Authorities Take Tibetan Monk From Kirti Monastery

Chinese police arrested a young Tibetan monk and scholar on Friday in Amdo Ngaba in a southwest China province for reasons unknown, Tibetan sources said.

Lomig, who goes by the alias Jamyang, is a monk and a writer who resides at Kirti monastery in Ngaba (In Chinese, Aba) prefecture in southwest China’s Sichuan province.

Authorities detained him on April 17 around 11:30 p.m., but no one knows why or where he is being held, sources said.

“At this point of time, we just know that he was detained, but we don’t know the details, a Tibetan source named Drukchung, who goes by one name as do many Tibetans, told RFA’s Tibetan Service.

“He is a monk focused on his study, who wrote an article entitled, ‘How Yellow Mist Swirls,” he said.

“He was studying in the Parchin grade (a class of Buddhist studies) inside the monastery at the time when authorities detained him, Sonam, a Tibetan who lives in Switzerland told RFA.

Jamyang hails from Meruma in Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, and his family lives in the third group of nomadic villages in Meruma town, said Golog Jigme, another Tibetan who lives in Switzerland.

Kirti monastery is one of more than 20 monasteries of the Gelugpa sect of the Dalai Lama and one of the most important such places inside Tibetan lands.

Amdo Ngaba and other Tibetan communities in the region are under heavy surveillance by Chinese security forces, which control their movement, restrict entry to the areas by outsiders, and deploy re-education teams in monasteries.

Authorities quickly suppress and arrest monks and ordinary people there who participate in any political protests.

Reported by Chakmo Tso, Sonam Wangdu and Kardze Sonam for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.