Click to play videoNew Delhi: A Tibetan boy Jamyang Samten, who survived an attack by Chinese border guards, is now telling his story. The 15-year-old recalls being tortured by Chinese police and hard labour in prison.
The story dates back to September last year when 75 Tibetans, including many children, were making their way over the 19,000 feet high Nanpa La Pass in the Himalayas. Their destination was Nepal and then India.
But they were detected by Chinese border guards who opened fire on them. While a Buddhist nun and another person were killed in the gunfire, 41 of them managed to escape.
Thirty-two others were caught and detained and one of them was Samten. "The border police put their guns to our heads and threatened to kill us. We were then taken to Shigatse and interrogated. They wanted to know who was guiding us out of Tibet to Nepal," he recalls.
Samten says he was taken to a labour camp and questioned over three days. He says he was also tortured with electric cattle prods. He and others were forced to dig ditches, build fences and work on fields.
Fortunately for them, a Romanian film crew in the area shot the entire incident and an international uproar ensued.
His detention lasted 48 days after which he and the others were released. Samten then paid guides to take him to Nepal. He is now in Dharmasala.
Samten is one of the lucky ones. Each year, thousands of Tibetans trek over Himalayan passes to Nepal and then India. They say the only way they can preserve their Tibetan traditions is in Dharmasala. But many never make it.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.