Dharamshala — Tibetan rights activist Tsering Kyi has once again been detained by the Chinese authorities for protecting the rights of Tibetan monks, when they were banned from pilgrimage to Shigatse, in Tibet. She asked the authorities why Chinese people can travel anywhere but Tibetans cannot travel in their own land.
According to a video obtained by TPI, Tsering Kyi asks the Chinese authorities why they are preventing three Tibetan monks from crossing the gate in Gomri Township, Drachen County, Central Tibet, to go on pilgrimage to Lhasa and Shigatse, Lhokha (Ch: Shannan), the Chinese police claiming that do not have permission to go on pilgrimage to Shigatse, although they have permission to go to Lhasa and Lhokha.
This incident occurred on the evening of June 10, 2024, at around 5pm local time, at the gate of Gomri Township, in Drachen county, central Tibet. When Tsering Kyi,a tour guide by profession, saw three Tibetan monks prevented from passing through the gate on their way to Lhasa on pilgrimage, she first asked what had happened to the monks and then asked the Chinese authorities to allow them to go to Lhasa, failing which they would remain at the gate with her.
The Tibetan monks from Jomda county, Chamdo, central Tibet, travelled to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, for a pilgrimage to the monasteries in Lhasa, Shigatse and Lhokha but the Chinese police prevented them from entering Drachen county and then Lhasa, on the pretext that they had only two places to indicate on their leave form, which were Lhasa and Lhokha, not Shigatse, and therefore, they were not authorised to pass through Drachen county to go to other places, including Lhasa and Lhokha.
Tsering Kyi said: ‘If you don't let them through, we will stay here, even if we have to stay for four or five days. We are opposed to your mistreatment or discrimiation of Tibetans and Chinese. The Chinese can go wherever they want and Tibetans have no right to go to their own place’.
Then another Chinese policeman said: ‘We called the Jomda county police, who ordered them to come back, if not....’, then she intervened to say: are the Jomda police threatening the monks to come back, are they going to put them in prison? .....
The Chinese police arrested the two monks, including Thutop Namgyal, later that night and subjected them to rigorous interrogation. After learning of their detention, Tsering Tso contacted the police, pointing out that Chinese tourists did not need any prior authorisation, whereas Tibetan monks were subjected to restrictions and ill-treatment because of the need to obtain a permit. She called on the authorities to release the two monks immediately, saying that their detention by Drachen county police was illegal and a violation of China's national laws and policies.
The Drachen county police initially denied arresting the monks, but then admitted taking them in for ‘questioning’, suggesting that their ‘cooperation’ would speed up their release. After three hours of negotiations with the Chinese police, the monks were finally released at around 3am on June 10, 2024.
But when Tsering Kyi returned to her home town of Yushu, she was arrested by the Yushu police on June 29, 2024, accused of ‘endangering social stability’, interrogated and detained for 10 days, then released on July 8, 2024, two days after the birthday of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
Tsering Tso is originally from Trika County in Tsolho, Amdo, Tibet, but works and lives in the town of Yushu. She runs the company called Tibet World Tours and Travel, which organises trips to various regions, including the city of Lhasa, Ngari, and other parts of Tibet, as well as destinations in other parts of the world.
Tsering Tso is one of the few courageous Tibetans to stand up to Chinese police discrimination against Tibetans among Chinese travelers at checkpoints in Tibet and China. In July 2023, while traveling to Lhasa she encountered difficulties, she bravely challenged the railway authorities, why she need to show additional documents because she is Tibetan while Chinese travelers did not need to show. She also asked the authorities, why they were engaging in blatant racial discrimination against Tibetan passengers, who were asked to present additional documents, while Chinese tourists can enter, without any checks or examinations.
