Thousands of monks are being starved into submission...

Thousands of monks are being starved into submission by Chinese...

Please, prayers/calls for the imprisoned Tibetans....

Amrit Dhillon
April 12, 2008

THOUSANDS of monks are being starved into submission by Chinese soldiers
who have surrounded their monasteries, cut off the water supply and
stopped monks from going out to buy food, according to information
reaching Tibetan exiles in India.

The exiles, based in Dharamsala in the Himalayas where the Dalai Lama has
lived in exile since 1959, fear that the monks could die if the outside
world fails to intervene.

"They are targeting the monasteries where protests took place," said
Karma Chophel, the Speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile. "In a
week's time, the monks might start dying of thirst or hunger. This is alarming news for us."

The 43-member parliament holds elections every five years for Tibetans
living in India, Europe and North America.

Mr Chophel described the pressure tactics as part of the Chinese
authorities' attempts to enforce submission by compelling the monks to
sign declarations denouncing the Dalai Lama and Tibetan culture.

Some monks, he predicted, might commit suicide rather than obey such orders.

The run-up to the Beijing Olympics in August has been dogged by
controversy over China's military crackdown in Tibet after monks came out
on the streets last month to protest against Beijing's policies in Tibet.

To the chagrin of the Chinese, the Olympic torch was targeted in London
by pro-Tibet protesters and extinguished in Paris during scuffles between
police and protesters.

For Tibetans in Dharamsala, the global media focus on Tibet is a perfect
opportunity to highlight their cause. "No one pays much attention to how
our culture is being eradicated. It's only now, because of the Olympics,
that the world is listening. We should use every chance we can," said
Karma Dorje, a seller of Tibetan handicrafts.

On the narrow, winding streets of Dharamasala, people have stuck on the
walls blown-up pictures of monks killed during the protests. The
atmosphere is tense, people talk of little else but the anti-China protests.

Outside the Dalai Lama's residence, a "relay hunger strike" is under way
with men and women taking it in turns to refrain from eating for a day.
Last week, more than a dozen Tibetan women had their heads shaved in public.

"We would like to be in Tibet to protest, but since we can't be there,
this is our symbolic protest against what is happening in our country,"
said Kelsang Chodon.

With no foreign journalists allowed into Tibet and internet access
limited, Tibetan exiles in India rely on information on the phone that
they then try to verify.

Despite the Chinese crackdown, Tibetans say that protests continue. "The
Chinese used Champa Phuntsok, the Chinese-appointed head of the Tibetan
Autonomous Region, to announce that everything was back to normal, but we
know that protests are continuing in Labrang, the region where the Dalai
Lama was born," said Urgen Tenzing, executive director of the Tibetan
Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

Apart from a heavy military presence around monasteries, the cities and
towns where anti-Chinese demonstrations took place are still tense,
according to Tibetans in Dharamsala.

"Arrests are happening all the time. Movement is restricted.
Demonstrators who fled to the mountains to escape arrest after the
protests are still wandering in the woods and forests, too scared to
return to their homes," said Tenzing Guardon, of the Tibetan Women's Association.

Urgen Tenzing said that the Chinese took a few selected Chinese and
foreign journalists to monasteries in Labrang monastery in western Gansu
province bordering Tibet on Wednesday.

The aim was to demonstrate that normality had been restored after the
most violent and sustained protests against Chinese rule in two decades.
Instead, they suffered further embarrassment. "A dozen monks shouted
slogans demanding the return of the Dalai Lama and human rights," said
Urgen Tenzing.

The Olympic torch, which is passing through a total of 135 cities across
137,000 kilometres before reaching Beijing in August is scheduled to
reach New Delhi next Thursday. Indian authorities are bracing for protests.

About 5000 of the 100,000 Tibetan exiles living in India are expected to
reach the Indian capital by Thursday. Tibetan groups say they are
planning non-violent protests such as acting out scenes of Chinese
torture and tonsuring their hair.

"When the torch is attacked, the Chinese feel hurt, they feel their image
has been assaulted. Well, that's exactly how we feel when our people are
killed and our culture destroyed," said Lobsang Wangyal, who is
organising an alternative "Tibetan Olympics" to be held in Dharamsala in May.

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