While the highly controversial demolishing of the largest Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center, Larung Gar continues against all the campaigns and protests from around the world, the authorities in the Southwestern Chinese province, Sichuan have now seized a large area of land in a nearby Tibetan township by forcing the Tibetans out of their homes for commercial development.
According to the report by Radio Free Asia Tibetan said “A large area of land in Nubsur township, located about 20 miles from the Serthar (in Chinese, Seda) county seat in the Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, has now been seized from Tibetan residents in exchange for the payment of “token compensation,” which according to the report is against the willingness of the residents.
“The Tibetans were not willing to sell their land, but were forced to part with it and were then evicted from the area,” RFA’s source said in the report, “The authorities are planning to develop the area as a tourist complex. It has also been rumored that all the hotels and restaurants to be built at Nubsur will be given to the Han Chinese business community, and not to the Tibetans,”
“The poorer families insisted on staying on their land in tents, but they have now been forced to leave and their tents have been removed. Some of the evicted families have opened small tea shops in the town with the small payment they got for their land,” said the source saying in the report.
Besides the land grabbing by the authorities, the Chinese authorities have also banned the annual rituals conducted at Larung Gar in fear of drawing large crowds due to the ongoing demolitions and related tensions in the area.
Photo courtesy: RFA
Leave a Reply