhondup (1952-1995) was born in Rubin Gang in Tibet. He was a restless youth with great zeal. In the 1970s, when there were severe repressions in Tibet by the Communist China, a few Tibetans set up a Tibetan communist party in exile. On 1 May 1979 the Tibetan Communist Party (TCP) came into the open with K. Dhondup, Namgyal and
Kelsang Tenzin as its founding fathers causing ‘shock, distress and panic’ in exile community. Understandably, the party was vehemently opposed and its founders faced public rage and ostracism. Their intention may have been good, but the timing was terrible. Communism as an ideology was already on the decline then and as we see today it has virtually disappeared – except in dreadfully repressive and closed countries like North Korea, China and Cuba.
The founding of the TCP created a spurt of ideological debates and comments, including one by His Holiness the Dalai Lama who spoke in favour of the TCP. Perhaps it was extreme zest and youthful naiveté that drove Dhondup and his comrades to launch the TCP without a fuller understanding of its historical necessity or the many fundamental contradictions communism has with Tibetan culture and religion. However, K. Dhondup’s open-mindedness and boldness in expressing his views were rare qualities. His additional strength was the judicious use of his pen to reassert our sense of history and to compose verses, which were painfully poignant and evocatively tender.
‘A tear is a poem
A smile its celebration’
K. Dhondup passed away at 6 am on 7 May 1995 in New Delhi. He was 42.
Re-rooting in exile is an agonizing process. In this stage on unsure ground more flowers were to be destroyed. In the summer of 1988, a friend took me with him to his sister-in-law Lhamo Tsering’s place in Delhi. The address was Tibetan Review, D-11, East of Kailash. The next day I asked Acha Lhamo about Tsering Wangyal (1949-2000) fondly called Editor, of whom I heard so many near-legend stories in school. She was the circulation manager for the Tibetan Review and was occupying the room opposite to Editor’s. Acha Lhamo did not tell any story. Instead she let me and my friend go into editor’s room saying that he would not come back that night. With our schoolboy curiosity doubly roused we marched in expecting a room befitting the stories we’d heard. The bare dingy, ten-by-twelve room was a big disappointment. There were pyjamas on the floor forming a number eight, a single bed with a grey bedsheet, plastic slippers and a television. The bathroom, however, was luxuriously full to the brim with empty beer bottles. A genius must drink a lot of beer, I thought.
We showed our disappointment to Acha Lhamo, who then told us that once a Japanese journalist, dressed in a three-piece suit, came to interview Editor. The journalist knocked on the door and when Editor came out in crumpled pyjamas rubbing his eyes, the Japanese very politely stated his purpose and asked for the editor of the Tibetan Review. Editor answered he was the editor and the Japanese was taken aback, lost his words and became extremely nervous.
Tsering Wangyal had an uncanny power over words that came with mathematical precision, ‘quick wit and irreverent humour’. During his nineteen years as the editor, Tibetan Review became a standard forum where ideas were debated, ideologies were shaped and shaky policies from both sides of the Himalayas were shredded. His ascetic life was made more attractive by the sounds of his words which echoed in the corridors of the Kashag and Zhongnanhai in equal measure.
Editor’s dedication to his profession was also incomparable. The day on which he was to leave for Canada he attended his office at the Voice of Tibet in Dharamshala with his belongings stuffed in a small carry bag. After office that evening, he sat in a bus that wormed slowly down the narrow road towards the plains. It was the last time we saw him.
Tsering Wangyal passed away in Toronto at 8:33 pm on 24 November 2000. He was 51.
Dawa Norbu (1948-2006) was born in Tashigang, a small village near Sakya in Central Tibet. After the Chinese occupation of Tibet he, along with his mother and other siblings, escaped to India where he had opportunities to study.
Using his modern education, he boldly wrote in the editorial of the Tibetan Review, August 1972, “…that the Tibetan people in and outside need a dynamic and pragmatic political leadership. Even the comrade who believes in the miracles of the masses would agree that a people with great revolutionary possibilities would remain fallow without a dynamic leader. Tibetan leadership in exile tends to be more interested in spiritual pursuits than in the mundane affairs of a people who is gasping for its national existence.”
Under the circumstances of that time and perhaps even now, it was a perfectly true and apt comment. But the mob was up in arms demanding Dawa Norbu’s death for insulting their holy leader. In a fervent rage of misguided emotion the Tibetan women came out in full force shouting and shrieking. They took off their beautiful aprons and flapped them in the air, a last measure of insult generally reserved for Communist China. Dawa Norbu at that time did not understand the meaning of women flapping aprons.
A group of Tibetans in their fanatic refusal to violate customary norms of blind-faith and utter narrow-mindedness chased Dawa Norbu with their fists firmly clenched. Luckily his friends were able to hide him in Dejongpa B. Tsering’s room opposite the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute, where presently a scary cell-phone tower stands. Ultimately, it took the Dalai Lama’s voice to knock some sense into those obnoxious minds.
Dawa Norbu had a private audience with His Holiness during which he was praised for having the guts to speak the truth. Later, in a speech given during the general meeting on Tibetan Education, the Dalai Lama reiterated his praise and further stated that the purpose of educating young exile Tibetans was coming to fruition with their courage to think, express and carry out responsibilities as exemplified by Dawa Norbu. The boiling pot suddenly cooled down.
In 1976 Dawa Norbu left for further studies in the US, and in 1982 he completed his Ph.D from the University of California, Berkley. However, when he came back to Dharamshala his karma frowned at him. Perhaps the authorities did not forget the furore that his editorial created more than a decade earlier, or maybe they did not want too bright a star amongst them lest they pale under its shine, or some say that he went under depression. Whatever the reasons were, Dawa remained jobless for quite sometime.
The dry spell, however, came as a blessing in disguise, for it led him to become a professor at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University. The journey of a boy from a small peasant family who rose to become exile Tibet’s foremost scholar reached its pinnacle. He, as one of his students wrote, ‘combined rare intellect with practical insights and honesty’.
Dawa Norbu passed away around 12 noon on 28 May 2006. He was 58.
The average age of these outstanding individuals is 42.
When they were alive, a constant flow of words from them lost its meaning in our superstitious and half-baked minds and the authorities gagged their mouths with self-serving petty politics. The nibs of their pens became blunt, words
blurred, sentences grew denuded and the writers became victims. Yet when most of us have died and turned to ashes, the new flowers that bloom will find wisdom in the words of these people… and through words their names will be remembered and honoured, while we will disappear into the shadows of history, unknown and unclaimed.
It is better to live a short fruitful life, than a long parasitic one.
Bhuchung D. Sonam can be reached at tsampa@tibetwrites.org

Haunting memories of a former Tibetan prisoner (Source: IANS)
Published: Sun, 20 Sep 2009 at 12:02 IST
By Mayank Aggarwal
Dharamsala: More than two decades have passed since she was released from prison by the Chinese authorities, but the painful memories of her jail stay still haunt her. Eighty-year-old Ama Adhe, a Tibetan living in India, now spends her day in prayer.
“I have seen independent Tibet and have witnessed the cruelty of the Chinese forces during our struggle. In 1958, the Chinese forces arrested me along with 300 other women for supporting the struggle and were taken to a jail in China,” said Adhe, who used to reside in eastern Tibet.
She was part of the Tibetan struggle that led to the 1959 Tibetan uprising against the communist regime of China. As Chinese forces crushed the uprising, the 14th Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans left Tibet and sought refuge in India and other parts of the world.
At present, the population of exiled Tibetans is over 140,000, of which about 100,000 are based in India.
Adhe recalled her own story even as a fresh batch of 40 Tibetan refugees, nine of them former political prisoners like her, has reached Dharamsala – the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Himachal Pradesh.
“The conditions in jail were inhuman for anyone to live. We were given either very little food or no food for days and 150 women died within one-and-a-half-years. Many of us used to eat the soles of our shoes made of leather,” she said.
“After three years, only four of us remained alive. While we were being shifted to a prison in Tibet, I saw a pile of bodies. I was horrified,” she said with tears rolling down her cheeks and trembling hands.
She was released in 1985 after spending 27 years in prison. Her husband had died before she was imprisoned. Her son fell into a river and died while she was being taken away by the Chinese forces. Her daughter was taken care of by a friend.
Chinese forces released her on condition that she would not reveal anything about her time in jail to anyone.
“My daughter asked me to stay with her. But I wanted to tell the world the condition of Chinese rule in Tibet and highlight the inhuman treatment and misery of Tibetan political prisoners,” Adhe told a visiting IANS correspondent.
She tried to come to India in 1986 and 1987 but failed. She finally reached India in 1988. She met the supreme Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who asked her to tell the ‘truth’ to the world. After this she wrote a book, “Voice That Remains”, narrating her experience.
She now lives in McLeodganj in Dharamsala along with her second husband and spends her time praying. Adhe is one among hundreds of ex-political prisoners living in exile in India.
“We have around 500 ex-political prisoners registered with us who are living in India. There are several others who are not registered with us,” said Ngawang Woeber of the Gu-Chu-Sum movement, which works for the welfare of the political prisoners of Tibet.
“Thousands of Tibetans are still lodged in prison in Tibet and have been given a punishment ranging from a few years of imprisonment to the death sentence. There are several who have spent more than two decades of their life inside prison,” said Woeber, who himself has been a political prisoner.
“During the 2008 uprising, thousands of Tibetans were arrested, 30 percent of whom were women. Youths were involved in large numbers in the revolt this time around. Eighty percent of the protesters belonged to the 18-35 age group,” he added.
“Our people are suffering inside their own country. They don’t even have recent pictures of the Dalai Lama.”
Over six million Tibetans are believed to be living in Tibet.

Phayul
August 21, 2009
Dharamsala, August 21 — Four monks of Sera monastery who, along with ten others, carried out a protest at Bharkor street in the Tibetan capital Lhasa last year on March 10 had been sentenced to varying prison terms, according to the Voice of Tibet radio service. Chinese police immediately arrested the fourteen monks who carried the banned Tibetan national flag and shouted slogans calling for Tibet’s independence.
Lodoe had been sentenced to ten years in prison and is currently detained at Chushul prison near Lhasa. Lodoe’s family in Sershul, Zachukha, had received an official intimation of the sentencing of Lodoe in April this year and were warned
against publicizing the sentencing of Lodoe.
On July 14 this year, Lodoe’s family paid a visit to his prison where they knew that two other companions of Lodoe, 29 year old Lobsang Ngodup and 30 year old Mangay Soepa, had been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
A native of Zachukha and presently a monk at Sera monastery in south India, told the radio that there is no news about another monk named Thinlay Namgyal, who was arrested on charges of setting ablaze a house in Lhasa last year during the protests.
The same source said another monk named Sonam Dakpa who had visited India a few times was arrested on his way back to Tibet last year around the time of unrest in Tibet and sentenced to ten years in prison. He is detained at Chushul prison.
Since the majority of the fourteen monks arrested were from Zachukha the Chinese authorities suspected Ari Rinpoche’s (spelled as pronounced) hand behind the fourteen monks and arrested him from Lhasa. Ari Rinpoche is the head of Wonpo (spelled as pronounced) monastery in Zachukha and his whereabouts are unknown. Another monk named Draklha, a scripture master at Sera monastery had also been arrested and whereabouts not known.

By Mayank Aggarwal Dharamsala
IANS – 18 Sep 2009
Dharamsala: Sixteen-year-old Tibetan Jamyang set out on a journey that could threaten his life. His farmer parents let him cross over to India via Nepal for his education despite knowing that he may go without food and they may never set eyes on him again.
The eldest of eight children in a family based in eastern Tibet, Jamyang is one in the latest batch of 40-odd refugees who have come to Dharamsala, the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile, hoping to start a new chapter in his life.
Away from his family, there is just one singular reason that has made him come to this Himachal Pradesh town – school.
The young boy couldn’t wait to meet the supreme Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, Friday being the day scheduled for it. He will now join Bir School, one of the many started by the government-in-exile here.
“I want to go to school, that is why my parents sent me away. I have not decided what I want to do or become when I grow up. It is for my family to decide what I will do or where I will go after finishing my school here,” Jamyang told a visiting IANS correspondent.
Because of the circumstances in Tibet – which is under Chinese rule – he was unable to attend school there.
Reminiscing the 40-day-long Himalayan journey to India, he says, it was not simple. “I first went to Lhasa from where I reached the Nepal border crossing the Himalayas. But the security there was very tight and crossing the Tibet-Nepal border was very difficult. I even remained without food for three days,” he recalls.
After a month in Nepal, the refugees, including 12 teenagers like Jamyang, were put on a special bus to New Delhi and finally made their way here.
The Tibetan government-in-exile lays special emphasis on education for the community’s children. While some of its schools are controlled by the Indian government, others are run by independent organizations such as the Tibetan Children Village (TCV).
Currently, there are about 27,000 students in 82 Tibetan schools for the refugee community throughout India, Nepal and Bhutan.
A lot of importance is also laid on preservation of Tibetan culture through education.
“We lay emphasis on preservation of the Tibetan language and culture. We follow the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and teach three languages – Tibetan, Hindi and English,” said Sonam N. Dagpo, secretary, international relations, of the Tibetan-government-in-exile.
“Initially, English was the medium of instruction but now we have started Tibetan language as a medium of instruction. At present, it is till Class 5 only but we are planning to extend it up to Class 10,” he added.
“We don’t want them to forget their own culture,” Dagpo said.
The Tibetan community is celebrating 2009 to say “Thank you India: 50 years in exile”, showing gratitude to India for hosting them and their religious heads for five decades.
“Education is the topmost priority for our children. It’s not about providing them education alone; it’s about giving them hope for their country. If they get educated, they will be able to work for their country,” said TCV’s education director Tenzing Sangpo.
TCV used to get around 800-900 Tibetan children every year, but since last year – when there was a widely reported crackdown by the Chinese authorities in Tibet – they have got only 150 children.
“We are thankful to the Indian government for their support and today our students are very successful. India has become a second home for us and Tibetans have adapted to Indian culture pretty well,” Sangpo added.
Many students have now become doctors, administrators, engineers, post- graduate teachers, journalists, social workers, lawyers and computer programmers.
A total of 140,000 Tibetans now live in exile, over 100,000 of them in different parts of India. Over six million Tibetans are believed to be living in Tibet, which the Dalai Lama fled in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese Communist rule.

Chris Devonshire-Ellis
2point6billion.com
August 17, 2009
While China turns to partial lock down in the lead up to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, India last Saturday celebrated her 62nd year of independence. The two anniversary celebrations cannot be more different.
China is starting to restrict entries to foreigners; particularly journalists during their anniversary and other sensitive parts of the country, like Tibet, Xinjiang and Beijing. Media access will be restricted with military and police presence likely to be overwhelming. Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook are blocked, as are video sharing services such as You Tube.
In moves that would bring down the government in India, human rights lawyers in China being detained and barred from practice. There have been Chinese protests in Australia against the screening of a documentary on the exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer. India meanwhile has had to endure comments from a quasi China government backed website calling for the nations ‘dismemberment’ in order to protect Chinese interests.
When I mention that You Tube and Twitter are blocked and internet access is restricted in China, friends and colleagues in India just laugh. Paranoia, a “nanny” state, and a disbelief that people would tolerate a one party state- although Indians of course endured their version under the British Raj- brings a knowing raised eyebrow that the Chinese are, well, perhaps potentially unpredictable.
The unpredictability, Indians feel, represents a danger. When one contrasts the build up to the Chinese anniversary and the Indian one, it’s hard not to see that particular point of view may have some merit. While we have to wait for the pomp and circumstance of the Chinese anniversary, we have been promised a massive military parade which apparently includes a display of ballistic nuclear weapons.
We’ll also have to wait for the political rhetoric to justify that, but no doubt “national security” and a whole hearted assault on people to be patriotic towards the Communist Party will be very much in evidence.
Those issues gives a cause for concern when Chinese anniversary preparations are compared against the preparations that occurred in Delhi on Saturday. China intends to command its people to be loyal to the party for the benefit of national security and a “harmonious society.” On the other hand, India’s Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, had to justify to the Indian people why his party were in power and what they intend to deliver to the people of India.
In terms of the actual event, it began by Dr. Singh paying homage to the man considered the nation’s father, Mahatma Gandhi, at the Gandhi memorial. The PM then traveled to the Mughal-built 17th century Red Fort in Delhi and unfurling the Indian national tri-color flag from the rampart of Lal Quila. He then gave his speech, the highlights of which we discuss below.
Around 700 people, including school children clothed in the national flag as well as political VIPs and diplomats, packed the enclosure facing the Fort. There was no display of nuclear or military might; largely because the Indian
government does not require such statements to be made to its own people. The Indian government retains their own confidence purely in the system of elected government, although the Prime Minister did inspect the Indian honor guards lined up to meet him.
In terms of Dr. Singh’s speech to the nation, it represents his promise to the Indian electorate, and the words that his party will be held accountable in next three and a half years. This is different to China’s own National Day, where the onus is on following the Party line.
We divide the highlights of Dr. Singh’s speech up into different categories as follows:
General Promises to the People
* Nation building will be our highest duty.
* No one will go hungry
* Will ensure that benefits of development reach  all sections of society and all regions and citizens of the country
* Every citizen of India should be prosperous and secure and be able to lead a life of dignity and self respect
* Special care to be taken of needs of women and children. Benefit of ICDS (integrated child development services) to be extended to every child below the age of six by March 2012
* Government should be sensitive to people’s complaints and dissatisfaction but nothing is achieved by destroying public property and indulging in violence. The government will deal firmly with people who indulge in such acts
* Seek active partnership of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the development process
* Schemes for the welfare of the minorities to be taken forward
* Funds enhanced substantially for special schemes for development of districts with concentration of minorities
* Will take care of the special needs of the backward regions with redoubled efforts to remove regional imbalances
* Special efforts to strengthen administrative machinery for rural programs
* Benefits of good programs will not reach the people till the government machinery is corruption free. Public administration to be more efficient.
* Need to improve delivery systems to provide basic services to citizens
* Renewed efforts to decentralize public administration through Panchayati Raji (de-centralized) institutions and to ensure greater involvement of people * Initiative will be taken for a new partnership between civil society and the government so that tax payers’ money is better spent
* Right to Information Act to be improved to make it is more effective and enhance accountability and transparency
Financial
*Restoring growth rate to 9 percent is the greatest challenge we face. We expect that there will be an improvement in the situation by the end of this year
*Appeal to businessmen and industrialists to join in effort to tackle difficult situation and fulfil their social obligations
Agriculture and  Food
* This year, there has been deficiency in the monsoon. We will provide all possible assistance to our farmers to deal with the drought
* Date for repayment of farmers’ bank loans postponed. Additional support given to farmers for payment of interest on short term crop loans
* We have adequate stocks of foodgrain. All efforts will be made to control rising prices of foodgrain, pulses and other goods of daily use
* Country needs another Green Revolution. the goal is four percent annual growth in agriculture; achievable in the next five years.
* Food security law to be enacted under which every below poverty line family will get a fixed amount of foodgrain every month at concessional rates
Medical

* National Rural Health Mission to be expanded to cover every family below the poverty line
* No need to panic in the face of H1N1 flu. No disruption of daily lives.
Education
* Right to Education Act enacted, funds will not be a constraint
* NREGA (national rural education guarantee act)  program to be improved to bring in more transparency and accountability
* Special attention to be given to the needs of disabled children
* Secondary education will be expanded to ensure that every child in the country benefits
* Bank loans and scholarships to be provided to the maximum number of students
* New scheme to help students from economically weaker sections get educational loans at reduced interest rates; will benefit about five lakh  students in technical and professional courses
Housing
* Additional funds allocated for Bharat Nirman (rural housing) program for the development of rural and urban areas to be speeded up
* Rajiv Awas Yojna (a slum free India in 5 years) program is now being launched
* Accelerated efforts to improve physical infrastructure; construction of 20 km of national highway

by Muhammad Sacirbey
September 12, 2009 – theamericanmuslim.org
China’s treatment of Tibet and the Uighurs, (of the Xinjiang Autonomous Province), has followed the pattern of an exchange of allegations and counter-charges. China simply expects to prevail by having an infinitely greater capacity to resonate by the logic of its rapidly expanding economic, political and military power. This methodology can achieve Beijing’s immediate objective of drowning out criticism, though it may well be at a non-refundable price to China’s longer term development as seen from the outside and within.
The unfolding situation in these two provinces has obvious importance for the peoples most immediately affected. It will also help shape China as a country that is growing into its new found economic and political power or one around which issues of human rights will be whispered for fear of offending Beijing’s hierarchy. Some of course will not whisper even if largely powerless. Confrontation will mutate.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan cautioned Chinese authorities regarding the potential “genocide” committed against the Uighurs. This starts bringing to the surface a term with international, legal implications from a leading Muslim majority country. The reaction of the Chinese government exhibited hypersensitivity without particular inclination to reflect upon the actions of some of its own officials and citizens. Similar considerations have been long reflected regarding the issue of Tibet and China’s sensitivity.
TWO KEY QUESTIONS
It is not fair to simplify any debate such as this, and especially as an outsider, but perhaps the offense is mitigated by the motive..  Does China policy in Tibet and Xinjiang reflect a commitment toward multi-ethnic society or an effort at “colonization”?.  What are the options to bring the matter into sustainable balance, consistent with China’s sovereignty and the rights of the Tibetan and Uighur indigenous populations?
“COLONIZATION” OR MULTI-ETHNICITY
“Colonization” is a term that is increasingly applied to describe the policy of Beijing toward these two provinces, Tibet and Xinjiang. The majority Han Chinese has been encouraged to settle in these provinces and appears to be benefiting from official favoritism in most arenas of political, economic, social and cultural life.
China does counter that many of the ethnic minorities are also favored in some key ways, including higher education slots and exemption from the “one baby” policy. It certainly may be difficult to draw a single sentence conclusion as to whether China is encouraging the “colonization” and rule by the Han majority or whether it is simply applying policies of multi-ethnicity throughout its borders.
SINS OF OUR FATHERS
Comparisons to the American experience from a century earlier are not flattering to either China or the United States. While much of America’s society was evolving its commitment and application of pluralism in the first few centuries of its discovery, others were the victims or exempted from inclusion, particularly Native Americans and African Americans. The exploitation of the “other” by societies overtly committed to principles of multi-ethnicity and pluralism is not unique. “Colonization” is the legacy of many western democracies but also African and Asian “empires.” China itself was the victim of imperial ambitions in the middle of the last century.
The models applied in the past to attain pluralistic societies may be inadequate for today. In historical perspective, some such policies may even reflect hypocrisy or more self-serving imperial ambitions. The sins of our fathers cannot be the model for today and tomorrow’s pluralistic societies, regardless of the avowed motives then and now.
INTERNATIONAL CRITERIA FOR RESPECT OF MINORITIES AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
China’s policy toward Tibet and the Uighur must be evaluated in the context of today’s standards, including those adopted by the United Nations toward indigenous populations. Commitment to pluralism and tolerance for indigenous peoples is marked by a respect for both the physical welfare and for the cultural and religious identity of the people as a group and individuals. From the Tibetan and Uighur perspective, there is ample evidence that China is marginalizing the linguistic, cultural and religious identity of these groups.
Official policies have served to discourage utilization of the local language in education, political institutions and business. Religious observance is not only frowned upon but also not allowed with respect to those members of the group(s) who hold positions of authority within the state. Aside from official policy, there is an intrinsic denigration of local culture and religion that many of us who experienced Communist authority are more familiar with. After decades of promoting atheism authorities may have also further become insensitive to their own intolerance.
RESOLUTION IN CONTEXT OF CHINA’S SOVEREIGNTY & TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY

China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is not at issue. Resolution can only be encouraged, not imposed. There are however more objective criteria by which Chinese authorities may be evaluated. That is why the use of terms such as “genocide” by Prime Minister Erdogan does raise the international stakes. The Dai Lama’s ability to reach so many of the world’s political, social and cultural leaders will keep the issue from being filed away as a “cold case.”
China’s tremendous economic rise has not yet been similarly reflected in its political evolution. Part of the solution is in the context of China’s broader development toward a more democratic and open society. Consistent with that is also a committed application of the methodologies respecting true autonomy within China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Allegations of Al-Qaeda involvement in Xinjiang, even if to be proven credible, cannot deflect the grievances of the Uighurs who are quickly becoming an ostracized minority in their own ancestral homeland. Regardless of the causes of the recent rioting in Xinjiang, the longstanding case of Tibet reveals a Chinese leadership that oscillates between too much sensitivity and an overly defensive attitude to seeming indifference.
China is an economic, political but also cultural power that the world must recognize in all its dimensions. Its leadership role should not be avoided, either by other global leaders or its own. The most effective way to impress its role as deserving deference is for China to exhibit practical and rhetorical respect for cultures and religions distinct from the majority with in its own borders.
Of course, there still remains a fundamental question that many in China still ask: What is the nature of modern China’s soul or does it even have one?