JAWALAMUKHI: More than hundred Tibetan marchers, who have been stopped and forcibly taken away by Kangra police to local custody early this morning, have started indefinite hunger strike in defiance to the arrest.
The arrested Tibetan marchers said they have launched indefinite hunger-strike by refusing to eat food offered to them. They are sitting on Dharna in front of Agarwal Dharmshala in Jawalamukhi. The activists have barely walked minutes before they were arrested early this morning on the third day of their march.
An activist coordinating the march and who managed to avoid police arrest said around 100 police have been waiting them at a junction some 3kms from reaching Dehra, near here short of actually crossing the Kangra district.
All the 100 core Tibetan marchers of the “Return March to Tibet” have been arrested and are currently held at Jawala Mukhi local police station. The activists were earlier on Monday issued restraint order by Indian Government stopping them from going beyond the local administrative district.
However, the activist said, “The police did not resort to any beatings due to nonviolent nature of the march. They forcibly picked up the activists when the marchers staged sit-in protest the moment they knew police was there to arrest them”. Some leaders representing the five organizations initiating the march and several foreigners, who have been taking solidarity march with the Tibetans from the day one of the walk, have also been arrested. Foreign Tibet activists were later released.
