LHASA, China (Reuters) - Police have detained five Tibetan monks at a monastery in Lhasa, three for listening to cassettes of pro-independence songs and two for trying to raise a Tibetan flag, Tibetan sources say.
The monks from Drepung monastery on the outskirts of the Tibetan capital were taken into custody 12 or 13 days ago, shortly before the annual Shoton festival when a giant cloth painting of the Buddha is unfurled before tens of thousands of pilgrims.
The detentions highlight China's struggle to stamp out separatist sentiment and allegiance to the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, despite political education campaigns and strict government supervision of monasteries.
Three of the monks were caught listening to pro-independence songs, while the other two were accused of trying to raise a Tibetan flag at the Shoton festival last year, the 50th anniversary of the "peaceful liberation" of Tibet by Chinese troops, the sources said without elaborating.
A monk from Drepung confirmed that five monks in their 20s had been detained about two weeks ago but declined to say why. He said he did not know where they were.
Local police officials said they were not aware of the detentions.
The detentions occurred about a week before foreign reporters were allowed on a rare trip to the remote Himalayan region to showcase its economic and social development and religious and cultural freedoms.
Tibet's Communist Party Secretary told reporters last week that Tibetans enjoyed complete freedom of religion and most had lost faith in the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in northern India since fleeing his homeland in 1959.
"The Tibetan people support the Communist Party and the socialist system," Guo Jinlong said. "In China, there is no such thing as political differences due to religious beliefs. The population here believes in religion, but that does not mean they must believe in the Dalai Lama."
PATRIOTIC EDUCATION
Tibetans interviewed under the supervision of local officials have repeated China's official line that the Dalai Lama should renounce independence, cease separatist activities and admit Tibet and Taiwan are part of China.
But Tibetans encountered away from the scrutiny of local officials often declared their allegiance to the Dalai Lama as a religious and political leader. Many secretly carry his photograph, despite a ban which locals say has been in place since 1996.
China carried out a sweeping "patriotic education" campaign in Tibet between 1996 and 2000 to stamp out separatist sentiment and allegiance to the Dalai Lama.
Monks at Lhasa's other main monastery, Sera, and at the Jokhang Temple in the centre of Lhasa, said they were not allowed photographs of the Dalai Lama and underwent political education classes at least once every two months.
The government also limits the number of monks allowed to study at Drepung, Sera and the Jokhang Temple and must approve additional recruits, monks said.
Resentment against Chinese rule erupted in the late 1980s into violent street protests eventually crushed with the imposition of martial law in 1989 under then regional party chief Hu Jintao.
Hu is expected to succeed Jiang Zemin as Secretary General of the Communist Party at a congress later this year and as president early next year.
Sporadic protests occurred through the 1990s but have dwindled in recent years.
"The riots started in 1986 and here and there after that, so in the light of those experiences, the government decided in 1996 to impose limits on the number of monks to try to raise the quality of monks," a monk told reporters at the Jokhang Temple.
In June and July this year, for the first time, monks from 96 of Tibet's main monasteries and nunneries attended a 40-day training session to study "contemporary politics", he said.
China's Communist government has ruled Tibet since its troops entered the region in 1950 and officially liberated the region in 1951.
Beijing says Tibet has been part of China since the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) and Communist rule has brought unprecedented prosperity to the region.
Tibetans living in exile accuse China of committing cultural genocide and widespread human rights abuses, especially against monks and nuns.