An official order that compelled mass withdrawal of juvenile monks and nuns from religious institutions has created a furore amongst the Tibetan cadres and government workers in Tibet. Innumerable cases of such forceful removal have been reported in various counties under Lhasa City.

In accordance with the order, the official cadres and government workers were instructed to withdraw their children from monasteries and nunneries or else face imprisonment or expulsion from job. Approximately, 13 nuns from Potoe Nunnery and 20 monks from Sera Monastery in Phenpo Lhundup County were withdrawn from their respective religious institutions following the official instruction. Tsering Karma, an official from Chusang township in Toelung Dechen County removed his three children; two nuns and a monk. Lhabu and Paldon from village number two of Tsodue township in Phenpo Lhundup County withdrew their son and daughter from their respective monastery and nunnery. Tenpa Samphel and Pema Youdon withdrew their son while Jampa Wangyal took his daughter back from her nunnery.

In recent times, Chinese authorities have launched a series of campaigns designed specifically to purge the influence of religious belief amongst the Tibetan cadres and government workers. In a work meeting on Tibet held in Chengdu on 20 April 2000, attended by Chen Kuiyuan (the Party Secretary of Tibet Autonomous Region), Raidi (Executive Deputy Secretary for CCP in "TAR") and Kao Chinglung, it was mentioned that religion is the root cause of instability in Tibet. The minutes of the meeting was secretly circulated to all officers holding the rank of county head and above, in June this year.

The circulated document attributes the prevailing instability and disharmony in Tibet to religion and accuses the Dalai Lama of using it as a tool to oppose the Chinese government. It calls upon all concerned communist members and officials to enforce laws that restrict people from participating in religious practices, setting up of religious altar in their homes, and keeping pictures of the Dalai Lama, to achieve systematic effacing of religion from the Tibetan horizon. Reference is also made to the young 17th Karmapa's sudden flight from Tibet, considered as a defiant act against the Chinese government. The official document further denounces as illegal, the observance of customary Sangsol (Incense-burning ceremony) near Kuru Bridge in Lhasa on the third day of the Tibetan New Year and the Dalai Lama's birthday celebration in July, and directs the local authorities to curb such practices in future.

Two beggars living near Kyichu River, at the instruction and on payment of 100 yuan by Lhasa Security Bureau officials, destroyed the incense-burning hearth where celebration of the Dalai Lama's birthday is observed every year. The Chinese officials of Ngachen township built a hall to hold dance competitions on the ruins of the Sangsol (incense-burning ceremony) area. A long fence is built around the hall to prevent Tibetans from entering this sacred area.

Reports of deployment of additional police personnel in and around Potala Palace were received. Since 28 June 2000, movement of monks in Sera, Gaden and Drepung Monasteries have been restricted and monitored.

During the third meeting of the seventh Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference held on 10 May 2000, one of the members, Dongbu Tsering Dorjee stated, "To achieve obliteration of religious faith that is manifested in our sensibility and mannerism is an important responsibility."

With the rights and freedoms of individual Tibetans being curbed and stringent laws enforced, Tibetans in Tibet are reeling under the repressive communist policies that might eventually lead to total annihilation of Buddhist culture and religion.