(TibetanReview.net, May12’20) – With support from 16 other leaders and nearly 100 more fellow-citizens, Dr Andrius Navickas, Member of the Seimas (Parliament) of the Republic of Lithuania, has asked his country’s President Gitanas Nausėda and Foreign affairs Minister Linas Linkevičius to press the Chinese government to provide reliable information on the wellbeing of the 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima has remained disappeared ever since the Chinese government abducted him and his family on May 17, 1995, three days after the Dalai Lama declared his finding and recognition of the then six-year-old boy as the reincarnation of the late 10th Panchen Lama. The same year China appointed another boy, named as Gyaltsen Norbu, as the 11th Panchen Lama. The Panchen Lama is Tibet’s second most prominent religious figure.
Writing to the two Lithuanian leaders, Dr Navickas, who heads the Provisional Group for Solidarity with Tibetans in the Lithuanian Parliament, “criticised the atheist Chinese regime for its ‘manipulation’ and unauthorised control over Tibetan Buddhist instructions and its utter disrespect for the religious traditions of Tibet, including of the centuries-old tradition of reincarnation,” said the Central Tibetan Administration on its Tibet.net website May 12.
“Various international organizations have repeatedly asked China about the fate of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family, but each time it has responded by cynical lies. In September 2019, a United Nations task force investigating the disappearances and abductions of persons once again asked the People’s Republic of China about the situation of Panchen Lama. China replied that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima had received proper free education, attended university, and now found a job. To date, however, the world community has no confirmed knowledge regarding the 11th Panchen Lama – whether he is alive and what his current identity is,” Dr Navickas was quoted as saying in his letter.
The letter was written ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 11th Panchen Lama’s abduction.
Dr Navickas has asked the two government leaders to demand that “international human rights organizations are provided with reliable information about the fate of the world’s youngest political prisoner. Only the truth can liberate – liberate not only the Chinese authorities themselves but also everyone’s international relations with the country.”
The letter was stated to have been co-signed by former Speaker of the Supreme Council – Reconstituent Seimas (1990-1992) prof. Vytautas Landsbergis, 14 MPS, 1 MEP (Member of European Parliament) and 92 public supporters including members of TSG.
