China attempts to hide death of Tulku Dawa in Lhasa
Apr 07, 2022
New York [US], April 8 : China attempted to hide the death of 86-year-old lama Tulku Dawa who had been targeted by Beijing for connections with Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday.
However, despite draconian controls on the flow of information between Tibet and the outside world, word recently emerged of the death of Tulku Dawa.
"After the religious leader's death, officials announced that only devotees from Lhasa would be permitted to pay their respects, knowing this would exclude the majority of his followers and students, who are from areas near his monastery," the HRW said in a statement.
The rights watchdog said that authorities scrubbed mentions of his death from social media.
Tulku Dawa had been arrested in May 2010 at his monastery, Shag Rongbo, in the Nagchu Municipality of northern Tibet, bordering Driru county, where protests erupted in late 2013 and were ruthlessly suppressed, according to HRW.
Officials accused him of seeking guidance from the exiled Dalai Lama - leader of the Gelukpa school to which Shag Rongbo belongs - in selecting the reincarnation of the Rongpo Choje, the monastery's chief lama.
"An onerous political reeducation campaign was imposed on the monastery, leading to expulsions and the suicide of an elderly monk. Tulku Dawa was reportedly sentenced to seven years in prison, and banned from ever returning to the monastery," the HRW said.
Due to his age and poor health, Tulku Dawa was made to serve his sentence under effective house arrest in Lhasa, and appears to have remained confined there after completing his sentence. He was allowed a brief visit to the monastery once in 2014.
With their handling of Tulku Dawa's funeral and of the Rongpo Choje's reincarnation, Chinese authorities have seen fit to use force, intimidation, and intrusive supervision to remove the Dalai Lama's influence over Tibetan Buddhism and enforce the state's absolute control over religion.
