Chinese authorities arrest 60 Tibetans for keeping pictures of Dalai Lama

Beijing [China] August 29 (ANI): Chinese authorities arrested about 60 Tibetans from Kardze’s Dza Wonpo township, for possessing the pictures of spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

Police arrested 19 monks from a local monastery based in Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture along with 40 people whose houses were thoroughly searched by the administration, a Tibetan living in India told RFA.

The move came as Beijing has intensified its campaign against Tibetans by punishing them for the possession of banned photographs that include pictures of Dalai Lama as well.

“Those who were arrested are currently being held at the Sershul county police station,” a source informed.

Following the arrest, the authorities also held a meeting and “the focus of the meeting was to warn people not to keep any pictures of the Dalai Lama or to share any information over their cell phones,” RFA’s source added.

In another recent development, Chinese authorities detained two Tibetan students who ‘opposed’ Beijing’s plan to impose the use of the Chinese language as the only medium of instruction in Tibetan schools.

Earlier, Chinese authorities have also threatened to shut down a Tibetan school if they fail to provide classroom instruction exclusively in Chinese while the government has also announced a ban on private tutoring in a bid to lighten the burden on children and parents.

But around 68 per cent of the tutoring industry in Shanghai is facilitated in the English language, and this could be a major reason behind Beijing’s move, Radio Free Asia reported. (ANI)