Exiled Tibetans protest in Delhi, demand release of 11th Panchen Lama

Pressing for the demand of release of Tibet's 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Cheoki Nyima, scores of exiled Tibetans and activists held protests in New Delhi and Shimla on Friday.

The Panchen Lama is the second highest religious leader after the Dalai Lama in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy, and is reportedly being kept under secret detention by the Chinese. This is the 18th year of his disappearance.

"Since last 15 years we are struggling out and inside Tibet and for the cause of Tibet- to resolve the Tibetan issue by Chinese Government and return of his holiness the Dalai Lama," said Acharya Yashi Pitzo, a protester.

Tibetans also urged the Chinese Government to release the Panchen Lama so that he could be reunited with the thousands of followers awaiting his release.

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, and his family have been missing for the last 18 years.

The Panchen Lama turned 24 on April 24 and Tibetans and Buddhists all over the world are deeply concerned about his well-being and his whereabouts.

In Shimla, exiled Tibetans held a candlelight vigil as an expression of solidarity with the demand for the release of the Panchen Lama.

Buddhist monks gathered together and prayed by chanting hymns in honour of the 11th Panchen Lama, considered as the world's youngest political prisoner.

"We want to release and he was kidnapped on the same day today in 1995, May 17, so we request to the international level, through the media, through the local people of Shimla," said Passang Tsering, a Tibetan activist.

The 10th Panchen Lama passed away mysteriously in 1989 and his reincarnation, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, was recognized by the Dalai Lama in 1995 at the age of six.

Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1950. After the Dalai Lama fled, the 10th Panchen Lama stayed on and was initially seen as a collaborator, but it later emerged that he spent over a decade either in prison or under house arrest for criticizing Beijing.

He was freed in 1977 and politically rehabilitated the following year. He died in 1989.