Tibet's Panchen Lama turns 18 in custody

BEIJING: The Dalai Lama's choice as Tibet's second most important spiritual figure turns 18 on Tuesday after almost 13 years in Chinese custody amid signs of worsening repression, a rights group said.

The group, the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet, describes in a report due Wednesday what it claims is a trend of tightening Chinese control over religious practice and scholarship in Tibet.

The report is based on official Chinese documents and interviews with lamas, monks and nuns, the vice president of the campaign, Mary Beth Markey, said in a statement ahead of its release.

"The Chinese government documents on the conduct of religion in Tibet, brought out in this report, indicate how seriously Beijing takes the enduring influence of the Dalai Lama," Markey said.

Beijing is determined to ensure that future Tibetan religious leaders, including top Buddhist lamas, are loyal to China's atheistic communist government, the statement said.

Nothing better symbolises this drive than the plight of a boy recognised by the Dalai Lama in 1994 as the reincarnated Panchen Lama, Tibet's second-most important religious leader, according to the campaign.

Gendun Choekyi Nyima, who turns 18 on Wednesday, 'disappeared' with his parents at the age of six after he was recognised by the Dalai Lama, who is Tibet's top religious figure, as the 11th Panchen Lama, the group said.

His whereabouts since then are unknown, and Beijing selected another boy, largely raised and educated in Beijing, for the role.

"Control over the Panchen Lama is perceived by Beijing to be essential as previous Panchen Lamas have played a role in the recognition and education of Dalai Lamas, and vice versa," the statement said.

China wants to control the Tibetan religious authorities "necessary for the transmission of teachings and the identification of reincarnate lamas," the statement said.

Beijing is also instilling patriotic Chinese education in Tibetan religious institutes and undermining traditional monastic education, it added.

China sent troops in to 'liberate' Tibet in 1951.

The Dalai Lama later fled to India in 1959 after an uprising failed and established a government-in-exile in Dharamsala.