Now, China plans to ‘strike hard’ on Tibetans in Nepal

In pictures taken recently by a foreigner in Lhasa, Chinese armed security personnel can be seen all over the streets and rooftops in Tibet's capital. 

DHARAMSHALA, May 17: In alarming reports coming out of Tibet, Chinese authorities in Tibet have planned measures to re-launch the infamous Strike Hard Campaign, this time reaching beyond the borders of Tibet and into Nepal.

According to the Dharamshala based Central Tibetan Administration, Chinese authorities have commissioned plans to “crackdown” on Tibetans across Tibet, and those living in Nepal through “collaboration with the Nepalese police.”

CTA in a report said a meeting of the so called Tibet Autonomous Region’s Public Security Bureau officials was held in April to launch the strike hard campaign to reinforce police crackdown on Tibetans in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital.

“It will also engage the Nepalese government and its police force to collaborate with the Chinese police to suppress Tibetans in Nepal, who the Chinese government alleged of carrying out separatist activities,” CTA said.

The Strike Hard Campaign (Tib: Dungdek Dakpo or Dungdek Tsenon; Ch: Yanda) was first launched in Tibet in 1996 to stifle Tibetan voice against Chinese repression. Security presence is increased and raids are frequently carried out under the campaign. Arbitrary arrest, detention, interrogation and torture, dismissal from jobs and expulsion from religious institutions have been few of the common consequences of the Strike Hard campaign.

The exile Tibetan administration said that multiple security committees have been set up in Lhasa under the supervision of specially-appointed Chinese officials, including Lhasa’s deputy PSB director Luo Xiaobing. These committees will lead other security agencies like People’s Armed Police, Special Police and PAP border security forces to “intensify crackdown” in Lhasa.

“The strike hard campaign will specifically target senior officials of the Tibetan monasteries and nunneries, Tibetan monks and nuns who have left monastic life, monks and nuns who were expelled from their monasteries and nunneries, and former political prisoners who have undergone indoctrination, suspected individuals and new arrivals,” CTA announced.

The report noted that the campaign will also be imposed in eastern Tibetan areas of Kham and Amdo, regions which have witnessed the bulk of self-immolations and mass protests in recent months.

“These repressive policies have failed and only deepened the Tibetan people’s resentment against the Chinese government,” CTA said in its report.