Political prisoners, Tibet in exile news

The Drapchi 14 speak out

Source: freetibet.org

Two former Tibetan nuns and political prisoners, Gyaltsen Drolkar and Namdrol Llamo, completed a series of talks held across the UK about their prison ordeal for Tibet’s freedom and independence.

The duo were members of the ‘Drapchi 14’, singing nuns who were arrested and punished further in 1993 for expressing their support for Tibetan independence through song after secretly smuggling in a tape recorder into Drapchi Prison.

Drolkar and Llamo, each spent 11 and 12 years respectively, imprisoned for peaceful protests in Lhasa. After their arrests both were held in the Gutsa Dentation Centre for months and subject to interrogations through torture before being transferred to the infamous Drapchi Prison.

Following their speech, both made direct and passionate appeals to the people to Tibet and fellow supporters for freedom, they said: “What you have done in the past, you and Tibet supporters everywhere, has already borne good results in Tibet…I am certain that if you continue the way you have done, we will be able to achieve our aims.”
Of the ‘Drapchi 14’, one passed away in custody following years of abuse, seven remain in Tibet and six are now living in exile, both Drolkar and Llamo currently reside in Belgium.

Their efforts and struggle was not without a success as their message for freedom found its way out of prison and into the world, their songs made in a CD titled ‘Seeing Nothing but the Sky’, here is an example of their work titled ‘Song of Sadness’:

We’ve sung a song of sadness
We’ve sung it from Drapchi prison
Like the happy and joyful snow mountains
We’ve sung this song for the sake of freedom
Previously, a spiritual realm of dharma
Now, is changed to a barbaric prison ground.
Even at the cost of our lives, we Tibetans,
Will never lose our courage.
O, what a sad fate we Tibetans have!
To be tortured mercilessly by barbarians
We don’t have freedom
Under the yoke of these barbarians

A transcript of the full speech can be found here.

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