his family ‘disappeared’. The 14th Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile denounced it.

Since then, almost every year, the Tibetans spread across the world raise the issue of ‘the youngest political prisoner’ and demand the whereabouts of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama. Meanwhile, in November 1995, the Communist China ‘appointed’ another child of the same age Gyaltsen Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama. Though most Tibetans do not recognise Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama, Chinese Government has continued with its plan of ‘Sinicising’ Tibetan Buddhism by making efforts to have its appointees as the next Dalai Lama as well as the 11th Panchen Lama.

China had made an attempt in this regard earlier too, in case of the 10th Panchen Lama -- Panchen Lobsang Trinley Lhundrup Choekyi Gyaltsen -- who was born in 1938 in a village in Amdo in north-eastern Tibet. The book ‘From the Heart of the Panchen Lama’ (2003 edition) published by Department of Information and International Relations, Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), sheds light on the 10th Panchen Lama episode in detail.

As per the book, in 1941 a section of the 9th Panchen Lama’s pro-China attendants recognised his successor without consulting the Dalai Lama. While the Tibetan Government wanted to see all traditional tests with religious ceremonies performed before confirming his recognition as the 10th Panchen Lama, the Kuomintang Government of China ‘exploited the situation to gain a foothold in Tibet’. “With the fall of the Kuomintang in 1949, the Communists stepped in and actively exploited the young Panchen Lama for their political gains. The Panchen Lama was only 11 when the PLA commander in Lanzhou sent a telegram in his name to Mao Zedong, requesting the ‘liberation of Tibet’,” states the article ‘The Panchen Lama -- A Life on the Tightrope’.

The 10th Panchen Lama had to spend his entire life as a hostage of the Chinese Government. The Chinese authorities sought to use him ‘as a rubber stamp’ to justify their occupation of Tibet and undermine the influence of the Dalai Lama. However, as he saw the misery, privation, and repression suffered by the Tibetans, the 10th Panchen Lama became more and more bitter about Chinese rule in Tibet. In 1962, he made the first major criticism of Chinese policy in Tibet, in the form of a petition submitted to Chinese Premier Chou En Lai. The petition recorded mass starvation and imprisonment in Tibet, destruction of 97 per cent of monasteries in Tibet Autonomous Region, etc. Mao Zedong was so disturbed that he denounced it as ‘a poisoned arrow shot at the Party by reactionary feudal lords’. The Chinese Government kept the petition as a State secret. Two years later, the 10th Panchen Lama was condemned as the enemy of the people and had to spend 9 years in prison and 5 years under house arrest.

Years later, in 1989, the 10th Panchen Lama visited Shigatse on January 9 to consecrate the newly renovated mausoleums. On January 24, he stated in Shigatse that Chinese rule in Tibet had brought more destruction than benefit to the Tibetans. Four days later, he died at Tashilhunpo Monastery raising speculation whether he was killed or did he die a natural death. Given the sharp criticism mounted by the 10th Panchen Lama, Chinese Government was rattled when the 14th Dalai Lama recognised Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995. Several years have passed by since the alleged kidnapping of Nyima and his family members.

In May 2007, demand was raised from several quarters that the Chinese Government should allow an independent expert to visit and confirm Nyima’s well-being. In response, the Chinese authorities stated that Nyima was ‘a perfectly ordinary Tibetan boy’ attending school and leading a normal life, and that he did ‘not wish to be disturbed’. The State had employed both of his parents, and his brothers and sisters were either working or at university, the authorities added.

In 2017, the CTA issued a statement in which he described Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as ‘one of the world’s longest serving political prisoners’. Over the years, a number of human rights experts and United Nations Working Groups have appealed to the Chinese Government for the whereabouts of Nyima to be made public, but to no avail. More recently, in May 2020, Chinese authorities stated that Nyima was a college graduate with a job.

On April 25 this year (2022), the US Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a statement which read, “In the more than 25 years since Gedhun’s abduction, Chinese authorities have provided little information about his whereabouts, alleging that they need to protect him from being ‘kidnapped by separatists’.” Recently, China’s attempt to ‘Sinicise’ Tibet became clear. Gyaltsen Norbu, the China-appointed 11th Panchen Lama, was reported to have announced that Tibetan Buddhism would be moving towards ‘Sinicisation’. The term ‘Sinicisation’ refers to bringing non-Chinese communities under Chinese cultural and political system.

May it be the case of the 10th Panchen Lama, or that of the ‘disappearance’ or ‘abduction’ of the 11th Panchen Lama (recognised by the 14th Dalai Lama), it is clear that the Chinese Government wants to exert full cultural control over the spiritual kingdom of Tibet. In the process, it has created a history of exploitation and suppression of Tibetans, and abduction of the 11th Panchen Lama. The 14th Dalai Lama, the supreme spiritual authority in Tibetan Buddhism, was lucky to have escaped from Tibet. However, he has aged now. Given China’s efforts, there is concern among Tibetans about his successor. In 2021, the China ruled out the 14th Dalai Lama choosing his successor. It made clear that China wants to have pro-China spiritual head in Tibet, to complete ‘Sinicisation’ of Tibet. Chinese leadership has not heeded to the opposition from the Western countries and International bodies and the Tibetans, to forced takeover of Tibetan spiritual leadership by China. While China continues tightening its hold inside Tibet, the Tibetans spread across the world hope to return to their homeland with the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama leading them spiritually from Tibetan high seat.