E-Paper
Exiled Tibetans renew call for release of 11th Panchen Lama
Tibetans in exile demand China reveal the whereabouts of the 11th Panchen Lama, abducted in 1995, marking 31 years of enforced disappearance.
Tibetans living in exile in Dharamshala on Sunday urged the Chinese government to reveal the whereabouts of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who was ‘abducted’ in 1995, and demanded his release.
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, regarded by Tibetans as second only to the Dalai Lama, was recognised by the 14th Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama on May 14, 1995. Born in Chinese-occupied Tibet on April 25, 1989, he allegedly disappeared three days after his recognition, along with his parents and Chadrel Rinpoche, the abbot of Tashi Lhunpo monastery.
Beijing later appointed Gyaltsen Norbu as the Panchen Lama, a move rejected by many exiled Tibetans.
The Tibetan activists marked the 31st anniversary of enforced disappearance on Sunday, calling it a grave violation of fundamental human rights and religious freedom.
“Every day of continued silence is another day of injustice — another day the world fails a child it promised to protect. The enforced disappearance of a six-year-old is not merely a political act but a flagrant violation of fundamental human rights,” said Tenzin Lobsang, general secretary of the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC).
Spokesperson of Dharamshala-based Tibetan government-in-exile, Tenzin Lekshay, said, “China’s abduction of the 11th Panchen Lama for 31 years is a serious case of human rights violation. This is one among many cases of China’s malevolent and atrocity in Tibet that China is accountable for.”
In Tibetan tradition, there exists a long-established practice in which the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama are traditionally involved in recognising each other’s successive reincarnations. Many exiled Tibetans believe that China wants to interfere in the reincarnation process of the Dalai Lama and aims to use its appointed Panchen Lama to recognise its own choice of the next Dalai Lama.
Tenzin Tsundue, a Tibetan writer and activist, said, “Beijing’s political culture of surreptitious disappearance of high-profile personality started with the Panchen Lama in 1995. Beijing hides the real Panchen Lama and plans to use the fake one to recognise their own next Dalai Lama,” he added.
The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) group has also demanded that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) account for the Panchen Lama’s whereabouts, release him immediately, and restore to him the rights and freedoms to which he is entitled under China’s laws and its international commitments.
