Lhasa (Tibet): The Chinese authorities in Tibet are conducting several raids and searches on monasteries and are forcing monks to sign documents that require breaking all relations with Dalai Lama, the supreme spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, reported Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA News).
Starting this month, the Chinese authorities conducted searches of monasteries in Shentsa and Sok counties on the pretext of maintaining security, said a Tibetan living in exile on the condition of anonymity, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on June 26.
The exiled Tibetan said, "The authorities search all the residences of the monks and the main shrines in the monasteries."
The source, quoted by UCA News, also said, "The monks of Shartsa Monastery are also forced into renouncing ties with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and be a part of anti-Dalai Lama groups."
In the previous year, RFA reported that China has made it mandatory for Tibetans working in official government positions to cut all ties with the Dalai Lama as a condition of employment.
China considers Dalai Lama, who is living in exile in India for decades, a separatist intending to split the formerly independent region from the control of China, as per UCA News.
Chinese forces invaded and annexed Tibet in the 1950s under the pretext that it had always been a part of China. According to the Dalai Lama, he only wants further autonomy for Tibet within China if there is a guarantee that its religion, language, and culture will be preserved.
The Shartsa monks can be seen registering their names on a board on the wall in a photo that RFA got from Tibet.
"We will vigorously take part in opposing the Dalai Lama clique and will remain loyal and devoted to the country (China)," reads the text on the board, according to UCA News.
Another exiled Tibetan who wished to remain unnamed claimed that as part of their searches, the authorities had been looking through the monks' prayer manuscripts and books and taking prayer flags from shrines.
A monk in exile said, "They did not give any sort of warning before conducting these random searchers," adding, "The monks in these monasteries were summoned for a meeting where they were forced to sign documents renouncing the Dalai Lama and separatism." Tibetans were angered by China's acquisition of their territory because they saw it as an occupation by a foreign power. China violently put down an uprising in Tibet against Chinese control in 1959. Despite Chinese persecution, Tibetans have fought and gave up their lives for independence for many years, UCA News reported. —ANI
