The body of an influential Tibetan Buddhist leader, who died while he was in detention in Vietnam, was secretly cremated in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday, despite the arguments of activists to allow his remains to be brought back to Tibet, two sources in the region and rights for the rights have declared Radio Free Asia.
The world groups for the defense of Tibetan rights condemned cremation on Monday and called on governments to put pressure on Vietnam and China to clarify the circumstances of the death of Tulku Hungkar Dorje.
The 56 -year -old monk was the 10th abbot of the ngon pulmonary monastery in the county of Gade in the prefecture of Golog in the province of Qinghai. He died on March 29 in Ho Chi Minh-Ville, his monastery said in a statement on April 3.
His disciples say that the abbot, who had disappeared for more than eight months, had fled in Vietnam to escape the Persecution of the Chinese government for his work as an educator and promoter of the Tibetan language and culture.
They say that he died in detention after being arrested during a joint operation by the Vietnamese police and the Chinese government’s agents, and made repeated calls for an independent investigation into this death.
More than 30 Chinese officials and more than 40 Police officials and the Vietnamese government have supervised the transport of the body to the crematorium, said Ju Tenkyong, director of Amnye Machen Institute, a Tibetan center based in Dharamsala for advanced studies.
On Sunday, they were under pressure to complete the cremation at noon, the authorities confiscating the phones of all the people involved in the cremation, said Tenkyong to RFA, invoking familiar sources with the issue.
A delegation of monks from the ngon lung monastery, who had gone to Vietnam on April 5 to collect the remains of Tulku Hungkar Dorje, was prevented from seeing documents related to cremation, and they could not meet those responsible for the Vietnamese government to discuss it, the sources told RFA. It was not immediately clear if they were allowed to be present at cremation.
The cremation took place in the long run Tho Cremation Park in the north of Ho Chi Minh Ville, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the International Hospital of Vinmec Central Park, where its body was kept after its death. The park, built in 2014, is in the same place where a Tibetan Buddhist temple is now.
“This deeply disrespectful act strongly suggests an attempt to eliminate crucial evidence and prevent the truth from emerging. We fear a coordinated effort to cover the circumstances of his arrest and his death, potentially involving the Chinese authorities, “said Dr. Zoe Bedford, executive director of the Australian Council Tibet.
“The world must call this what it is: potential concealment of what could be a murder sanctioned by the state,” she added.
The Vietnamese and Chinese governments made no public statement on the abbot’s death, and they did not respond to requests for comments from the FRG.
Throughout this month, the world community of the Tibetan community and the rights organized demonstrations outside of Chinese embassies in India and elsewhere, and have submitted calls to the Vietnamese government, urging a transparent investigation and the transfer of the body of Tulku Hungkar Dorje to its monastery.
In Tibet, the monastery of Tulku Hungkar Dorje and the local residents of the County of Gade were prohibited from holding public commemorative services for the abbot, while several Tibetans who shared his photos or his messages crying for his loss on social networks were interviewed and detained, stressing the sensitivity of his death.
“Even now, the Lung Ngon monastery faces immense difficulties, and the transfer and dissemination of photos and information on Rinpoche is strictly prohibited. The monastery has been threatened with closing if it violates the orders of the Chinese government,” said Tenkyong.
Published by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington