Tibetans launch peace rally demanding release of Panchen Lama

Gangtok, April 25 (PTI): Members of the Tibetan community in Sikkim and in other states have launched a 115-km peace rally from Gangtok to Siliguri in West Bengal on Thursday demanding the release of the 11th Panchen Lama.

The 11th Panchen Lama is the second most important spiritual leader for them after the Dali Lama.

“The 11th Panchen Lama turned 30 years today which is why this peace rally is significant,” said Tshering Choezum, the general secretary Tibetan Women’s Welfare Association (TWWA) which organised it.

A total 250 members of the community are participating in the five-day-long rally, she said.

On May 14, 1995, the Dalai Lama had recognised six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama.

He is believed to have gone missing in Tibet when he was just six years old and that the Chinese government is holding him and his immediate family captive ever since.

Choezum said, the Tibetan government in exile and various organisations have been demanding the immediate release of the spiritual leader.