Exile NGOs to mark the 20th birthday of Tibet’s stolen Child

Written By: admin on April 28, 2009 No Comment

Dharamsala: Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement (TPUM) observes the 20th birthday of Gedun Choekyi Nyima, the then six year old boy from Nagchu District, Tibet, who on 25th January, 1995, was identified by H.H the Dalai Lama to be the 11th Panchen Lama of Tibet.

On this auspicious occasion, in a genuine bid to strengthen our fervid endeavors to enliven the presence of Tibet’s revered spiritual leader, TPUM is organizing a day-long event at Mcleod Ganj, Dharamsala. Beginning at 11 a.m, at the main entrance to the Tsuglakhang temple, a street play will project an enactment of Panchen Lama’s imprisonment along with a signature campaign and distribution of ‘release Panchen Lama head gear’ and ‘TPUM’s press statements in English and Tibetan’ A Candle light vigil at 6.p.m will move down to the Tsgulakhang temple where the documentary film ‘The Kingdom of a Lost Boy’ will be screened.

Despite repeated calls from UN bodies to allow independent fact-finding delegations to assess his health and general wellbeing, Chinese authorities continue to turn deaf ears and haven’t confirmed the safety and whereabouts of Panchen Lama.

While vehemently condemning the heinous acts of the Chinese Government, the exile Tibetans join the aspirations of the global voices to seek and realize the safe release of an innocent child and his family, who have become pawns in the Chinese game for political control in Tibetan spiritual affairs. The Chinese government deemed the Dalai Lama’s actions in selecting Gedun Choekyi Nyima as the reincarnated Panchen Lama to be “illegal and ineffective”, particularly as the Central Government had not confirmed the so-called “reincarnated soul boy”.

Today, with Gendun Choekyi Nyima entering adulthood, he is no longer a child and hence he is mature enough to fend, protect and speak for Himself without China’s alleged protection and security.

TPUM calls on the moral conscience of the world and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in particular and the International bodies whose pressure may hold some sway with his captors, to join our 14 years of anguish and earnest appeal for the expeditious release of Panchen Lama. We demand the Chinese government to give verifiable proof of the well-being of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family and come to the understanding that this hostile gesture of the Chinese Government intervenes in the religious reverence of the Tibetan people and it is an intrusive way of denying the basic and fundamental human rights of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.

TPUM will step up its efforts in its relentless pursuit of its goal; to ensure the safe return of Panchen Lama to his rightful abode (Tashi Lhunpo monastery) and to see the complete restoration of His freedom and His political and religious rights.

The Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement (TPUM) aims to revive the spirit of the Tibetan national uprising of 1959, and by engaging in nonviolent direct action, bring about an end to China’s illegal occupation of Tibet. TPUM is a global Tibetan movement initiated by four major Tibetan NGOs; Tibetan Women’s Association, Gu-Chu-Sum: Ex-political Prisoners Movement, National Democratic Party of Tibet and Students for a Free Tibet (India).

Notes to the Editors:

Gedun Choekyi Nyima, the then six year old boy from Nagchu District, Tibet, who on 25th January, 1995, was identified by H.H the Dalai Lama to be the 11th Panchen Lama of Tibet. Now twenty years old, the safety and whereabouts of H.H the Panchen Lama have yet to be confirmed by the Chinese authorities, who continue to deny access to Him, despite repeated calls from UN bodies to allow independent fact-finding delegations to assess His health and general wellbeing.

In an attempt to undermine and control the Tibetan people, their religion, and their nation, in November, 1995, the Chinese authorities nominated and selected a six-year-old boy named Gyaltsen Norbu. The majority of Tibetans does not recognize Gyaltsen Norbu as the true Panchen Lama but instead regard him as a puppet of the Chinese government. This is a malicious attempt to destroy the spiritual sanctity and religious tradition that Tibet embodies and it also sheds ample light on the current social, political and religious repression in Tibet today.

Since the kidnapping and incarceration of the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995, Tibetans and their supporters have been adamant in seeking His release and the worldwide campaigns will continue to highlight the predicament of the Panchen Lama and the political prisoners in Tibet. The presence of the Panchen Lama amidst the Tibetan people is necessary to strengthen the faith of the Tibetan people and for completing the structural mechanism to ensure the continuity of religious authority and leadership in Tibetan Buddhism. In September 2005, during the 36th session of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that called upon the Chinese authorities to allow an independent body to verify the fate of Gedun Choekyi Nyima, the Panchen Lama of Tibet, the chairman of CRC asked the Chinese authorities to “allow an independent expert to visit and confirm the well-being of Gedun Choekyi Nyima while respecting his right to privacy, and that of his parents.” But the request is still pending for four years.

During the 41st session of the United Nations Convention against Torture, in November 2008, the CAT experts laid strong emphasis on the need to follow-up and essentially implement the recommendation of Committee on the Rights of the Child on Panchen Lama made in the year 2005.