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Towards the last two months of my last visit to India in the spring of 2012, I encountered the Tibetan community in exile in India experiencing painful news of their people self-immolating in fire one after another in China-occupied Tibet. My experiences in the past visits in India (drawing a cremation site in Varanasi, documenting fire pits, cremation alters, and contemplating on life and death around fire) synchronized with this particular movement, an extreme way of ‘offering’ their bodies to ‘fire’ for asking freedom and peace.I could not help drawing large and small drawings as emotional response and with a sense of mourning.

After coming back to Vancouver, the self-immolation kept happening and I felt that my personal and professional task is not finished.

I have come back to India to continue to document and draw under the same theme. tomoyoihaya@hotmail.com

12 April 2021

For Kunchok Jinpa "Even if they arrest me, I am not afraid. even if they kill me, I have no regrets"


 For Konchok Jinpa, 51 years old, who passed away on February 6 2021 due to ill-treatment and torture in the prison.

"I am now at the bank of a river. There are many people behind me watching me, and I am sure to be arrested. Even if they arrest me, I am not afraid, even if they kill me, I have no regrets. But from now on, I will not be able to give reports. If there is no word from me, that means I have been arrested.”

These were the last words that Kunchok Jinpa shared on social media. The Tibetan tour guide was sentenced to 21 years imprisonment for giving information to foreign media about a protest against planned mining on a sacred mountain.

Kunchok Jinpa’s arrest stemmed from protests against a mining project at Naghla Dzambha Mountain in Driru in 2013. According to Tibet Watch’s sources, local authorities tried to begin mining activities at the Naghla Dzambha Mountain in October 2013. The mountain is considered a holy and sacred site and the plans to carry out mining there prompted thousands of Tibetans to protest. The demonstrations were met with a violent crackdown in which thousands were arrested. Kunchok Jinpa shared information of these non-violent protests with the Tibetan community in India. He also called for environmental protection and a ban on mining in the region.

Meanwhile, Driru County remains subjected to harsh measures including further mass arrests, more intensive surveillance measures and numerous propaganda campaigns.

During the 2013 protests, all communication channels were restricted and the Internet was shut down. Villagers were forced to fly the Chinese flag outside their home and those Tibetans who refused to comply were arrested. Protests spread to other parts of the region. Due to the severe restrictions and block on communications, the whereabouts and condition of thousands of those who have been arrested in these protests remains unknown to this day.

Kunchok Jinpa’s family members were not informed of his arrest, or of his secret trial, in which he was found guilty of leaking state secrets and handed a sentence of 21 years in prison.


（caption borrowed from Student Free Tibet India's post)

https://www.thetibetpost.com/en/news/tibet/6968-kunchok-jinpa-died-of-torture-and-abuse-at-the-hands-of-chinese-police-in-prison