China arrests Tibetan monk on eve of Uprising Day

Kirti Monastery monk Tsepak arrested for the second time on March 9, 2013. DHARAMSHALA, March 13: A Tibetan monk of the Kirti Monastery in Nagaba, eastern Tibet was arrested in a midnight raid on the eve of the 54th Tibetan National Uprising Day for unknown reasons. Tsepak, 29, was picked up from his aunt’s home by Chinese security personnel at around midnight on March 9. Dharamshala based Kirti Monastery in a release said Tsepak had been nursing his sick aunt. “Tsepak’s family members and friends have no clue why he was arrested and where he is being currently detained,” the release said. This is not the first time that he has been arrested. On March 25, 2011, Tsepak was arrested in Beijing and kept in detention for a few months when he was studying at the Beijing Nationalities University. “He was arrested by Chinese police on March 25, 2011 at around 6 pm (local time) for reasons that were not known then,” the Kirit Monastery said. “However, it was later found out that he was detained for allegedly keeping contacts with outsiders.” Tsepak is son of Dhondup and Dhondey. Confirming the reports of his arrest, Dharamshala based rights group Tibetan Centre for Human Right and Democracy today said Tsepak had become a monk at the Kirti Monastery at a young age. “Before his detention, he was in the third-year Uma class (equivalent to Master’s Degree course in Tibetan Buddhism) at his monastery,” TCHRD said. Last week, in Beijing, Chinese officials representing Ngaba, told reporters that the tight security clampdown on the Kirti Monastery and the surrounding regions will not be relaxed. Wu Zegang, the governor of ‘Aba prefecture’ accused the local Kirti monastery of collaborating with exiled Tibetans to organise protests while failing to provide any concrete evidence to substantiate his claim. Another provincial official, Zhang Dongsheng, announced that government officials in eastern Tibet will not ease their grip over the region's monasteries and people. "Our struggle against the Dalai Lama is long-term and intense," Zhang said. "We cannot relax at any moment.”