Tibetan jailed for spreading His Holiness the Dalai Lama's teachings in Tibet

Lobsang Kalden and his brother Ngawang Dorjee in Lhasa, Tibet.

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Dharamshala — Exclusive interview with Lobsang Kalden, a Tibetan man, who imprisoned for spreading the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Tibet and sending his four children to Tibetan schools in India. He spoke to TPI about his experience of imprisonment and the torture he endured in prison.

Lobsang Kalden hails from the village of Gori in Tsawa Zogang county (ཚ་བ་མཛོ་སྒང་གོ་རེ), in east-central Tibet. He travelled to India in 1997 with his wife and four children. They attended a teaching by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1997. The parents then left their four children at the Tibetan school in India and returned home to Tibet. When they returned home, the villagers had already learned that they had left their children at the Tibetan school in India.

In early of 1998, Lobsang went to homes of several Tibetans in his village and other villages, to tell them about His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teaching on “Shengden-god” and how they cannot take worship in it. He told them His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s speech, “believing in and worshiping it will not only harm oneself and families, but also harm for Tibetan cause and life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.”

Lobsang was then arrested by the Chinese county authorities on the night of March 5, 1998, who interrogated and tortured him until he lost consciousness. He was then accused of being a “ supporter of separatism ” and imprisoned for six months.

TPI asked Lobsang Kalden about his journey from Tibet to India in 1997. He replied: “I arrived in India via Nepal with my wife and four children in October 1997. We were lucky enough to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama and listen to his teachings. Later in 1997, we left our four children in Tibetan schools and returned to Tibet at the end of the year. When we arrived home, the villagers already knew that we had gone to India and that we had left our children in a Tibetan school in India.”

TPI also asked him why the Chinese authorities had arrested and imprisoned him for months. He replied: “After returning home, I visited the house of Jampa on January 2, 1998, who worshipped Shugden, and told him what His Holiness the Dalai Lama had said: “Believing in the Shugden and worshipping it will not only harm oneself and one's family, but also harm the Tibetan cause and the life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama”. I then visited four other houses, whose inhabitants also worship this god, and told them His Holiness's speech.

“I then went to my wife's village, Shedha, and visited seven families, telling them what His Holiness had said about the god. Later, I went to the village of Malhi Giti and visited three families, telling them the same thing. I then went to a monastery in Zogang County and met two lamas, a senior monk and another monk, to whom I told the same story as to the others. I also told six people from the county about His Holiness' speech,” he added.

“Then, in the first week of March 1998 and on the fifth day of the Tibetan New Year, the Chinese police of Zogang County, came to my house in the evening and the policemen asked me for my name and identity card, which I showed. They then told me I had to go to Zogang County, arrested me and took me by car to the county, where they put me in prison. The next day, the police interrogated me, asking: “What is your name and age, what do your parents do, why are you spreading the Dalai Lama's speech, who let you do such a thing, what did the "separatist Dalai Lama" say to you...”.

“I told them that nobody had told me to do it, and I told the people what His Holiness the Dalai Lama had said, then the police brutally beat me up and interrogated me again: 'What did the Dalai Lama say to you?' I told them that His Holiness the Dalai Lama had said: “Believing and worshipping in the Shugden will not only harm you and your family, but also the Tibetan cause and the life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama”. The policemen then got so angry and said to me: “Do you know that the Dalai Lama is an enemy of the PRC and that what he says is a lie? They hit me so hard that I lost consciousness,” Lobsang said. 

“They then handcuffed my hands and legs and put me back in prison. They interrogated me every day except Sunday, and the questions were the same: why was I trying to stop people from worshipping the God? After a few days, they took off the handcuffs and put me back in prison. I was the only one imprisoned for the Tibetan cause”, he declared.

“On March 11, 1998, the Chinese authorities sentenced me to six months' imprisonment for “spreading the words of the separatist, trying to prevent people from worshipping the Shugden, supporting the "separatist Dalai", sending children to India,” he said.

“Then they let me plant vegetables in the fields and sometimes they let me sweep the prison areas. After six months in prison, I was released on Kole Dolma's guarantee and with my signature, along with a fine of 1,000 Yuan, on September 11, 1998, ” he said.

"Even after my release from prison, they deprived me of my political rights for three years and continued to monitor my movements and activities. If I had to go anywhere, I had to get permission from the police, otherwise I couldn't go," he added. 

"After staying at home for about a week, my wife and I drove to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, in a car that my brother had secretly sent to pick us up. I then managed to escape to India via Nepal, as I had already taken this route once. We reached Nepal on October 1, 1998. Today, I live in Dehradun, in northern India," Lobsang concluded.