PANCHEN LAMA

Dear Mike, Today, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, Tibet's Panchen Lama turns 22 years old. He was abducted by the Chinese government in May 1995, shortly after he was recognized by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of one of Tibet's highest Buddhist leaders. For 16 years, China has kept his whereabouts unknown.  Take Action: Send a Letter to Yang Jiechi, China's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Zhu Weiqun, Vice-Minister of the United Front Work Department (and China's spokesperson on Tibetan affairs). In spite of China's best efforts, the global community has not forgotten the Panchen Lama and every year he remains missing, more people are moved to speak out for his freedom. Hisdisappearance has come to symbolize the brutality of China's regime in Tibet. Where is He? The Chinese government says the Panchen Lama is living an ordinary life, but their claim rings hollow. Repeated appeals by United Nations officials and government leaders to gain access to him have been denied. Send a message to China's leaders to remind them that the global community stands with Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and with the people of Tibet. Please read below SFT's open letter to the Panchen Lama on the occasion of his 22nd birthday. Watch a video of SFT sending a birthday message to the Panchen Lama. For more ways that you can take action for the Panchen Lama, please visit the Panchen Lama campaign website launched by the International Tibet Network (of which Students for a Free Tibet is a member organization): http://www.FreethePanchenLama.org Your actions can help free the Panchen Lama. Together we can Free Tibet. With hope, Tendor, Kate, Tendolkar, Stefanie and all of us here at SFT HQ Open Letter from Students for a Free Tibet to Panchen Rinpoche Dear Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, I don't think you will receive this letter. I know that you're being watched, monitored and controlled 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But deep down I have this stubborn hope that maybe you will hear us. Maybe you'll see us typing these words in New York, as you turn 22. I am writing on behalf of Students for a Free Tibet, an organization with more than 50,000 members in over 100 countries. Every one of us are thinking of you at this moment. Ever since you were abducted by the Chinese government at age 6, we lost touch with you. We don't know where you are, or how you are. But after all these years, we're still thinking of you and fighting for your freedom. We're not giving up. 22 is a great age to be, at least for the average boy. When I was 22, I was in my final year of college, excited but nervous at the prospect of entering the real world. I wonder how you're feeling as you turn 22, another year that you are not free. You have been denied your freedom for committing no crime except that of being the Panchen Lama. The Chinese government has robbed you of your childhood, your adolescence, your identity, your rights, your friendships, and your country. No matter what you've been told by your minders and tutors appointed by Beijing, there is a world out here where people are searching for you. Tibetans and supporters hang your photo in their homes or carry it in their wallets. Mothers hold your image to their chest, your photograph wet from tears and crumpled from years of separation. We have not forgotten you. In fact, with each passing year of your absence, your presence is burnt ever deeper into our memory. Your previous incarnation, the 10th Panchen Lama, is remembered for his monumental contribution to the Tibetan nation. What is less known about him is that he was also a great Buddhist scholar. In this time of suffering and oppression, he would have enlightened us to the reality that nothing is permanent, not even China's oppression in Tibet. Only freedom and truth will endure the test of time. The Chinese empire stands on a foundation of lies, and these lies are falling apart. We know that the forces that keep you imprisoned are running out of time. As the world moves from darkness to light, from oppression to freedom, from dictatorship to democracy, we can see the fog clearing up on the horizon. The day is not far when you will join the real world, to live a free life, to take your rightful seat at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery. Sending you wishes and prayers on your 22nd birthday. May you celebrate your next birthday in freedom. Tibet will be free. Most sincerely yours, Tenzin Dorjee (Tendor) http://www.freethepanchenlama.org