60. Kashag Expresses its Disappointment on the Crackdown on Drepung Monastery in Lhasa

TibetNet - 2 December 2005

Dharamshala - The Kashag, apex executive body of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), held a press conference this morning at the Department of Information and International Relation's (DIIR) hall. On behalf of the Kashag, Lobsang Nyandak Zayul, Kalon for the DIIR and the Finance Department of the CTA, expressed disappointment over the ill treatment, recent crackdown orders on monks and disrupting peac e of the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa. According to information reported by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, Dharamshala, a 'work team' officials of the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa have been conducting patriotic education campaign in the monastery since the first week of October 2005. On 23 November, the monks were ordered to sign a document denouncing His Holiness the Dalai Lama as a 'separatist' and to pledge their loyalty to the Chinese government by accepting 'Tibet as a part of China'. The monks refused to sign these documents and five among them were expelled from the monastery and handed over to the Public Security Bureau (PSB) Detention Centres in their respective places of origin. Following the arrests, on 25 November, more than four hundred monks sat on a peaceful protest in the front courtyard of Drepung Monastery. The protesters refused to follow the authorities' directives to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to accept "Tibet as a part of China". They also called for the release of the five arrested monks. Fearing that the protest might go out of control, the government of "Tibet Autonomous Region" imposed crackdown and curfew, which was later withdrawn.