Reported By Palden
Translated By TenGyal
Druk Bum Gyal, the county governor of Drakkar (Xinghai) County in Tsolho (Hainan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, has been dismissed from his position for failing to enforce policies restricting Tibetans from participating in religious activities.
Recently, the Chinese government issued policy directives strictly prohibiting local populations from practising Nyung-ne, the traditional Tibetan fasting retreat, and placing further restrictions on religious activities in the five counties of Serchen (Gonghe), Trikka (Guide), Drakkar (Xinghai), Mangra (Guinan) and Ba in Tsolho (Hainan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. However, Druk Bum Gyal, the county governor of Drakkar County, was dismissed and demoted to a minor position for failing to immediately implement policies to ban fasting practices (Nyungne) and to dismantle prayer flags in the county.
According to a reliable source from within Tibet, “Authorities issued orders across counties in Tsolho Prefecture to restrict religious activities, crack down on hoisting of prayer flags (lungta and darchok), and mandate display of the Chinese national flag on every household’s front gate. However, Drukbum Gyal- who served as both Communist Party Secretary and Governor of Drakkar County—resisted immediate enforcement, stating, ‘If we implement this policy immediately in our county, there is no telling how the public will react; we will implement it slowly over time.’ Consequently, higher officials immediately stripped him of his posts and reassigned him to a minor administrative role in the Tsolho Prefecture People’s Congress.”
The source further noted, “The local Tibetan residents are widely praising Druk Bum Gyal, calling him ‘a brave man who did the right thing.’ Meanwhile, religious practices and activities in Tsolho Prefecture have been heavily clamped down upon, with authorities mandating that at least one representative per family attend a Chinese national flag-raising ceremony every Monday morning at their local village committee building.”
Following the appointment of a Chinese official named Xiong Yuanlai as the Communist Party Secretary of Tsolho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in April of this year, strict measures have been enforced throughout the prefecture’s counties and townships. Authorities have destroyed Mani stone structures, set fire to prayer flags, and mandated the display of the Chinese national flag. Additionally, claiming that Tibetan personnel are overrepresented in the administration, they have ousted numerous Tibetan officials. This all-out crackdown has subjected the local Tibetan population to profound physical and mental hardship.
Furthermore, since around 2012 under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the Chinese government—under the guise of its anti corruption policy of targeting both “tigers and flies”—has not only investigated, imprisoned, and sentenced officials among occupied minority populations and those whose views clash with Chinese Communist Party ideology, but has also continuously used trumped up charges to crush intellectuals, environmentalists, and human rights activists who dissent from Communist rule. Accusations such as violating the central government’s Eight-Point Decision, disloyalty to the nation, ingratitude, loss of faith, abandonment of ideals, bribery, corruption, harming social stability, and attempting to split the country have been—and continue to be—leverage to eliminate them.
Drukbum Gyal was born in 1973 in Tharshul Township, Mangra (Guinan) County. After graduating from Qinghai University in 1993, he entered government service, working as a cadre in the Mangra County People’s Congress and county government, as well as serving as head of Gomang Township. In 2009, he became Deputy Governor of Ba County, and later served as Deputy Party Secretary and Deputy Governor of Drakkar County, eventually rising through the ranks to become both the Communist Party Secretary and Governor of Drakkar County.
