NEW DELHI - Tibetan schoolchildren demonstrated in the Indian capital on Wednesday to demand the release of Tibet's second highest religious leader, a young boy who they believe is being held prisoner in China.
The Panchen Lama, who turned 12 on Wednesday, was chosen by Tibet's exiled leader the Dalai Lama in 1995 but disappeared soon afterwards and has not been seen in public since.
Tibetans allege he is being held as a political prisoner by China which invaded the remote Himalayan region in 1950.
The Dalai Lama fled to exile in Dharamsala in northern India in 1959 after a failed bloody uprising against Chinese Communist rule.
Around 50 demonstrators, who included the schoolchildren and members of the Regional Tibetan Woman Association clad in traditional dress, gathered in the city's centre, waving Tibetan flags and shouting: "Release Panchen Lama."
They distributed copies of a letter written to Chinese President Jiang Zemin demanding that his government "stop interfering in the religious matters of the Tibetan people and release Panchen Lama immediately without precondition."
One protester, Tsering Dolma, 11, wearing the school uniform of the Tibetan Day School in Delhi, told Reuters: "We're here to protest that Panchen Lama should be released. I'm almost the same age as him and I think he should be free."
China has promoted its own candidate for the post, the second highest in Tibetan Buddhism, but many Tibetans regard him as an impostor and call him the "Beijing Lama."
Earlier this year, the European Union called for independent access to the Panchen Lama and criticised China for its tight control over Tibet.
A statement by EU foreign ministers in January said China should stop its "patriotic education" campaign in Tibet which critics say endangers its unique Buddhist culture.
China denies human rights abuses in Tibet where it says rule by Beijing has brought about a big rise in living standards.
Tibetan Youth Regional Congress President Kalsang Tsering said: "On the occasion of the 12th birthday of the Panchen Lama, we demand his freedom."
He said the group had also sent a letter to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee asking the government to put pressure on the Chinese government to release him.
03:42 04-25-01
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