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Five wanted monks from Labrang escaped into exile

By Rinchen Youtso and Tenzin Lhundup

Five wanted Tibetan monks of Labrang Monastery who have participated in the protests in March 2008 have recently escaped into exile in India. The monks from left: Jamyang Jinpa, Gedun Gyatso, Kelsang Jinpa, Lobsang Gyatso, and Jigme Gyatso. They hid in the mountains for a year before coming into exile in India.Tibet Sun/Tenzin Lhundup/India

Five wanted Tibetan monks of Labrang Monastery who have participated in the protests in March 2008 have recently escaped into exile in India.

The five monks are identified as Kalsang Jinpa, 39, and, Gedun Gyatso, 37, Jigme Gyatso, 22, Jamyang Jinpa, 24, and Lobsang Gyatso, also 24.

Kalsang Jinpa and Gedun Gyatso had initiated a peaceful protest in Labrang on 14 March 2008. The other three monks had protested in front of a group of visiting foreign journalists in Labrang during a Chinese government organised tour on 9 April last year.

The three monks shouted slogans calling for respect of human rights and the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet.

Recounting the event, Jamyang Jinpa said, “The protest was not organised by any underground organisation, but it was totally spontaneous. We were a group of monks around 30 who trust each other. We heard the news of the journalists visit a day before through the Amdo dialect programme of Radio Free Asia.

We witnessed torture, arrest and imprisonment of Tibetans. The Tibetan areas have been overwhelmed with the presence and vigilance of armed police and security personnel. We wanted the international community to know the actual situation inside Tibet. So, we spoke in front of the visiting journalists.”

Lobsang Gyatso said, “After the protest, all the monks dispersed into different Lama’s (Buddhist master) rooms as police normally don’t check their rooms. There was no way to escape that night as monastery was cordoned off by the army making sure that no body could escape. However, in the early morning of 11 April, I managed to come out of the monastery dressed as a layman since there weren’t many soldiers as the night before.

As I went through the mountains hiding from one place to another, I met three other monks who escaped in the same manner. Only the family members knew about our whereabouts. We were helped by the nomads who fed us and gave us clothing. We didn’t stay long at one place as it might help the police to trace us. So we kept on shifting from one place to another.”

The monks had been hiding in the neighbouring areas of Labrang until 23 April 2009. They finally decided to escape to India. They reached Nepal on 30 April, but did not elaborate on the route and how they escaped to avoid causing problems for future escapees.

Last year’s protest was considered as the second largest Tibetan peoples’ revolution after the failed 1959 protest. Following the massive protests, all the communication systems were blocked, tourists and journalists were restricted from visiting Tibet, leaving a vacuum in the flow of information.

Speaking during a press conference recently in Dharamshala, the monks demanded free visit of international media to Tibet to independently report on the situation in Tibet.

“International human rights organisations are not effective in Tibet,” said Gedun Gyatso.

The Tibetan government-in-exile says the last year’s protests in Tibet were expression of Tibetan people’s deep-seated resentment and concern about the repressive policies of the Chinese government for the last 50 years.

“The Chinese constitution guarantees many rights and freedoms such as freedom of speech, opinion and religious beliefs and practice, etc., but these are not implemented on the ground. When Tibetans exercise their basic rights and freedom, they are arrested and tortured,” the exile government said in a statement released recently.

Tibetans have been reduced to a minority group in their own land due to the influx of Chinese population. Although there has been infrastructure development, these improvements seemed to be benefiting the Chinese immigrants. The living conditions of Tibetans still remain poor and marginalised, particularly in the rural areas.

The five monks expressed their strong commitment to continue to strive and work towards the Tibetan cause until Tibet is free.

Copyright © 2009 Tibet Sun

Published in Tibet Sun