LIFELINES: How a Tibetan Monk Survived Twenty-Four Years of Imprisonment

The story of Palden Gyatso
as told to Francisca von Holtoon

 

INTRODUCTION

When I sat down with Palden Gyatso to start my first interview with him, he asked me: 'Do you want the short version or the long version?' I replied that I preferred the long version. It took Palden more than twenty hours to tell me the story of his life. Listening to the skinny, toothless, bright-eyed monk, I was fixed to my chair. His words inspired rather than depressed me. Ever since he was first arrested in 1959, Palden kept on risking his life trying to inform the world as to what was happening in Tibet. However much he was threatened with arrest, tortue, or extension of his sentence, Palden felt the urge to bring out his news.

Palden's story is only one of many I recorded during my stay in Dharamsala, the domicile of the Tibetan government-in-exile. My involvement with Tibet started in 1991 when I spent five months in Ladakh (Jammu & Kashmir, India) teaching English in the S.O.S. Tibetan Children's Village. Most of my pupils were born in India, their parents having fled from Tibet after the Chinese arrived in the fifties. In Ladakh I heard some eye witness accounts of repression and torture in Tibet and I gradually started to realize the scope of the problems of the Tibetan people. When I came back to the Netherlands in 1992 I started to do volunteer work for Amnesty International as the Dutch representative to Tibet. After two years of reading and discussing lengthy reports on human rights violations in Tibet I decided it was time to go to that country.

I arrived in Tibet in August, 1993 and travelled around that country for about two months. During these months I did not witness any of the atrocities which I had read so much about. These are kept safely hidden from the eyes of foreign visitors. Even though I knew some Tibetans I did not speak much with the people I met - there are enough examples of Tibetans who were arrested after talking to foreigners. Only after I arrived in Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh, India) could I start to compile news on the situation in Tibet. I interviewed many refugees who had just arrived from Tibets and sent my reports to several human rights organizations. Many people have asked me how one can bear to listen to these stories of pain, fear and frustration. In fact I feel that documenting these testimonies is an act of faith. Perhaps one day there will be enough world-wide resistance against the authorities in Tibet to bring about a change for the better.

Unfortunately, most of the stories I have recorded cannot be published without alterations. I promised the people I interviewed that our conversations were to be strictly confidential. I do not want to jeopardize thier friends and relatives who stayed behind in Tibet. Palden Gyatso speaks on their behalf.

Palden Gyatso's Twenty-Four Year Survival in Detention

Palden Gyatso is a 62-year-old Buddhist monk who reached Dharamsala in 1992 after twenty-four years of horror, torture, hard labour, and humiliations in various prisons and labour camps in Tibet. "The only drive to stay alive was that I was determined to tell the outside world what is happening in Tibetan prisons," he replied, when I asked him how he managed to stay alive.

Palden Gyatso was born in Panam, (Gyantse district, Tibet) in 1931. At that time his family was relatively well-off. His father was a tex collector until the Chinese came in 1950. At the age of 10, Palden became a monk at Gadrong Gompa in Shigatse. He studied there for six years and then moved to Drepung Monastery, close to Lhasa.

On 10 March, 1959, Palden went to Lhasa for some private business. When he arrived in the city he learned from friends that a large crowd had gathered in the Norbulinka (The Summer Palace) to protect the Dalai Lama from being kidnapped by the Chinese. When Palden arrived at the Norbulinka he saw people everywhere. They were lying on the ground and on vehicles. Even blind people had come to join the blockade. Palden did not stay long. he hurried back to Drepung where he helped with the organization of a small volunteer army. the three big monasteries, Sera, Drepung, and Ganden had received a message from the Tibetan government that the monks should be prepared to fight if the worst came to the worst. Moreover, the government had sent a small supply of weapons to the three monasteries. Palden became the leader of a 100-man army. The actual fighting started on 19 March. Palden's army never got a chance to fight. They fired some shots in the direction of the Chinese army, but they couldn't see anybody. They just saw clouds of dust, since the Chinese army had started to shell the city. Palden had but one concern: the safety of His Holiness. He did not know that the Dalai Lama had left the city and was already on his way to India.

On 21 March, when the fighting had stopped, Palden fled back to Drepung. Since the monastery was completely surrounded by Chinese soldiers, he had to steal in from the backside. He found the monastery almost empty, most of his friends had left. His 72-year-old teacher Rigzin Jampa had remained. Palden tried to convince Rigzin that they should escape together, but his teacher kept saying, "I am too old. You should go alone. I will stay here." Palden pleaded with him and finally succeeded in changing the old man's mind. He took Rigzin Jampa on his back and carried him out of the monastery. They managed to escape from the notice of the Chinese soldiers and set out on a 14-day walk to Panam. Whenever the road was rough Palden took his teacher on his back. They couldn't travel along the main road, since it was heavily gaurded by the Chinese army. As soon as they arrived in Panam, Rigzin Jampa was arrested. When he was interogated he pretended to be Indian, and showed a picture of himself and Jawaharlal Nehru. He was accused of being an Indian spy and was fortunate enough to be sent to India. Palden, who had been arrested shortly after his teacher, was less fortunate. He was taken to Drepung for interrogation. He was hand-cuffed, and kicked and beaten with a stick with nails on the end. After the interrogation he was taken back to Panam where he was to serve a 7-year sentence. For the first 8 months he was kept hand-cuffed and leg-cuffed. After 8 months he was asked whether he had 'reformed his mind' and whether he wanted to work. He replied that he was ready to work. His hand-cuffs were removed and he was sent to the prison carpet factory. It was very difficult for him to do the work as his leg-cuffs had not been removed. He dug a hole in the ground, put his legs in it and thus was able to weave. After two years his leg-cuffs were finally removed.

In 1962 Palden couldn't bear the harsh treatment and the labour anymore and he tried to escape. Moreover, he felt the urge to let the outside world know what was going on in his country. With 6 friends he managed to reach the norder town Dangmo. Unfortunately, they ran into an army contingent on its way back from the Sino-Indian border war. They were all taken back to Panamsheng prison. They were severely punished for their attempt to escape: they were suspended from the ceiling by their arms, which had been tied behind their backs. They were left hanging in this position for a few hours and beaten harshly. Palden's sentence was increased by 8 years. Soon prison life resumed its daily routine. Every day Palden and his friends had to plow the land like human yaks. The food they were given was rough and scarce. Some of Palden's mates died of starvation. Unlike his friends, Palden never resorted to eating rats, mice and insects. Instead he soaked his boots in water and ate them. Most of the elderly prisoners did not survive the harsh circumstances.

When the Cultural Revolution started in 1966, the situation in prison deteriorated even more. All prisoners had to hand in every single Tibetan item they had brought with them: cups, clothes, tsampa bags (roasted barley), rosaries, etc. One day the prison authorities announced that there would be a debate on the future of Tibet. At that time there were about 2/3000 prisoners in Panamsheng prison. Most of them were political prisoners. All Tibetan political prisoners were called to the hall where they had to listen to a speech of one of the Chinese officials. This official gave a detaileded account of progress in communist countries. He kept emphasizing that democracy was dying, whereas communism was becoming more and more powerful. He made them believe that the Indian government would soon recognize China's powerful position and would hand over the Dalai Lama to the Chinese government. After the lecture, the official asked the prisoners to divide themselves in groups of about 15 people. They were free to choose whether they wanted to support or attack the views the official had just expressed. Each group was sent to a separate room for internal discussion. Palden joined a group which defended the Tibetan point of view and spoke out against communism. Each individual prisoner had to write down the views and submit the statement to prison authorities. After some time the groups were called back to the hall. The real debate started. Spokesmen from each group discussed if and how Tibet should become independent. About 50% of the spokesmen defended the idea that Tibet should regain independence. The debate took 7 days. At the end the prision authorities decided that the camp supporting independence had won the debate. They said that they had become convinced that the idea of independence was good but that they were not sure whether it could be realized.

At the time, Palden believe that the officials were sincere. In fact, he felt that he should teach them about the true history of Tibet. However, looking back on the event, Palden has come to believe that the debate's true purpose was that the Chinese wanted to learn more about the history, culture, and politics of Tibet, in order to be able to turn around the facts. During the debate the Chinese tooks notes and did not interfere at all. After the debate they used the arguments to demonstrate that neither group - those in favour of independence and those against it - believed in independence anymore. They strengthened their proof by giving the names of independence supporters and depicting them as pro-Chinese. Another purpose behind the debate might have been that the prison authorities were trying to divide the Tibetans among themselves.

In 1966, Palden was transferred to Outitu prison. Instead of working on the fields he now had to carve rocks and carry them on his neck. Every once in a while all political prisoners were called to 'thamzing,' struggle sessions. During these sessions they were urged to speak out against the old traditional Tibetan society and the Dalai Lama. They were asked to step on his picture and denouce him. Those who were too contrary were forced to sign a 'confession.' This confession stated that they had behaved badly and should therefore be executed. If they refuse to sign, the officials put a pen in their hands and pulled the pen across the paper. Three days before the execution was to take place, they were informed about the date. On the eve of their execution they were forced to sing and dance in front of the other prisoners. Palden remembered how they all cried having to watch this grim spectacle. 'We were even denied the dignity to die in our own way,' he said. On the execution day big wooden blocks with Chinese characters were hung around the necks of the unfortunate ones. They were thrown into a truck like bags and driven to Drapchi prison. Their fellow prisoners were driven to Drapchi in separate trucks. At Drapchi, those who had been condemned to death were forced to kneel down close to an open pit and listen to their 'crimes.' The others had to watch from a distance. After the crimes had been publicly announced, the men would be shot, one by one. Palden remembers how one monk from Ganden did not die after seven shots had been fired at him. The executioners dragged him to the pit and buried him alive. Some died even before reaching the execution site, out of fear or weakness. Those who were watching the spectacle had to lift their hands after each execution which meant that they approved of the execution. They were not allowed to talk to each other or even cough.

In 1975 Palden's sentence expired. He was 'released' and sent to a work brigade about 15 miles outside Lhasa. The conditions in this labour camp were almost as harsh as in prison. Palden had 'to wear a black cap,' a term of abuse for an ex-prisoner, a reactionary element. The authorities told all those 'wearing a black cap' that they should be grateful that they had been given a job. The supervisors in the brigade kept an extra eye on the 'black caps.' Palden was not allowed to leave the camp alone. The food was hardly better than in prison. Orders had to be obeyed instantly, otherwise the camp authorities would beat or kick. During Palden's 9 years in the work brigade, 18 people committed suicide. Some of them simply ran up to the road and threw themselves under a truck. Due to the harsh circumstances, some people died. Their dead bodies were carried to the river by their fellows and thrown into the water. For the 'black caps' there was a special graveyard called Fulo Dhotoe. (In Chinese, fulo = black cap.)

Some of the workers in the camp were told to do heavy labour like rock carving. Others had to collect human feces, which was used as manure on the fields. They had to collect at least three buckets a day. One day, an old man called Tsethen Wangchuck was scolded for not finding enough feces. When the gaurds asked him why he had brought so little he suddenly burst out: "Before 1959 we didn't have to do this kind of dirty work.' He was executed shortly afterwards.

Palden worked in a brick factory for 3-4 years. During these years he also had to work on the fields from time to time. His work on the fields gave Palden an opportunity to talk to the villagers from the surrounding area. They used to come to the work brigade fields to beg for food. He gave them food and tried to find out as much as he could about the circumstances in the villages. His reason for doing so was that he thought there might be a chance to talk about his findings to the outside world one day. (Ironically, this chance came when he was rearrested. He told the officials who were interrogatin him: "There is no progress at all. If you want to find out for yourself, go and have a look.')

After a few years, Palden was transferred to the carpet factory. He pretended that the work was too hard for on person and that he really needed an assistant. After some time the gaurds told him to go to the fields and select an assistant. He went out and chose one of his old cell-mates Lobsang Wangchuk. From that time onwards Lobsang and Palden worked together all day and had much time to discuss their circumstances. They made plans. They started to compiled news and write pamphlets.

In 1979, on the first day of Losar, (New Year), they stuck one of their pamphlets on the noticeboard outside the Mendzekhang. This noticeboard was used for the commands of Chairman Mao and for propaganda about progress in Tibet. Their pamphlet may have been the first written criticism on Chinese policies since 1959. Palden and Lobsang signed the pamphlets with their full names. They had two reasons for doing so. In the first place they wanted to wake up the people of Lhasa, who were mostly too scared to show any resentment towards the Chinese. They thought that their signature might encourage other people in Lhasa to follow their example. The second reason was that they wanted to test their constitutional right to freedom of expression. Immediately after their action they were summoned to the police station. When they were asked why they had put up the pamphlet, they answered: "We have not violated the Chinese constitution. We 'chema' (Chinese citizens) have a right to express our ideas." The officials answered, "You are right, but we do not approve of what you have done. Your action might affect the masses."

Their pamphlet had apparently caused a big stir in Lhasa. Palden and Lobsang were not arrested immediately. Apparently the authorities were afraid of the reaction of the people of Lhasa. Yet, Palden and Lobsang knew that they would be rearrested sooner or later. One year later, Lobsand was arrested and Palden was placed under extra strict surveillance. Wherever Palden went he was accompanied by two Tibetan spies. Somehow, Lobsang managed to send a letter to Palden. He wrote: "the Chinese authorities are telling me that nobody talks about independence anymore since my arrest. they try to convince me that you and I are the only two people who want independence. You should try to write more documents and put them on the walls of Lhasa. You have to keep the spirit of protest alive." Palden felt that he had little to lose, he did not hesitate to write more pamphlets. One night he left the labour camp after midnight, when the electric lights were switched off. After a 3-hour walk to Lhasa he put up his documents and walked back. When he arrived back at the camp he could hear the first roosters at dawn. He sneaked back into his bed and pretended to be sick. The same morning, the police came to look for him. When they had discovered the pamphlets, they immediately suspected Palden, although he had not signed his documents with his name this time. Palden told the police he was ill, and they left, telling him he should go to hospital.

On 26 August, 1983, Palden was rearrested from Drepung Monastery. He had been granted a 3-month leave from the brigade to go on a retreat in his monastery. At midnight an armed division came into his room and took him straight to prison. After he was imprisoned the police searched his room at the work brigade. They found a copy of a poster that Palden had put up in Lhasa. On this poster Palden had written a new year's greeting for the people of Lhasa. Although this document was not political, it was used as evidence for his counter-revolutionary activities. There was no official trial. Palden was sentenced to another 8 years of imprisonment.

Initially Palden was sent to Seitu (old location), which at the time was a real prison instead of the detention CENTER it is now. After one year he was transferred to the new Seitu prison. One year later he was again transferred to Outitu, where he stayed for six years. When Palden was the only political prisoner left in Outitu he was transferred to Drapchi. In Outitu Palden wrote many small notes about prison conditions and fellow prisoners. He hid these notes in his sleeves and tied rubber bands around his wrists. He never showed the notes to other prisoners as there were many spies around. He used the pen and paper which had been given to him by prison authorities. He was supposed to use these for writing 'self-criticism.' Palden passed on these notes to visitors and asked them to be given to foreigners. Some of these notes reached Dharamsala. When the prison authorities started suspecting Palden they called him for interrogation. Palden insisted that he had written the notes while he was in the labour brigade. The authorities couldn't find any evidence against him but prolonged his sentence one year. Palden did not give up is ambitions to inform the outside world: he kept on writing notes.

When Palden arrived in Drapchi, all political prisoners had to work in the apple orchard. This orchard was very big. It was fenced off by electric wire. Several times the authorities published pictures depicting prisoners enjoying themselves picking apples, but in reality the work was very hard. Sometimes, prisoners would steal an apple to feed their hungry stomachs. Pema Rigzin, one of the most cruel gaurds, knew this. One day he ordered some prisoners to spray the apples with 'tetiwu' (Chinese for very strong insecticide.) They had to wear a mask when spraying the apples. All prisoners who were watching felt their eyes burning. Pema Rigzin announced: "Whoever wants to die can come forward now." Nobody came. Two days later Palden saw how the apples were plucked and loaded into a truck without having been washed. They were sold on the market in Lhasa. Vegetables which are grown by Tibetan prisoners are mostly bought by the Tibetans rather than the Chinese. Tibetans know that prisoners have to fulfill their work quota and might be punished if the sale of their produce is not successful.

In 1985/86, prison conditions improved slightly. Palden thinks that these improvements were made after Dharamsala had annonced that His Holiness wanted to visit Tibet. The authorities were trying to show that their policies had really relaxed. When after the bloody suppression of the demonstrations in 1987 it became clear that the Dalai Lama had cancelled his visit, the clock was turned back immediately. Before the 1987 demonstrations, there were only 7 political prisoners in all prisons in and around Lhasa. After 1987 there were hundreds.

The prison gaurd continuously tried to prevent 'old' political prisoners from talking to those who had arrived in 1987. As soon as they noticed that there was any contact between the old and the new prisoners they summoned them and asked them what they had been talking about.

Palden's two main sources of news about the outside world were his relatives and a small transistor radio which had been smuggled into the prison. Palden and his mates listened to this radio whenever it was safe, they hid it in a 'dongmo' (tea vessel) afterwards. Palden always wrote important news down. Finally, one of the fifteen spies in his workunit reported the existence of the radio to the authorities. Ngodrup, the owner of the radio, was severely beatne afterwards. One of his legs broke. Exchanging information was extremely dangerous. One day, the prison gaurd caught Yeshe Ngawang exchanging papers with his relatives. He was tortured very severely. Moreover, his relatives were taken outside and beaten very badly. Yeshe's sentence was increased by 9 years. After this incident all political prisoners were beaten more frequently and were called for 'thamzing.' Mostly they were tortured with a long electric baton. When the baton broke, the officials took a new one and continued the treatment. Sometimes, the officials would use the chains which were tied around the wheels of the military trucks to beat the victims.

In 1990, on 13 October, Palen was transferred to Drapchi prison. When he arrived he was immediately taken to the interrogation room, where he was received by Paljor. Palden recognized Paljor, who had been one the worst torturers during his earlier stay in Drapchi. Paljor looked at his file and raised his eyebrows: "I see that you have been imprisoned twice. You must be very bad. Why are you here again?" Palden answered that he had put up pamphlets in Lhasa. Then Paljor stood up slowly and said: "So, do you still want independence now?" When Palden did not answer, Paljor took the electric baton and stuck it into Palden's mouth and throat. Palden quickly lost consciousness. When he woke up he found himself in a puddle of vomit and urine. He had lost twenty teeth.

Politcal and non-political prisoners were not allowed to talk to each other. Sometimes there were secret meeting on the corridor. During one of these meetings Palden learned that the conditions of the ordinary criminals and those of the political prisoners differed quite a lot. Ordinary criminals were allowed to receive their visitors for two or three hours, while the political prisoners could see their relatives for only ten minutes. During the visits ordinary criminals were not watched very closely, whereas political prisoners had no privacy whatsoever with their visitors. People who came to see a political prisoners on the wrong day had no chance of being let in, but those who came for ordinary criminals could often be let in for ten to fifteen minutes. The food of the non-political prisoners was much better than the food of the political prisoners. During re-education meetings ordinary criminals sat on chairs, whereas political prisoners had to sit on the floor. The contact between the political prisoners and the ordinary criminals was generally quite good. Some criminals, however, behaved very badly towards political prisoners. Apparently they believe whatever the gaurds had told them. They would beat political prisoners whenever they got a chance, trying to improve their record by offering help when they saw gaurds beating up political prisoners. During Palden's stay in Drapchi, many non-political prisoners had their sentences reduced by 'behaving well' and assisting prison authorities.

One month before his release Palden contacted some Tibetan officials whom he trusted. He asked them to bribe Chinese officials into selling him some torture instruments. When his sentence was due, Palden was released. His best friend in prison, Lobsang Wangchuk, had died. The instruments were waiting for him in the house of a friend. They had beem paid for by many friends who realized the importance of showing these instruments to the outside world. One electric baton costs about 800 yuan, about three month's salary. After his release, Palden spent 13 days in Lhasa, where he prepared himself for his escape to India. On 7 October, 1992 he left Lhasa by jeep. He was dressed up in a Chinese suit. For the first time in his life he wore a tie. He reached the border town Dangmo after two days. From reliable source he heard that the border police had received his picture from Lhasa, and that they were looking for him. After spending en days in a friend's house he left with a Nepali kuli. Together they walked day and night through a dense forest carrying the 20 kilograms of torture instruments. When they crossed the river on a make-shift bridge made only of iron chains, they could see the border police on the Frienship Bridge. Fortunately, the police did not see them. With the help of a Nepali policeman Palden finally reached Kathmandu, on the back of a motor-cycle. Palden stayed only two days in the reception centre in Kathmandu. He did not want to run the risk of being arrested by the Nepalese police, who were bound to have been informed about him through the Chinese authorities. He kept very quiet in the Kathmandu reception centre and left for India after two days. At present, Palden in employed at the reception centre for new arrivals in Dharamsala. The Tibetan government-in-exile now keeps the torture implements which Palden brought with him.

Palden wishes above all to turn his suffering into usefulness. His burning desire to inform the outside world about prisons in Tibet has not left him.

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