By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Aug. 31: A virtual protest to mark the 25th year of disappearance of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima or the 11th Panchen Lama was launched on Sunday by the International Tibet Network (ITN). On the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared, the activist group launched the campaign on freepanchenlama.org where one could participate in the protest at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse, Tibet on a virtual map.
Tenzin Tselha, former SFT-India Director and currently the Campaign Consultant at ITN, told Phayul about the novel project, “This year marks the 25thanniversary since the 11th Panchen Lama was abducted. This protest is to remember the Panchen Lama as he is not only the youngest political prisoner in the world but also a very important figure in the Tibetan freedom movement. China’s appointment of another Panchen Lama and hiding the real one recognized as reincarnation by the 14th Dalai Lama is a very strategic move from their side. We need to make sure that they do not succeed in this, and this is one such attempt to mark the day especially for him.”
The ongoing protest is one of the new initiatives ITN has designed for their larger project ’25 Actions for 25 Years’ campaign set to be completed by May 2021 to push for his immediate release. Tselha stressed on the double-edged timing of the protest held in Tibet during the COVID-19 crisis, “Since the pandemic has affected a lot of activities around the world with social distancing and quarantine, we cannot gather publicly at one place to protest but the irony is that we also cannot go to Tibet as well. Even inside Tibet, one cannot mobilize gatherings or protests for fear of Chinese military presence.”
The online campaign has already reached more than 2000 participants in a single day. It also paves the way for different creative mediums of campaign as the gathering gives a symbolic message to highlight the inaccessibility of Tibet. On being asked about the inception and preparation of such an idea, she remarked, “We had another plan of protest using billboards in 25 countries but then due to the pandemic, we couldn’t have possibly executed such a plan. Then, we came up with the idea of a virtual protest pinned at the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery with Panchen Lama’s face icon that took almost 3 months to develop.”
The Dalai Lama recognized Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the reincarnation of 11th Panchen Lama on May 14, 1995. He was then seized, along with his family, by the Chinese government and has not been seen for 25 years. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has consistently refused to disclose any information about his whereabouts.
