BEIJING (AP) - China is barring religious instruction for a Tibetan boy who is said to be the reincarnation of an important monk, an apparent reprisal for the escape of a Buddhist leader last year, a monitoring group said Tuesday.
Chinese authorities have kept 8-year-old Pawo Rinpoche under close surveillance since moving him last year from his monastery to Tibet's capital, Lhasa, the London-based Tibet Information Network said.
The young monk is not permitted to wear monastic robes or undertake religious studies and instead is escorted each day to a regular primary school by two security officers, the group said.
The boy, born Tsuglag Mawe Dayang, was 15 months old in 1994 when the 17th Karmapa, a Tibetan Buddhist leader who fled to India last year, recognized him as the 11th incarnation of Pawo Rinpoche.
Chinese authorities also endorsed the boy's selection, and he is one of the most important monks in Tibetan Buddhism's Karma Kagyu sect who still lives in Tibet, the monitoring group said.
The 17th Karmapa - who is only 15 himself - is the only senior lama to be recognized both by China and the exiled Dalai Lama, the supreme leader of Tibetan Buddhists. The Karmapa left Tibet for India in January 2000.
Exiled Tibetan monks who knew the boy said Chinese authorities removed him from his monastery near Lhasa in reprisal for the Karmapa's escape, the group said.
China has maintained a tight grip on Tibet since its troops occupied the Himalayan region in 1950. To strengthen its control over Tibet's Buddhist people, Beijing has sought to reduce the influence of monks and monasteries.
Authorities have tried to remove monks still loyal to the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. Chinese authorities have also sought to control the selection of important monks.
AP-NY-07-03-01 0944EDT
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.