New Delhi, Sep 2 : To commemorate the 30th of August as the United Nations’ International Day of the Victims of Disappearing by Force, Disappearance the Centre for Himalayan Asia Studies and Engagement (CHASE) and the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) together organized an international webcast entitled “Disappearing victims of Chinese colonialism’ in the evening same day.The main topic of the debate was on the grave problem of disappearance of many of individuals in Tibet, East Turkistan and Southern Mongolia who dare to protest against the issues being confronted by local masses because of the rule of colonialism of China in their respective nations.
The speakers presented their views on the topic in the context of the overall human rights situation.This was one of the rare occasions where activists from these three countries that are controlled by China and the Chinese, shared their struggles and struggles from a shared platform.
The three presenters who spoke on behalf of their country were Rinzin Choedon, the National Directorof Students for a Free-Tibet India who spoke from Dharamsala; Nurgul Sawut, the Executive Chairperson of Uyghur Freedom Forum (UFF) who spoke about the Uyghur case from Canberra in Australia as well as Enghebatu Togochog, Director of Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center who was speaking in New York.
Vijay Kranti, a senior Indian journalist, Tibetologist and Chairman of CHASE hosted the webcast in New Delhi.
In her presentation, Nurgul claimed that there had been thousands of instances of disappearance of the Uyghurs and other Turkik people in East Turkistan, which China has renamed’Xinjiang following its occupation in where the families of those who disappeared were not informed of what happened to the person of the person missing after they was taken into custody or was taken away by Chinese police.
“In the majority of cases, it is an unidentified male of the family of the family that simply disappears after being arrested and Chinese officials are unable to let families meet or provide any details.
Because of the agony and discontent the rate of suicide among Uyghur women has been very high over time.It has been discovered that the majority of the women are in the 25-40 years of age who could not cope with the loss of their husbands or sons,” she said.
“It is quite bizarre that the UN documents and displays instances of disappearances in several countries, particularly in Africa however, it refuses to make note of the kind of disappearances in the ‘Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region under Chinese colonial rule.
“Entire East Turkistan has been transformed into a prison.While a small number of people, the majority of the population in the 14-65 age group, are locked up in massive internment camps, more than 950,000 (0.9 million) Uyghur children have been removed from their families , and educated with the communist doctrine in the schools that are operated by the Chinese Communist Party,” she added.
Togochog is an internationally acclaimed and prominent human rights advocate from Southern Mongolia, presented cases of two prominent people of the country that were held in prison even after their jail sentences were over.
In one instance, the person was held captive and tortured by Chinese police in an unidentified house.
When his family demanded being informed of his condition and whereabouts, the entire members of the family were taken into custody.Kranti made reference to a widespread practice of Chinese police who maintain a myriad of homes across the provinces of China that are now referred to as “Private Jails’.
Private Jails are not recorded in official documents, but are often employed by the Public Security Bureau, the police tool of the CPC for keeping political dissidents hidden and out of the public or public scrutiny.
Enghebatuspoke regarding the recent policy of the Chinese government to replace Mongolian as the Mongolian languages in the official and educational system in Southern Mongolia.
“Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping’s current campaign of adopting a “Common Chinese National Identity’ in the colonized regions he has launched a ‘cultural-genocide that aims to destroy the national identities of these nations and submerging them in the Han Chinese identity.The Mongolian people are strongly opposed to the Chinese policy.
Because of this national movement of resistance hundreds of Mongols who were fighting for their home language have been detained in recent years.Unfortunately, the families of many of people who were detained have not been able to get any information on their location,” he added.
Choedon who is an avid observer of the rights of the people in Chinese rulers of Tibet Choedon said that the main priority of Chinese leaders in Tibet is on the current generation of Tibetan musicians and writers who have the potential to be among the most effective influencers of the public’s mind.She provided an examples of Geshe (Doctorate in Buddhist Philosophy) Sherab Gyatso who is a well-known and highly vocal Tibetan scholar, and who has repeatedly pleaded with the Chinese government to stop replacing Tibetan language with the Chinese language in schools.
He was detained and sentenced to 10 years of prison.Despite the best attempts of his supporters, the Chinese refuse to release any details about the man.
She explained the story of the Gedhun Choekyi Nyima who was the 11th Panchen Lama of Tibet as the most well-known instance of disappearance of dissidents and ‘unwanted’ individuals within China who ruled Tibet.Gedhun was only 6 years old in 1995 when the China appointed team of monks recognized him as the personification of the 10th Panchen Lama after they secretly consulted the Dalai Lama in exile.
Incredulous over their attempts to reach out to the Dalai Lama the Chinese police not only detained the monks, they also removed Gedhun and his parents, and revealed a five year old boy GyaltsenNorbu as the true the incarnation.Since then, the Chinese government has been unable to release any information regarding Gedhun as well as his parents, despite repeated efforts of important international human rights groups like Amnesty International and forums like the European Parliament.
Choedon added that as Nurgul had stated, that more than 8 million Tibetan children between the 6-18 age group are also being removed from their parents by the Chinese government to place them in specially-designed schools of CCP.She appealed to all the citizens of Tibet, East Turkistan and Southern Mongolia to join hands and fight what she called “cultural genocide” being carried out by the Chinese government in these countries that are colonized by China.
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