China urges Tibetan monks to leave quake zone
The Chinese government has urged the Tibetan monks who rushed to provide aid in the wake of the earthquake in Yushu to now return home.
Thousands of monks flocked to Yushu in the wake of last week's 7.1-magnitude quake, which killed over 2,187 people.
As official rescue teams struggled to reach the remote region, teams of monks saved huge numbers of lives in the immediate aftermath of the quake.
"I commend the monastic community for their good neighbourly support and assistance to the families of those who have lost everything," said the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetans.
However, the presence of thousands of monks in Yushu, a predominately ethnic Tibetan region, appears to have made the Chinese government uneasy.
Chinese media coverage of the quake carried few images of monks doing rescue work and monks were conspicuously absent from the memorial service for the victims of the quake.
Now, China's State Council has said monks should leave the area and allow relief teams to take over their work.
"The duties of rescue workers in the quake zone are basically over, and the focus has moved to disease prevention and reconstruction, which need specialised people," the State Council said in a statement.
"While fully recognising the positive contributions of the monks that came from other areas, we suggested to them that they return to their monasteries to ensure the high effectiveness and order of quake relief work," it said.
The government remains unsure of the monks in the wake of widespread riots in 2008 against Chinese rule.
"The government's attitude is that the lamas are an unstable element, this is especially so following the unrest," said Woeser, a leading Tibetan activist.
She said monks had been told to leave as "they had already done too much and that if they stayed it could become troublesome."
However, Luo Sangjiancuo, a monk from Sexu monastery in the nearby county of Ganzi, said the majority of monks who were active in Jiegu had already returned home. The Sexu monastery sent 800 monks to Jiegu in the aftermath of the quake and was responsible for setting up hundreds of tents in the city's race track to shelter families.
"There was no pressure from the government," he said. "Most of us left earlier this week because there were too many of us and there was actually little for us to do. The rescue operation had come to an end.
The problems with food, medicine and accommodation have mostly been solved. We are now back in Ganzi, raising money and praying. We left a few monks behind to provide spiritual comfort," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment