28 years since abduction of Panchen Lama

17 May is a terribly sad day for all Tibetans and Tibet supporters. It is the day that the Chinese communists abducted a six year-old Panchen Lama, Gedun Choekyi Nyima and his family. It has been 28 years since their abduction and they have not been heard from since.

Born to a humble family in a remote village, Gedun Choekyi Nyima was set to become the 11th Panchen Lama, after being recognised as the reincarnation by the Dalai Lama. In the most cruellest fashion, typical of the Chinese communists, they abducted the young child; his family and imprisoned many who were involved in helping the Dalai Lama identify Gedun Choekyi Nyima as the Panchen Lama.

This is another reminder to the world that the Chinese communists’ brutality has no bounds and children are no exception. This however has taken a much more vicious form now, as the CCP is targeting an entire generation of Tibetan children.

The Chinese Communist Party is running a boarding school system in Tibet which separates Tibetan children as young as six years-old from their families, and this is the biggest threat facing Tibetan identity today. The Chinese government has forcibly separated 80% of Tibetan children in Tibet or almost a million Tibetan children from their families and cultural roots to sinicise them in these boarding schools.

“Tibetan children are forced to learn Chinese language instead of Tibetan and its propaganda, with the aim to change their mind so that there won’t be any Tibetan in another 15 to 20 years”, said Sikyong Penpa Tsering. “A cultural genocide is taking place in Tibet, and China’s policies there are designed to wipe out the Tibetan people’s cultural and linguistic identity.”

For 28 years the world has known that the Chinese Government does not spare children from their determined and sustained attacks on Tibetan religion, language and culture, Tibetan children as subject to their ideology – no matter if it is a child from a rural village or the boy recognised as the Panchen Lama.

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