THE DIARY: China evicts 3.500 people from the largest monastery in Tibet

The Chinese authorities have evicted 3.500 Larung Gar people, the largest monastery in Tibet and one of the largest Buddhist teaching institutions in the world, and try to make others 1.500 leave the area, amid harsh criticism from human rights groups.

The Government's objective is to evict 5.000 people to reduce the size of the academy and have already been transferred 3.500 of the 10.000 monks and laymen who lived in the place until six months ago, said today to a small group of Spanish journalists - among them Efe- a Tibet expert linked to the Executive.

"No estamos destruyendo el monasterio, It is a restructuring, porque hay demasiadas personas", defended Zhang Yun, director of the Institute of History Studies of China Tibet Research Center, linked to the Chinese government.

This is one of the first official comments made to date on the controversial project., about which it is difficult to obtain information, because the center is located in the Tibetan area, restricted to the general public and in some cases prohibited to journalists.

Organizations like Human Rights Watch (HRW) o International Campaign for Tibet have harshly criticized this operation, which also foresees demolitions, pues la consideran una medida del régimen comunista para "socavar la influencia del budismo en el Tíbet".

These groups have reported that the Government is threatening monks and nuns so that they do not return to Larung Gar, which presents one of the most spectacular images of the Roof of the World: in a remote valley in a mountainous area of ​​Sichuan province (west), surrounded by hundreds of red cabins.

In line with the official version, Zhang explained, after a press conference, that the main reason for this operation is security, Well, overpopulation, in your opinion, It is a great risk if landslides or fires occur.

"Otro problema es que (…) there is no place to manage waste, lo que deriva en la propagación de enfermedades", he added.

Zhang también consideró que el centro se había convertido en una suerte de refugio para algunos "delincuentes", people without permission to reside in the area or other citizens with problems that have no relation to the Buddhist religion.

As explained, The authorities have transferred these people to other provinces or regions that have Tibetan areas and in some of them help centers have been opened..

According to HRW, as part of the restructuring process, The ruling Communist Party or local government officials will become the majority in the managing body of the Larung Gar Buddhist school, a practice that has become common in other Tibetan monasteries.