Friday, March 28, 2008

Monges em Lhasa

Subsistem preocupações relativamente ao bem-estar e segurança do grupo de monges que ontem se manifestou, frente aos jornalistas, no templo Jokhang da capital Tibetana.
Oficiais Chineses asseguraram que os monges não seriam punidos pelo acto, no entanto os três maiores mosterios da capital - Ganden, Sera e Drepung - estão neste momento inacessíveis aos jornalistas, apesar de estes terem realizado pedido de visita aos mesmos.
O templo Ramoche também foi encererado ao grupo da imprensa e fontes relatam que a água foi cortada nos três maiores mosteiros e a comida escasseia. Chamamos a atenção para o facto de um monge do templo de Ramoche ter já falecido devido a tais condições.
Os cidadãos locais não estão autorizados a fornecerem comida aos monges nos mosteiros.
As detenções de Tibetanos em Lhasa continuam e tememos pela situação os detidos.
"..monks who tried to leave Sera were forced to go back after they had guns pointed to their heads. Further reports reached ICT over the past few days of mass arrests of Tibetans in Lhasa, including in particular Tibetans from the Kham and Amdo areas of Tibet; Tibetans known to have studied in exile in India, base of the Dalai Lama, and former political prisoners. Some sources said that during house to house searches, Tibetans had been taken away at gunpoint. In scenes reminiscent to some observers of the Cultural Revolution, officials are searching for images of the Dalai Lama as well as taking Tibetans away. One source close to the monastic community in Lhasa expressed their fears for Tibetans in custody, saying that they had been told by two Tibetans released from temporary detention that Tibetans in custody were “beaten terribly”, and that none had enough water or food.As the crackdown continues, other sources have reported seeing large numbers of Tibetans being herded into trucks, and in one instance, forced to board a train from Lhasa station and removed from the city. A Tibetan source, who is in exile but in close contact with Tibetans inside, reported hearing from an eyewitness that a group of several hundred Tibetans, escorted by armed security personnel, had boarded a train at Lhasa’s new railway station. The source told ICT, “The eyewitness reported seeing large numbers of monks in the group, and said that many were not wearing shoes. The reports of the removal of prisoners from Lhasa are chilling for many older Tibetans, who remember the purges after 1959 and beyond when so many Tibetans were taken to labor camps and prisons in Gansu and Qinghai. Some of them were never heard of again. There are many families now in the situation of not knowing where their relatives are, or how long they will be in prison.”
“Often Tibetans are taken away in the middle of the night,” the source told ICT after leaving Lhasa. “They are definitely taking people who they know have studied in India, including those who learnt English at exile schools. I saw truckloads of Tibetans being taken away. Friends watched guns being held to the head of Tibetans who were taken into custody.”
There is evidence that the authorities are also attempting to prevent Tibetans expressing their views in the West through intimidation of their families in Tibet. According to a reliable report from a Tibetan exile, families in some areas of the Tibetan region of Amdo who have relatives and children living in exile have been warned in recent days that they will face repercussions if these Tibetans participate in peaceful demonstrations outside China.
In

No comments: