As the 30th birthday of the Tibet’s lost lama approached last month, Tibetans brought up extensive campaigns through out the world demanding immediate release of the Eleventh Panchen Lama from Chinese capitivity. Such campaigns have brought the worst results to those Tibetans inside Tibet.
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was born on 25 April 1989 in Lhari county, Tibet. On 14 May 1995 then the 6 year old was publicly recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama, the second most revered religious leader in Tibetan Buddhism.
Soon after the announcement, Chinese authorities abducted the young boy along with rest of his family members and he has been never heard of since then. The Panchen Lama held captive by China is the youngest and one of the longest serving prisoners in the world.
This year Tibetan associations around the world carried out peaceful marches, demonstrations and campaigns around the world demanding information about the Tibetan lama. Even Tibetans inside Tibet engaged in prayers for the release of the Panchen Lama. For such a peaceful act, two people were sentenced to imprisonment up to four and half years by Chinese authorities while others were fined heavy amounts of money and ordered to attend political re-education classes for six month.
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima has been missing ever since, and despite repeated requests from Tibetans and Tibet campaign groups, human rights organisations, governments and United Nations human rights agencies, the Chinese government has repeatedly refused to provide any credible information about his location or his well-being.
This year, a specialist in age progressions and facial reconstructions for missing and unidentified people created a forensic image of how the then 6 year old Panchen Lama at the age of 30 today. The image has effectively renewed the anger among the Tibetans against Chinese authorities.