By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, May 1: The Chinese government continue to enforce relocations of Tibetans through turning huge territories of grasslands into military base camps, according to the London-based rights group Free Tibet. The report published on Friday cited an anonymous source from Tibet who said that Tibetans living near the border region in central Tibet, such as Shigatse, Gampa County, Dingri County, Ngamring County, Ruthok County and Nyalam County have been asked to relocate to use their lands for building military base and camps.
China has instructed other provincial governments to pursue the resettlement policies, following the massive relocation program where hundreds of thousands Tibetan nomads in Eastern Tibet were forced to relocate from 2006 onwards. The report said that since 2011, the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) under the jurisdiction of central authority has plans to relocate nomads in the next ten years and have urged Tibetans to turn in their land to the Chinese authorities for the promise of compensation.
The report revealed that in February, Chinese authorities reportedly organized meetings and warned Tibetans against communicating the news of the relocation by threatening the residents with possible termination of all compensation, as well as punishment. Since February, Chinese police have also been conducting investigations on family member absentees, accompanied by senior villagers.
According to the same source, Chinese authorities in another incident held numerous public meetings and asked Tibetans to invite their relatives residing in exile, or warned of consequences, like removal of names in the family registry or using up quotas of family land for farming by the government.
