27. Apr 2010
Dalai Lama refused Russian visa
(Tibet Post) The supreme religious leader for the Republic of Kalmykia, Telo Tulku Rinpoche announced the Dalai Lama had been denied a Russian visa by the Moscow authorities. The Russian Foreign Ministry rejected an appeal by Russia's Buddhist regions, stating: "A visit by the Dalai Lama to Russia would be taken particularly painfully by Beijing during the current anniversary [65th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II] year of our shared victory with China". Telo Tulku Rinpoche said the possibility of the Dalai Lama returning to Russia in the future would depend on "signs of ease in tensions in his relations with the official authorities of People's Republic of China" as cautioned in Moscow's response.
29. Apr 2010
China to share Tsangpo/Brahmaputra data with India
(ET; TibetanReview) Following its recent assurance to India that the dams it was building or planning to build over the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet would not affect the volume of the flow of the Brahmaputra river, the Chinese government has signed an agreement with New Delhi to share hydrological data for the river during the monsoon season for 2010, reports the Economic Times (ET). An implementation plan was signed after the fourth meeting of the India-China expert mechanism on trans-border rivers in New Delhi. The agreement marks the first time Beijing has shared such information with neighbouring countries.
03. May 2010
Lone protester arrested
(TCHRD) An exile Tibetan returnee was arrested for staging a solo protest in front of the Tsuglakhang temple in Lhasa, according to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). Samdup Gyatso was arrested by around seven Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials during his brief protest and taken off in a police vehicle. According to TCHRD Samdup Gyatso staged a lone protest carrying the Tibetan flag with another stitched on the back of his shirt and shouted slogans calling for independence for Tibet, the return of the Dalai Lama, and proper allocation of relief funds following the Kyegudo earthquake. There is no information about Samdup Gyatso's current whereabouts.
03. May 2010
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Machu middle school students go on hunger strike
(Phayul) Tibetan students from Machu Tibetan Nationality Middle School in Machu (Chin: Maqu) county in Kanlho (Chin: Gannan) TAP, Gansu province (traditionally Amdo), have been on hunger strike since 22 April, demanding the release from detention of their teacher and his reinstatement along with two others sacked by the authorities over protests by students in the school, according to Phayul, quoting sources in Dharamsala. The school's headmaster Kyabchen Dedrol, and his two assistants - Do Re and Choekyong Tseten - were dismissed following protests by students of the school on 14 March 2010. Phayul reports that the authorities detained Choekyong Tseten later at an unknown location. According to Phayul, the students are also demanding that the Chinese government stop its "forced inclusion of Communist doctrines and policies" in the school curriculum. Two students, Tsering Dhondup and Thupten Nyima were arrested in 06 April for allegedly leading the students' protest on 14 March.
04. May 2010
Quake homeless to wait three years for new homes
(Xinhua) The construction of new houses for 120,000 homeless survivors of the Jyekundo/Kyegudo (Chin: Yushu) earthquake will take up to three years, said a government advisor. Yang Baojun, vice dean of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, in an interview with Xinhua. He said it would take that long because Kyegu (Chin: Jiegu/Gyegu), the town most severely damaged by the quake, was 800 km from the nearest city with construction resources, and the long winter - about eight months - was too cold and windy for major building projects. "We plan to build Gyegu into an eco-friendly tourist city, but it will take three years", said Yang, who is a member of the team charged with rebuilding Kyegu. Yang would not reveal whether the new town would be restored on the ruins or be built somewhere else. Yang said most of the homeless would be temporarily sheltered in cotton tents. Pre-fab homes, which were widely used for survivors after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, had been mostly ruled out as an option for Kyegu because they were "too expensive and would seriously damage the grassland environment".
04. May 2010
Tibetan quake critic arrested
(HPPE; RFA) The authorities in Qinghai province have detained a Tibetan writer who signed an open letter critical of the government's quake relief efforts in the region. The writer, who publishes under the name Shogdung, but whose real name is Tagyal, was one of eight intellectuals who signed a letter on 17 April that expressed sorrow over the disaster, and urged wariness of Chinese government relief efforts. His daughter said the arrest warrant accused her father of "sedition [to] split the country”. The letter Tagyal signed had urged people to help victims by offering food, clothing, and medicine, but warned them to avoid official relief channels. "Better to send [money] to the disaster zone with people you trust, because nobody can tell where there will be corruption”, said the letter, which was posted on several websites, including the overseas-based Boxun.com, which is critical of the government. "Just as the news from the mouthpiece for the [Communist] Party organisations cannot be believed, we dare not believe in the Party organisation, which issued the order stopping people from going to the disaster zone for political reasons”, the letter said.
07. May 2010
Tibetans say mining at a sacred site prompted earthquake
(RFA) Tibetan herders in Qinghai province have hit out at a mining company after it sank deep shafts into two sacred mountains in the area. Four weeks before the devastating earthquake hit the Yushu region on 14 April, local villagers had already taken their complaint about the Qinghai Xinyu Mining Co. as far as China's cabinet, the State Council, villagers and bloggers said, according to a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA). "The earthquake happened on the day after they opened the seam", said Dhonwang, a Tibetan resident of Gyegu (Chin: Jiegu) township in Yushu TAP, Qinghai province. He said said local people were saying that diggers had reached the belly of the sacred mountain in Shanglaxiu village on the day before the earthquake, and that the two events were connected. A second Tibetan resident of Gyegu, told RFA that ecological damage from the mining operation had sparked complaints and petitions from local residents on several occasions.
