Tibetan intellectuals detained amidst crackdown in Tibet/ENG

2012. február 20./Phayul.com/TibetPress

DHARAMSHALA, February 20: Living up to its infamous tag of being one of the most repressive regimes for writers and journalists, China has once again arrested a Tibetan writer on unclear charges.

Gangkye Drubpa Kyab, 33, a popular author, was arrested from his home in Serthar, eastern Tibet on February 15.

According to exile sources, a team of 20 Chinese policemen led by the head of the Serthar police station and his secret service counterpart carried out the unwarranted arrest.

During the arrest, police reportedly ignored Drubpa Kyab’s wife Wangchuk Lhamo’s demand that they produce a legal notice authorising his arrest.

According to Woeser, the popular Tibetan blogger, Drubpa Kyab is a native of Serthar and worked as a teacher in the region for about a decade. He has authored popular compositions in Tibetan such as "Call of Fate," "Pain of This Era" and "Today’s Tear of Pain."

Police and government officials in Serthar and in Kardze either could not be reached by telephone Sunday or said they had not heard about the case, AP has reported.

On January 24, a large crowd of Tibetans gathered in the central town of Serthar and started raising slogans calling for Tibet’s independence. Source in exile said around 600 Chinese security personnel arrived at the scene of the protests and began firing indiscriminately at the crowd, killing at least five and wounding over 40 unarmed Tibetans.
His conditions and whereabouts remain unknown.

Drubpa Kyab’s arrest came two weeks after a popular advocate of Tibet’s culture and language was disappeared by Chinese authorities from Lhasa’s Gonggar Airport upon his return from Chengdu, capital of the so called Sichuan province.

Exile sources said that Dawa Dorje, a prominent lawyer and a government researcher in Nagchu, who defends the rights of the Tibetan people and culture, had voiced concern over the closure of monasteries in Driru County due to growing Chinese repression and interference in monastic routines.

The Committee to Protect Journalists in its annual report said the Chinese government has been severe on Tibetans and “ruthlessly cracked down” on editors and writers who “sought to give voice” to the Tibetans and the Uighurs.

Tibetan singers, writers and artists promoting Tibetan national identity and culture have been the target of China’s ongoing crackdown on intellectuals, especially after the 2008 Beijing Olympics.