Dharamsala – Tibetans living-in-exile in Dharamsala are engaged in attending a workshop here to make their youth aware of democracy and parliamentary system of government.
A group of 70 Tibetan delegates are currently in the hill town to be a part of the workshop “Grassroots Democracy Strengthening Local Assemblies” first of its kind being organised by the Tibetan government-in-exile’s research centre.
Earlier on Sunday, Tibetans cast their votes to elect the 14th Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies (ATPD) to form a new Tibetan Government in exile.
ATPD or Tibetan parliament is the highest elected legislative organ of Tibetans-in-exile.
In the workshop, people mainly leaders of various local assemblies of Tibetans settled in Nepal and other countries, are being informed about the functioning of parliament and their rights.
The delegates also attended the first session of newly elected ATPD.
Acharya Yeshi Phunstok, coordinator of the workshop, said that the leaders would also be briefed on autonomy and democracy in different nations.
“This time we have invited all the participants from Nepal local assemblies also. We have 70 participants to make them understand democracy, strengths of democracy and create awareness about democracy. Then also we want to create awareness about the local assemblies about the parliamentary system,” said Phunstok.
Members of the ATPD are directly elected by the people every five years, with around 82,000 Tibetan voters registered in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Europe and North America.
The Tibetan people, both inside and outside Tibet, consider the government-in-exile to be the sole legitimate government of Tibet.
An estimated 134,000 Tibetans live in exile, the majority of them in India and Nepal.
The Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama set up his seat of power in Dharamsala after he along with his followers fled to India in 1959, nine years after China occupied Tibet.
