Pema Lhundup, a 41-year-old farmer from Lhodrak, was arrested during the Cultural Revolution for assisting the resistance leader Dorji Drak Gyalsay in preparations for a planned uprising. His activities were exposed by informers, and he was subjected to a public trial at Menthang Monastery, where he was brutally beaten and forced to confess.

Following the trial, Pema Lhundup was detained under harsh and degrading conditions. After his release, he remained under strict surveillance and continued to face intimidation and the constant threat of re-arrest. Fearing further persecution, he fled Tibet alone on 20 October 1967, leaving his family behind, and escaped to Bhutan in search of safety.