Chinese police in Ngaba (or Ngawa, Chinese: Aba) Prefecture of Sichuan Province have taken into custody a 45-year-old senior monk of the local Trotsik Monastery for what appears to be nothing more than reciting prayers on the WeChat social media platform for his group, according to the Tibetan Service of rfa.org Aug 5. Citing a local source, the report said Konmey, the senior discipline master of the monastery, was taken away on Jul 20. “He had performed prayers on his WeChat group, but he only talked about the number of prayers he had accumulated,” the report quoted the source as saying, speaking on condition of anonymity. “He said nothing at all about political issues.” The report cited people who knew the monk as saying he was unlikely to have talked politics given his sensitivity towards engaging in any such action under Chinese rule. “We don’t know that there were any other kinds of conversations on that WeChat group, only praying,” the source was further quoted as saying.
