By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, May 12: Leaders around the world have called on China for information on the disappearance of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who was abducted on May 17, 1995. Lithuanian MP Andrius Navickas and British MP Timothy Paul Loughton have urged China for immediate action on the matter.
Andrius Navickus, head of the Provisional Group for Solidarity with Tibetans at the Lithuanian Parliament, along with numerous artists, politicians and journalists urged their President Gitan Nausėda and Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius to press China for information regarding his whereabouts.
“In September 2019, a United Nations (UN) task force investigating the disappearances and abductions of persons once again asked the People’s Republic of China about the situation of Panchen Lama. China replied that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima had received proper free education, attended university, and now found a job. To date, however, the world community has no confirmed knowledge regarding the 11th Panchen Lama – whether he is alive and what his current identity is,” the press statement by MP Navickus dated May 7 stated.
Timothy Loughton, Chair of All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet (APPGT) in the British Parliament, urged world leaders and international organizations to stand up for the liberty of the 11th Panchen Lama. “There really does need to be a reckoning with China that needs to come back into the international fellowship of law, liberty, and human rights. At the moment, it is not abiding by those laws. So, we call on Chine to release the 11th Panchen Lama and restore liberty to the people of Tibet,” concluded Loughton in a video shared by the Office of Tibet on Monday. He said that the Chinese government’s mere reassurance is “not enough” as they need to ‘release and reveal’ the Panchen Lama to the world to ensure his right to live in freedom.
Parliamentarians around the world called out China for an immediate release of Panchen Lama, his family and Chatral Rinpoche. Belgian Federal MP, Samuel Cogolati, a parliamentarian for the Ecolo-Goren Party, issued a public statement in support of the 11th Panchen Lama on Apr. 8. US Congressman Jim McGovern, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and of Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, called for the immediate release on Apr. 25 which marked the 31st birthday of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.
The Panchen Lama is considered the second-highest spiritual leader in Tibet after His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was forcibly abducted at the age of six, three days after he was identified by the Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama. More than two decades later, Tibetans continue to demand the Panchen Lama to be released and returned to the people of Tibet. China claims that his whereabouts are kept undisclosed to protect him. No one has been allowed to visit him since his disappearance.
