By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Mar. 16: Chinese authorities have set up hundreds of ‘Discipline Committees’ to impose tightened security measures across Tibet, according to RFA Tibetan service. The report suggested that almost 2000 “inspectors” have been deployed in rural areas to oversee the functioning of villages and towns. The announcement was made in March to establish 697 committees staffed by 1,960 inspectors, adding that the groups have tightened security and surveillance especially in villages near the border.
The authorities are demanding Tibetans to show their travel documents when travelling in border areas. Large numbers of blue-uniformed security troops have now been deployed in Tibet’s Lhodrag (Ch: Luozha) and Nyalam (Ch: Nielamu) counties, according to a Tibetan resident of Lhasa. “Any Tibetans traveling there from outside these regions have to show a document stamped with a travel permit. . . There has been a surge in crackdowns by Chinese authorities on villages in Tibet in recent years, though this used to happen more in the cities and towns before,” he said on the condition of anonymity.
“Since Xi Jinping assumed power, the crackdown and policies aimed at destroying Tibetan culture and identity have intensified more than ever. . . We usually consider human rights to be an issue of an individual’s own rights and freedoms, but in the case of Tibet, this has come to involve the survival of the Tibetan people themselves,” TCHRD Director Tsering Tsomo said.
According to sources in Tibet, Chinese authorities carried out arrests in Lhasa and along the Tibetan border in the month ahead of 10th March commemoration. Among those taken into custody were Tibetans suspected of sharing information on the news of Chinese casualties during the border clash in the Galwan valley of Ladakh in India. In Feb, China officially confirmed that People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops suffered four casualties during the confrontation with Indian soldiers in June last year.
