By Kalsang Rinchen
Dharamsala, March 23 – Three more Tibetans were arrested on March 21 in Kardze for defying Chinese government orders to farm agricultural land, the Dharamsala based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) said today.
Citing various sources the Tibetan NGO said these Tibetans had started what it calls a ‘farming boycott movement’ in the Tibetan region of Kardze in Sichuan Province.
The three Tibetans are Dhunka Dorjee, aged 40, Tsering Wangrak, aged 40 and Pachen, aged 30, from Khang-Nyin-Nang Village, Lhoe-pa Township, Kardze County, Kardze “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture” (“TAP”), Sichuan Province.
Sources also told TCHRD an unidentified Tibetan fled when PSB officials tried to arrest him. Earlier on 19 March 2009, 27-year-old Jampa Dhondup, a monk of Tse-Tsang Monastery, was arrested for allegedly refusing to farm his land.
TCHRD said today that the situation in Kardze region is “very tense as civil disobedience movement to boycott farming continuous to gain momentum as a defiant protest against China’s repressive policies.”
Posters declaring boycott of farming activities in the region could be seen, TCHRD said adding that the authorities warned the public at a meeting that “anyone who defies farming will face arrest and their land will be officially confiscated.”
