2 monks, 2 civilians arrested in Tibet: CTA

The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) has alleged that the Chinese government has arrested four Tibetans, including two monks, and taken them to undisclosed destinations in Tibet. In a press note issued here, the CTA has alleged that since early September this year, the Chinese authorities had secretly arrested monks Lobsang Samten and Lobsang Trinley from the Kirti Monastery, and civilians Tsering Tashi and Wangkyi, among others, in Tibet’s Ngaba County, traditionally part of Amdo province. Since their detention, their whereabouts and wellbeing remain unknown.

The CTA alleged that the detainees included Lobsang Samten (53), a senior monk from Khangsar in Golog’s Chigdril County, who serves as a junior chant master at the Kirti Monastery and holds the Karampa title. Lobsang Samten was among 300 monks who were detained in a 2011 mass arrest at the Ngaba monastery, according to Tibetan sources, the CTA added.

It alleged that other detainees were 40-year-old Lobsang Trinley (also known as Trinpo) from Rong Kharsa in Ngaba County and a third-year Vinaya student at the Kirti Monastery, who organises ritual ceremonies. Among civilian detainees were Wangkyi (43), a mother of four, at present residing in Ngaba County, and her brother Tsering Tashi (41), both children of Kalko and Jigje Tso from the Haritsang family of Rong Kharsa. 0

Sources said that several members of the Haritsang family had been detained over their alleged connections with Tibetans residing in India. The current whereabouts of all detainees were unknown, the CTA alleged.

Reports indicated intensified surveillance and restrictions across the Ngaba region, with particular focus on the Kirti Monastery and its surrounding areas. Chinese authorities have mandated all monks under 18 years of age in the Ngaba area to leave their monasteries and attend the Chinese government-run boarding schools.