30 years of Panchen Lama's disappearance

China's silence on the fate of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, is not merely a Tibetan issue—it is a global test of religious freedom, human rights, and credibility.

- KHEDROOB THONDUP

Calls for updates must be addressed because the disappearance of a six-year-old child in 1995 has become a 30-year wound that undermines China’s legitimacy and moral standing.The disappearance and its consequences: Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was abducted in May 1995, days after the Dalai Lama recognized him as the 11th Panchen Lama.

He was only six years old. Since then, he and his family have not been seen for three decades. The Panchen Lama is not a peripheral figure: historically, the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama recognize each other's reincarnations. His disappearance is therefore a direct attempt to control Tibetan Buddhism's succession.