For Immediate Press Release
                                                                                                                        April 25, 2008

According to reliable information, on April 23, around 10 AM, two nuns namely, Lhaga, aged 32 and Sonam Dickyi, aged 30 of Dagkar Monastery, Karze district, were arrested by the Chinese police. They had staged a peaceful protest where they threw in the air Tibetan prayer flags, leaflets with slogans like ‘Independence for Tibet’, ‘Long live His Holiness the Dalai Lama’, etc. The conditions and whereabouts of the two nuns are not known.

In the district of Nyagrong in Kham (Eastern Tibet), the Chinese authorities had been forcing the local monasteries to hoist Chinese National flag on their roofs but so far the authorities have had no success due to the strong defiance by the Tibetans.

On April 24th, just yesterday, the Chinese government had issued a general order to be immediately effective that no one is allowed to spread rumors which can harm stability in Tibet and that any one found to be doing so, will be dealt with severely as per the law. They have also instructed the Party cadres to look for rumor-mongers and be wary of them. Although the said order had not specified as to the nature of the rumor but reliable information has confirmed that what they are actually aiming at is to restrict among the Tibetans, any exchange of verbal information between individuals on the Tibetan issue that has currently received wide attention on the international level.
                       

Particularly, in the city of Lhasa, the Chinese authorities have been harshly scrutinizing the Tibetans such that without documents specifying one’s house number and the identity certificate issued by the town municipality, they are not even allowed to go out to purchase vegetables. On the contrary, the Chinese are free to go anywhere.  

In view of the critical situation in Tibet, we appeal the UN and international community of the urgent consideration of our following demands:

  1. Immediately dispatch independent fact finding delegations to Tibet
  2. Immediately allow free press to cover the whole of Tibet
  3. Immediately end the brutal killings in the whole of Tibet
  4. Immediately release all arrested and imprisoned Tibetans
  5. Extend immediate medical assistance to the injured Tibetans
  6. Allow free movement of people and provide access to daily needs

 - Tibetan Solidarity Committee