E/CN.4/1992/52
page 7
must be forbidden.' It is also said to indicate that 'Religious professionals
are responsible for liaising with the religious masses to manage religious
affairs and keep them in order, and to preserve monasteries, especially those
monasteries which have been listed as important cultural units.' It
reportedly prescribes that 'We must bear in mind the reality of the masses of
people in our prefecture. They have just been living a reasonably well-off
life, and therefore we must advise them on not to donate too much money to
religion, and not to start big constructions, in order to avoid waste of
manpower, e t c ' The report allegedly states further that 'It should be
pointed out specially that the regulation on forbidding young people under 18
years of age to be religious was not seriously carried out in some areas. It
is not allowed and (is) a violation of the policy to seduce young people into
religion by taking advantage of their inexperience and inability to tell right
from wrong.' The report is said to conclude by indicating that 'It is
obvious, therefore, that it is a long-term, not-ending-until-the-naturalextinction-of-religion enduring work to continue to propagate the religious
policy to the masses, especially the religious people, to raise their level of
self-consciousness.'
It has been reported that the Monlam (Great Prayer) Festival has been
banned for the third consecutive year and that the streets in the Barkor area
of Lhasa which are used for circumambulation of the Jokhang Temple were dug up
during this period. It has also been reported that on this occasion a 24-hour
curfew had been placed on monasteries near Lhasa from 1 to 11 March 1991 and
that units of the People's Armed Police (Wu Jing) of up to 100 men sealed off
the monasteries, thus preventing about 900 monks from leaving the monasteries
of Drepung, Ganden and Sera. It has been alleged that a monk had been shot
and wounded in the abdomen by the armed police on 1 March 1991.
It has further been reported that monks who were expelled from
monasteries, imprisoned and subsequently released and confined to their areas
of origin are obliged to report to the local police authorities every seven
days. They allegedly cannot leave the area without official permission and in
the event that it is granted must return within seven days. These
restrictions are said to be imposed for indefinite periods. If allowed once
again to join a monastery, the monks are confined to the monastery area and
required to report to the police every seven days. The reporting sessions are
said to last an hour and include requests for information about other monks in
the monastery. Monks are reportedly also restricted with regard to which
monastery they may receive education from.
Pilgrims visiting these monasteries are reportedly searched and special
approval by the authorities is said to be required for the performance of
religious ceremonies and rituals which are said to be limited mainly to
outward manifestations such as circumambulation and prostration. It has been
reported that the authorities have decreed that only 'normal' religious
practices are allowed and only within specified buildings. All administrative
decisions are said to be made by local officials, thus depriving the monastic
officials of all authority.
It has further been alleged that in February and May 1991 all monks and
nuns in the principal religious institutions of Lhasa were confined by the
authorities to their quarters for periods of up to two weeks and that permanent