Growing concerns for the release of the real Panchen Lama

Growing concerns for the release of the real Panchen Lama  Tenchoe   Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to the Dalai Lama and plays a vital role in the spiritual, political and religious life of Tibet. The lineages of the Dalai Lamas and the Panchen Lamas share a unique  spiritual  relationship  and  it  was  in  keeping  with  centuries-old  Tibetan  Buddhist traditions that Tibetan spiritual leader, the 14th Dalai Lama recognized the 11th Panchen Lama.  

The Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama are closely connected, and each participates in the process of recognizing each other's reincarnations. Traditionally, the Panchen Lama is the head of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, and holds religious and secular power over the Tsang region centred in Shigatse, independent of the Ganden Podrang authority led by the Dalai Lama.   For Tibetans, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima (GCN) is the real 11th Panchen Lama, the second highest authority in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama. To many Tibetan people, he is a figure who commands deep respect and reverence.  

To the Chinese government, the young Panchen Lama was a potential threat to their rule; therefore they did not acknowledge his ascendance as the Panchen Lama. GCN, born on 25 April 1989, in Lhari County in Nagchu region of eastern Tibet was recognized as the 11th Panchen Lama by His Holiness 14th Dalai Lama at the tender age of 6 on  14  May  1995.Three  days  after his  enthronement,  GCN  was  kidnapped by  the  Chinese government and have been held captive since 17 May 1995, along with his family members.  T

oday  the  world’s  youngest  political  prisoner  has  turned  into  one  of  the  world’s longest-serving political prisoner and even after more than 25 years, the 11th Panchen Lama and his family’s whereabouts and condition still remains unknown. In his place, another child named Gyaltsen Norbu was appointed as the 11th Panchen Lama by the Chinese government.  The disappearance of the Panchen Lama is not only an injustice to one person, but it is an injustice to six million Tibetans and their right to religious freedom. China’s abduction of the real Panchen Lama and forcible denial of his religious identity and the right to practice in his monastery is not only a violation of religious freedom but also a gross violation of human rights.  

However, this politically motivated action failed to displace the position of the true Panchen Lama from the hearts and minds of the Tibetan people. For Tibetans in Tibet and in exile, and for Tibetan Buddhist followers around the world, GCN recognized by  the Dalai Lama will always be the true Panchen Lama.  China has always forced Tibetans and Tibetans Buddhists to respect and worship their Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu but Tibetans have never accepted him as their 11th Panchen Lama, who has been serving Beijing on the task of blending Tibetan culture into Chinese and manipulating Tibetans to accept the rule of CCP.
 
The Chinese appointed Panchen Gyaltsen, Norbu has been widely rejected by Tibetan Buddhists.  It is nearly 26 years since the Tibetan support groups around the world are calling for Beijing  to  reveal  his  whereabouts  and  well-being,  who  turned  32  years  old  on  April  25, 2021.While various governments have called for information about and the release of GCN who has never been publicly seen since 1995, whereabouts of GCN and his family are yet to be made public by Chinese authorities despite repeated international outcries. Despite China’s sporadic claims that he was attending school and leading a normal life, no one has seen or heard from GCN since May 17, 1995, the day Beijing took him away as a six-year-old boy and rendered him disappeared ever since. China has divulged a very little information about GCN or  his  whereabouts  and  says  this  is  necessary  to  protect  him  from  being  kidnapped  by separatists. Sometimes, it says his parents are both employed by state and his brother and sister are either working or at University. Beijing said GCN and his family were living normal lives and did not want anyone to bother them, something it has repeated often since then.  


In another encounter, Chinese officials told BBC reporter, on a reporting trip to Tibet in 2007, the missing Panchen Lama would like to live in peace and does not want to be disturbed.   International Support  Since his abduction, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the UN Working Group of Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) has raised questions on his whereabouts. Similarly, the US Congress, European Parliament, and parliaments of various other nations such as the UK, Canada, various governments, international organizations and  Tibet  support  groups  have  demanded  his  release.  

But  China  has  repeatedly  failed  to respond to the UNCRC’s call to allow an independent body to visit and verify the wellbeing of GCN. At the 119th session of the UN WGEID in September 2019, China once again responded to the questions on the whereabouts of the 11th Panchen Lama with insufficient information.  Recently, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reiterated its call for the Chinese government to release GCN. USCIRF Commissioner Nadine Maenza, stated that ‘it has been nearly 26 years since the Chinese Communist Party’s enforced disappearance of GCN, and this lack of information is unacceptable’.  

Meanwhile, the US State Department called upon (Apr 23) China to make the 11th Panchen Lama’s whereabouts known ahead of GCN’s birthday on April 25. The statement from the Biden administration is the first official remark on the missing religious figure Panchen Lama.  Renewing calls for the release of Panchen Lama on his 32nd birthday, President of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA),  Lobsang Sangay demanded (Apr 25) that China must immediately free him and allow him to return to his monastery, Tashi Lhunpo in Shigatse, Tibet to assume his vital role as Tibet’s second-ranking religious leader. In a nutshell, Panchen Lama's issue is still alive and often raises at many international platforms in today's world only because of the support of Tibet Support Groups around the world and Tibetan communities at large who never miss celebrating Panchen Lama's birthday which falls on April 25th and commemorating his enforced disappearance on 17th May through various campaigns or activities like Peace March, rallies and protest campaigns etc. Even the period of pandemic couldn't restraint Tibetans to celebrate Panchen Lama's birthday as the day was widely and virtually observed on various social networking sites through speech delivery, song competition and essay writing etc. All these show the significance of Panchen Lama for Tibet and its people.  

This year marks the 26th anniversary of GCN’s disappearance. 26 years is a significant time in an individual’s life and for a person to spend the prime of his life or quarter of a century in enforced captivity is an irreparable loss. Last but not the least, Buddhists around the world and Tibetans still believe and live in a hope that one day they will be able to receive blessings from the Panchen Lama and may that day be never far for Tibetans when His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama reunite at the Potala Palace in the Tibetan Capital of Lhasa.