Alkesh Sharma
Dharamsala, March 13 (IANS) Lukar Jam was only 20 when he was forcibly jailed in Tibet by the Chinese police for raising his voice against rights violations. The memories of the extreme torture he suffered prompts him to say that there is no difference between the notorious Guantanamo Bay detention centres and Tibet jails.The torture has left Jam with a weak body and multiple injuries, but that has not deterred him from continuing the fight for Tibetans' rights in their own home country.
Jam is a former political prisoner who spent five years in a Tibet jail before escaping to India in the late 1990s.
"Many political prisoners are still lodged in Tibet jails. They are tortured brutally by the Chinese police very similar to the practices followed by 17th century rulers and kings. Tibetan prisoners are chained and beaten almost every day," Jam told IANS.
He added: "The Chinese police go wild while beating. There is no difference between Guantanamo Bay jail (the infamous prison for militants and terrorists run by the US in Cuba) and Tibetan jails. I had become very weak and had sustained several internal injuries, so the Chinese police left me in a hospital to die."
Jam fled from the hospital and reached India. He was again admitted to a hospital in Dharamsala where he underwent surgery.
"I can proudly say that my life was saved with the help of Indian blood donors who came forward to help me," Jam recalled.
He said he was still in pain.
Jam recalled how the Chinese police operated against Tibetan protesters.
"They tortured political prisoners severely in order to frighten others and prevent them from joining the freedom movement. Even after their release from jails, which happened only in very rare cases, they kept track of people's activities and made sure nobody did anything to help them," he said.
"Our freedom fighters are quite similar to Indian freedom fighters like Subhas Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi. But our struggle is very different as we are fighting it from a foreign soil where we are given refugee status," Jam added.
Jam was a student when he was arrested in 1991.
He recalled: "I had been witnessing the atrocities of the Chinese government and police and that prompted me to join a revolutionary group. I was arrested with three others for our anti-China campaigns."
"Political prisoners are not provided with any medical aid. The wounds kept bleeding. There was nobody to help and it was horrible.
"After months of extreme torture, the Chinese police left the prisoners to die in hospitals, with broken bones and multiple injuries. They did not want to take the responsibility of death in jail," Jam said.
He stressed that the Chinese police did not impose any charge against him nor did they take him for court trial.
"They labelled me as a separatist who was a threat to the country's security. I was also not allowed to hire my own lawyer.
"Yes, they offered the services of a Chinese government lawyer, but I refused to accept him. I knew he was only the mouthpiece of the Chinese police," said Jam.
According to him, there are still over 800 political prisoners in Tibetan jails, including writers, social activists and students. He said he is working from India to gather social support for them and to ensure their release.
Jam is also very radical when it comes to use of violence against China.
"It's very difficult to constitute a revolutionary group in Tibet. But I feel that if China is allowed to enter Tibet with tanks, arms and artillery and to use bombs against us, then similar rights should be given to Tibetans," Jam insisted.