TYC President Tenzing Jigme (left) and National Director of Students for a Free Tibet-India, Rinzin Choedon (right), flag off a motorcycle rally marking the Panchen Lama turning 30 years of age, in McLeod Ganj, India, on 23 April 2019. Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal
By Lobsang Wangyal
McLEOD GANJ, India, 23 April 2019
Thirty Tibetan activists of Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) are making their way to Delhi on motorcycles to raise awareness about the Panchen Lama, who turns 30 on 25 April.
Those taking part say the rally is to support Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama, and to seek his release from the Chinese captivity.
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who was born on 25 April 1989 in Lhari County, Tibet, was chosen by the Dalai Lama on 15 May 1995 as the 11th Panchen Lama, which is the second highest position in Tibetan Buddhism.
Three days later Chinese authorities abducted him when he was six, along with his family. His whereabouts have not been known since then.
Later that year on 29 November 1995, Chinese authorities announced their pick of the Panchen Lama in Gyaltsen Norbu. Tibetans have refused to accept him as the Panchen Lama.
The Chinese government have not provided any information about the whereabouts of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima in the last more than 20 years, alleging that they need to protect him from being “kidnapped by the separatists”. However the Dalai Lama last year said that the Panchen is alive and pursuing normal education, citing reliable sources.
Expressing concern about the well-being of the Panchen Lama, and the destruction of the religious, linguistic, and cultural identity of Tibetans by the Chinese authorities, the US government has over the years called for the Panchen Lama’s release.
The 30 activists will be riding through Chandigarh and Sonipath, and will reach Delhi on 25 April for an event for the Panchen Lama on his 30th birthday.
TYC President Tenzing Jigme said that they believe in Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the real Panchen Lama, and demanded that the Chinese government immediately release him, as well as other political prisoners in Chinese prisons in Tibet.
Criticising the Chinese government for interfering in the recognition of Tibetan lamas, Jigme said, “The Chinese government has no role in the matters of Tibetan tradition and spirituality. Such interference will be rejected by the Tibetan people.”
Tibet has had many misfortunes. Losing our country to foreign occupation for the first time in our long history. When HH The Dalai Lama arrived in Mussoorie and proclaimed the continuation of the Tibetan Government in exile, the Indian Government curtly rejected there was any Tibetan Governemnt. When Indian PM Lal Bahadur Shastri told the Dalai Lama’s Representative in Delhi that he would recognise the Tibetan Government after his return from Tashkent in January1966, Shastri suddenly died in Tashkent under mysterious circumstances and was never able to fulfill his pledge.The Panchen Lama was kidnapped by China as soon as he was recognised by the Dalai Lama. There is a silver lining with this tragedy though. If Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was recognised by the Chinese as well and installed him, the fate of the 15th Dalai Lama would have been severely jeopardised. This is because since the Chinese will use Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the Panchen to recognise the 15th, it would carry all the credibility and legitimacy that is required for recognition of the 15th Dalai Lama. Tibetans in exile will be robbed of our beloved HH The Dalai Lama as well. We know that all Lamas and Tibetan officials in Tibet are only tools for the CCP to give a semblance of Tibetan acceptance of their rule but the real power lies firmly in the hands of the Chinese. Under such circumstance, the 15th will be chosen from among children born in Tibet. This is what the CCP has been saying all along.That would have been the greatest disaster since the Dalai Lamas have been the embodiment of Tibet as a nation, the unifying force and the hope of the Tibetan people. For the exiles, the movement would seem like a rudderless ship and the great hope of the Tibetan masses both inside Tibet and outside would evaporate.