05. Jun 2010
Shogdung faces formal charges.
(RFA) The authorities in Qinghai province have now formally arrested Shogdung (aka Tagyal). The Tibetan writer was one of eight intellectuals who signed an open letter on 17 April 2010 that expressed sorrow over the earthquake disaster in April 2010, and urged wariness of Chinese government relief efforts. His daughter, Yeshi Tsomo, told Radio Free Asia (RFA): "As we were directed by the local authorities, my mother and I went to police station to receive the formal arrest letter for my father on 28 May 2010". "This and the letter we were given earlier, when he was first detained, are almost the same except for the mention that his case had been transferred for prosecution", she said. Targyal is detained in Xining Metropolitan Detention Centre No. 1, the letter said.
06. Jun 2010
Miss Tibet crowned
(TibetInfoNet) 23-year old Tenzin Norzom from Varanasi in India has been crowned Kingfisher Miss Tibet 2010 at the beauty pageant held for the ninth time by Dharamsala-based Lobsang Wangyal Productions. Miss Tibet 2009, Tenzin Choezom, presented Tenzin Norzom with a scholarship cheque worth IRs.100,000 (UK£1,465; US$2,170; EUR€1,754). Instead of the usual firework display, pageant director Lobsang Wangyal invited the public to pray for the victims of the Jyekundo earthquake of April 2010. The 10th Miss Tibet pageant will be held in June 2011, as a jubilee event.
07. Jun 2010
Gyaltsen Norbu visits Lhoka
(Xinhua) The Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu, has paid his first visit to the border region with India. He attended religious ceremonies in Lhoka prefecture (Chin: Shannan), state media said. Lhoka borders India's northeastern Arunachal Pradesh state, which China refers to as 'southern Tibet'. China and India fought a brief border war in the region in 1962 and the territorial dispute continues to strain bilateral ties. The People's Daily claims that thousands of believers turned out to see the controversial, Beijing appointed religious hierarch. He, however, did not get close to the line of control between China and India, visiting only the Trandruk temple in Nedong county, a few hours drive southeast of Lhasa.
10. Jun 2010
Oil terminal in Lhasa
(Xinhua) According to state media, PetroChina has begun building a railway oil terminal in the Lhasa region "to secure an adequate supply of refined oil products in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), to reduce transportation costs, relieve the pressure of oil products transportation and make use of the advantages of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway". The 38,000m3 terminal will be used for the reception and storage of petrol, diesel and aviation kerosene. Construction began on 8 June and the project is expected to be completed and begin operations by the end of 2010.
11. Jun 2010
Reports of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche's health
(RFA) Two of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche's sisters have visited the prominent monk as he serves a life sentence in a jail in Sichuan province. "The two sisters met Tenzin Delek Rinpoche on 27 April 2010", said an RFA source from Lithang. "When they met on April 27, the head of the prison and the doctor informed the sisters that Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was suffering from ailments related to bones, heart, and blood pressure", the source told RFA. It added that he had recently suffered a fall, possibly caused by his ill health, according to the prison officials. Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was made responsible for a series of minor bombings, but he has always protested his innocence. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2005. He still has vocal and active support among the Tibetan nomads of Lithang.
11. Jun 2010
China to boost oil production in Qinghai
(Xinhua) The PRC's largest oil and gas producer, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), is to invest heavily in Qinghai province in order to boost oil production over the next five years, according to state media. With this investment, the CNPC Qinghai oilfield's production will increase to at least 8.5 million tons per year by 2015, Wang Yilin, a deputy manager of CNPC, said. CNPC's parent company, PetroChina, is to expand the capacity of an oil storage tank by 48,000 cubic metres, while building 120 petrol stations and 40 gas stations in the province. In the Jyekundo/Kyegudo, (Chin: Yushu) area, scene of the April 2010 earthquake, CNPC plans to build 12 petrol stations and a 6,000-cubic-metre oil storage tank, and a terminal to receive liquefied gas will be built at Kyegu (Chin: Jiegu).
12. Jun 2010
Three monks arrested in Chamdo
(VOT) Three monks from Wara monastery in Jomda county (Chin: Jiangda) in Chamdo prefecture (Chin: Qamdo) have been arrested, Oslo-based Voice of Tibet (VOT) radio service has reported. The county Public Security Bureau (PSB) summoned the monks to the county headquarters for questioning over allegations that they led and instigated protests in Jomda county in 2008 and 2009. There is no mention of where the monks - Kelsang Dhargay, Tashi Lhundup, and Tashi Wangdue - are being held. In May 2010, six monks were arrested from the same monastery.
16. Jun 2010
Russian ambassador denies offering Dalai Lama visa
(TNN) Russian embassy officials in Delhi contradicted reports in the Indian press quoting the Russian ambassador to India, Alexander Kadakin, as saying that his country may issue a visa to the Dalai Lama. They clarified that, "under the present circumstances", he would not be issued a visa to visit Russia. The Russian embassy denied that the ambassador had made any adverse remark and attributed the confusion to a "mistake" in the transcript of an interview that Kadakin gave to an agency recently, on a visit to Himachal Pradesh.
16. Jun 2010
Jokhang protester found jailed at Drapchi
(VOT) A Tibetan man, Samdup Gyatso, who was arrested after he staged a lone protest in front of the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa on 01 May 2010, has been found jailed at the city's Drapchi prison by his younger brother, according to a report by the VOT radio service. The report said the brother, Tenpa Dhargyal, located Samdup at the prison, and claimed he had been tortured and was in poor health. It was not stated, however, whether he had been tried and if so what his sentence was. The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) had reported that Samdup Gyatso staged a protest carrying the Tibetan flag with another stitched on the back of his shirt and shouted slogans calling for independence for Tibet, the return of the Dalai Lama, and proper allocation of relief funds following the Jyekundo earthquake.
17. Jun 2010
Tensions in quake town
(RFA) Tibetan residents of quake-hit Jyekundo prefecture have staged protests over attempts by the local government to remove them from their land. They gathered outside government offices in Kyegu township with banners after the government made public reconstruction plans in which some people would be relocated. A monk from a local monastery, Tsering Gyatso, told RFA that many of the Tibetans had bought their land and had rejected government offers of new housing in a different area. He said: "For some of them, their life savings were invested in that land". A Tibetan protester said the people to be displaced are also unhappy with the location of the land being offered. "It's definitely much farther away than the place we were in before the earthquake struck", he said.
