China bars devotees from attending funeral of popular Tibetan lama: Report

Chinese forces restricted funeral observances of a popular Tibetan lama earlier this year, Radio Free Asia reported revealing that the troops not only barred devotees from attending the procession but also deleted all the photographs shared online. On January 30, Choktrul Dawa Rinpoche passed away at his residence in Lhasa. However, Chinese troops tried to keep it a secret and also threatened local residents against sharing the news further.

 “The Chinese government tried to keep Rinpoche’s demise as secret as possible, and warned people not to share news of his death online,” a local resident told RFA on condition of anonymity. “Also, pictures and videos of Rinpoche already published online were quickly deleted by the Chinese government,” the source added.

Notably, Rinpoche was 86 years old when he died. In 2010, he was awarded a seven-year prison term for discussing affairs at his monastery with spiritual leader Dalai Lama. According to RFA, even after he was released, Rinpoche was kept under constant scrutiny by the Xi Jinping administration. He had previously served a prison term during the Chinese Cultural Revolution of 1966. 

The Chinese invasion of Tibet 

Beijing annexed Tibet in 1951 and since then claims it to be a part of its territory. Eight years later, Tibetans and Chinese soldiers clashed violently. Following a failed revolt against Chinese sovereignty, the 14th Dalai Lama escaped to India. Tensin Gyatso was the most prominent Buddhist leader, also called the Dalai Lama, who fled China and set up the government-in-exile in Dharamshala, India. The oppression continued for over eight years until the Tibetans, aiming to overthrow the Chinese, initiated a full-swing civil uprising. 

In 1960, the 14th Dalai Lama, with the help of more than 100,000 Tibetans, established the Tibetan Government-in-exile, headquartered in Dharmshala, Himachal Pradesh. At present, there are more than 10,000  Tibetans living across Dharamshala while roughly 1,60,000 from the community live in exile across the world. More recently, the Chinese have stepped up their efforts to illegally seize land on the Tibetian plateau. 

Image: Tibet.Net