A block consists of a cluster of villages, and each and every block has CCTV cameras, digital surveillance system and police pickets. There is no way to enter a block by accessing any app(lication) via proxy. One can access only Chinese communication app networks there. However, the concerned authorities monitor every profile, apart from stationing plainclothes secret agents in every neighbourhood. China has taken such initiatives to monitor whether people are mentioning about the Dalai Lama, especially in a positive light, while communicating with others or planning to flee Tibet. If a revolution is sensed, the consequences will range from severe threats to imprisonment or being eliminated.

The office of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), a non-governmental organisation established in 1996 to promote and protect the Human Rights of Tibetan people and democracy in the Tibetan exile community, is located inside the compound of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), or the Tibetan Government-in-exile, in Dharamsala, India. Tenzin Dawa, the Executive Director of the TCHRD, recently shared two latest reports on Human Rights violations in Chinese-occupied Tibet and cross-border repression, respectively, with the Indian media.

Dawa told the press that the situation was different in 2012-13 as there was some breathing space in Chinese-occupied Tibet. She stressed that CCTV cameras were not yet installed everywhere and Nepal used to be a safe passage for the Tibetan refugees. However, the surveillance has become more brutal under the rule of President Xi Jinping. As New Delhi’s relations with Kathmandu deteriorated at that time, Nepal strengthened ties with China. Hence, Tibetans were unable to escape through Nepal. According to Dawa, the Chinese authorities are spying on exiled Tibetans even in Dharamsala to collect personal information!

One of the reports reveals that teenagers are being separated from their families in Tibet and sent to compulsory Chinese-language boarding schools run by the concerned authorities in Beijing. The Tibetan language, culture and (Tibetan) Buddhism are banned in those schools. Rian Tashi, a Tibetan Human Rights activist, said: “We are able to continue practicing Tibetan language and culture because our parents fled. The sinicisation of 53 Tibetan tribes is going on in a warlike manner. Boarding school is just the initial step. Children are suffering psychologically as a result of being separated from their parents at a very young age and forced to go to boarding schools.“

Tenzin Paldon, the Chief Editor of Voice of Tibet, has been working for Tibetan independence since the mid-1990s. She had to struggle a lot to send messages of the Dalai Lama to Chinese-occupied Tibet via radio. Paldon stated that Tibet attracted the global attention only after His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) received the Nobel Prize as some international NGOs came forward to help the Tibetans. “We launched Voice of Tibet and managed to keep separate slots on different radio waves. We started broadcasting Tibetan culture, art, opera and music for the people of the Chinese-occupied territories. Beijing made an attempt to jam the broadcast, prompting us to move from one wave to another. The Dalai Lama’s words worked like medicine,” she told the press.

Although there are a number of online channels, it has become difficult to reach common people because of the advanced Chinese technology. The people of Tibet have also stopped speaking or listening out of fear in a climate of surveillance and suppression of free expression. China has labelled Tibetan self-immolations as an act of terrorism, claiming that they are orchestrated by the Dalai Lama and overseas independence forces. Beijing has also denounced the protests as Terrorism in disguise and also an effort to damage the government, rather than as a response to severe repression.

The Tibetan Government-in-exile in Dharamsala actively works to counter the Chinese repression in Tibet by promoting democratic values, advocating for Human Rights and raising global awareness about Beijing’s sinicisation policies, as well as lack of Tibetan autonomy.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das