Tibetan Uprising

Kunsang, 60, has a loving genuine smile that glows in her beautiful wrinkled face. This tough lady doesn’t talk about the ailments and setbacks in her life with any rancor. She just smiles sadly.

At nine years old, Kunsang fled from Lho Dongkar, a village near Lhasa, with her parents. She remembers the sound of machine gun fire and bombs falling as the Chinese attacked the crowd outside the Potala Palace recently vacated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama after his escape to India. They walked most of the way to the border and crossed into Bhutan where her stepfather died of old age. Kunsang’s mother supported her for the next three years in Bumdela, Aruncahal Pradesh by woodworking until finally succumbing to a long and painful stomach ailment.

Her mother’s family sent her to school in Orissa for the next three years and then arranged a marriage to a man in the Indian Army. Unfortunately, she fell sick with same disease as her mother and had to go to Rajpur where it took her three years to fully recover. She stayed in Rajpur to work as a carpet maker and only got to see her husband on holidays. They had four children together but one little girl died after a month from boils. They lost their 13 year old son after he collapsed at school one day and died instantly from unknown causes. Her remaining daughter now sells sweaters and her son sold cosmetics in Rikikesh until he came down with jaundice. (more…)

In 1959, Tenpa, the son of semi-nomadic farmers from Kham Dege, Tibet, heard of the danger to the His Holiness the Dalai Lama and left his home in the dead of night to travel to Lhasa. He never saw his mother again and twenty-five years passed before he reunited with his father in Karnataka, India. He rode two nights and one day on horseback to Lhasa. “I went to defend His Holiness and all the Tibetans there.”

Upon reaching the city, Tenpa joined Chushi Gangdruk (”four rivers six ranges”), the group of freedom fighters named after the four river gorges and six mountain ranges that cross the Tibetan region of Kham where the anti-Chinese revolt started. A few days after Tenpa’s arrival, the Dalai Lama fled into exile. In the days that followed, Tenpa witnessed the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) attacking Tibetan demonstrators with machine gun fire and tank shelling from the two mountains overlooking the city. According to Chinese sources, the PLA killed 86,000 Tibetans during the invasion. Tenpa witnessed many Tibetans drowning in the river or mud trying to escape. He fled to a resistance camp being formed at Meldrogongkar between Dekung country and Reting. About one thousand Tibetans from all walks of life met there: soldiers, old men, monks and teenagers. With limited resources, they were determined to fight. (more…)

Ngawang Tendol, 38, is the daughter of Tibetan subsistence farmers in Maldol outside Lhasa. She “always wanted to be a nun” and so she joined the Nichung Nunnery in Lhasa. When the nunnery was destroyed by the Chinese, Ngawang solicited donations from local supporters and carried dirt and rocks to help the construction. It took 90 nuns over two years to rebuild it.

Ngawang did not know about Tibet’s political situation until she reached the nunnery because under Chinese occupation, her teachers and her parents were forbidden from mentioning it. She learned about Tibet’s independence as she saw her fellow nuns arrested for “agitation” after protesting against Chinese rule. They inspired her to protest in the name of religious freedom.

At the beginning of April 1989, Ngawang went to Norbulingka, the summer palace of the Dalai Lama, with seven other nuns. In the middle of a cultural dance, they started shouting “Free Tibet” and “China get out of Tibet.” Within two minutes, two police officers approached her, handcuffed her and led her to a waiting police jeep. They took her to Gutsa Detention Center in Lhasa, about which she said, “I wasn’t afraid. Just sad.”

As soon as she arrived at Gutsa with the other nuns, they got off the jeeps and all of the police started beating them. They spent the next several minutes being punched and kicked by the many officers while still being held in their handcuffs. Then they spent the next two hours with their hands on their heads as the police forced them to stare at the sun. Before any questioning, the officers separated the nuns in small groups for more calculated beatings. As she stood there, Ngawang could hear the others screaming in pain and felt very nervous. When her turn came, the police used thumbscrews to lock her arms behind her back and then hung her from a tree with ropes around her body. Two guards beat her with sticks until she was unconscious and woke her with a splash of cold water. Ngawang says, “I can never forget what happened that day. I will remember the whole scene.” (more…)

Pema Tashi is not a Tibetan, but he decided to march with the Tibetan monks that he has spent the last eight years with at Sera Monastery in Karnataka. “I have lived in a Tibetan community for a long time and have always viewed Tibetans as compassionate people and this motivated me to join the march.”

Pema grew up in a Buddhist family of vegetable farmers in Arunachal Pradesh. He delighted his parents when he decided to take the vows of a monk. In 2000, Pema joined Sera Monastery in Karanataka in the South of India because of their reputation of providing excellent education.

When the five NGOs announced the six month March to Tibet, Pema knew right away that he would join. He said, “Since I made up my mind to go on this march, I am fearless.” On March 13^th, Pema was arrested at Dehra in the Kangra Valley with the 100 other Core Marchers and spent ten days in judicial custody with his comrades. Once freed, he joined the second wave of marchers who continued the march from where Pema’s group was arrested. “If I am able to cross into Tibet, I would love to stay there for two months to examine the place and then my dream is fulfilled.”

Kalsang Choegyal, a 26 year old monk from Kham Tao, Tibet, fled into exile in 2004. Upon reaching India, he joined Jangtse Monastery in Karnataka, South India.

When Kalsang heard about the March to Tibet, he decided to join in order “to protect the culture [of Tibet] and our people.” Arrested on March 13^th with the first wave of marchers, he felt “sad because we knew we are struggling for our freedom and culture and the police did not realize this. I felt pity for them not knowing what they are doing.” A tall man, Kalsang spoke quietly about his struggle while getting arrested. “I was confused. I couldn’t shout. I wanted to shout. I wanted to push but I couldn’t. I was scared my friends might show violence. I was afraid I might erupt in anger.” In such an emotionally intense moment, Kalsang displayed his and the march’s commitment to nonviolent resistance.

Kalsang said he was worried in prison because “we had been hearing about the things happening in Tibet and we felt desperate that we could do nothing.”

After being released from judicial custody in Yatri Niwas, Kangra District, Himachal Pradesh, Kalsang rejoined the March to Tibet.

One of our oldest marchers, 67 year-old Mewang Namgyal, fled Tibet after the suppression of the 1959 revolt. He soon returned to see his parents but the Chinese police caught him. They put the then 17 year-old in a labor camp for five years there before escaping with nine others and fleeing across the Himalayas. Mewang-la dedicated his life to the liberation of Tibet and joined the Special Frontier Force of the Indian Army. Originally formed to act as guerrilla units in Tibet, the group never got to fulfill its mission and instead he regretfully fought in the ‘71 war in Bangladesh. After his discharge with 22 years of service, Mewang-la settled in Karnataka and participated in numerous marches across India to raise awareness about the Tibetan cause.

During the March to Tibet, Mewang-la is often seen at the head of the line of marchers, leading the way. On March 13, the Indian police arrested him with the 99 other core marchers for disturbing the peace. After refusing to sign a document pledging to not march, he was sentenced to two weeks imprisonment. Unexpectedly released a week early, Mewang-la commented, “I always felt the March to Tibet and didn’t feel about the imprisonment.” He rejoined the march as soon as possible to be joyfully welcomed as one of the beloved elders.

His message to his comrades in Tibet: “On behalf of Tibetans in exile to all Tibetans inside Tibet, what you are doing under the Chinese guns we will appreciate and we’ll never forget you all.”

This poem was sent to the Marchers from Rakra T.C. Tethong in Switzerland.

Hello, My name is Lindsey Martin and I am from Kentucky in the United States. I heard about your struggle and the march that you all will be partaking in. You have my full support. The world is full of injustices and this is one of them. (more…)