Dharamshala September 15 – The Tibetan Parliament today discussed the draft proposal for an emergency meeting on Tibet. According to the draft proposal the ‘Special Meeting’ is to be held from November 17 to 22 at the Tibetan Children’s Village School here, and participated by the incumbent Kalons (ministers) and ex- Kalons (Kasur), the current and former members of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, former government officials above the rank of Joint Secretary, representatives of the Tibetan Non-Governmental Organizations, Tibetan intellectuals and experts, and Tibetan youth etc. The draft proposal will be presented before the Dalai Lama for approval and is subject to modification.
The Dalai Lama had asked to call an emergency meeting on Tibet considering the ‘serious situation inside Tibet’ using the article 59 of the Tibetan Charter that empowers him to call special meetings.
The draft proposal was presented before the house by Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche and supported by Vice Chairperson Gyari Dolma for discussion.
The meeting, which is dubbed the largest ever gathering of representatives from both government and non-governmental bodies of the Tibetan communities, is to be called by the Tibetan Exile government based here.
Opinions of the Tibetan public are to be collected through both direct and indirect interaction, internet etc.
Members also discussed whether to invite Tibet Support Groups to the meeting. There were varying views on whether the meeting should be exclusively Tibetan, or foreign supporters and experts should also be called. Members speaking for the meeting to be exclusively Tibetan justified their view on the basis that meeting is a derivative of the article 59 of the Tibetan Charter and should therefore be attended by Tibetans only.
Some members of the TPIE, while lauding the campaigns of the Students for a Free Tibet, said that SFT should be invited for the meeting. The list of probable NGOs that are to be invited for the meeting does not include New York based student organization that carried out several political agitations in Beijing during 2008 Olympics. There were varying views in the house on this too.
However, the house’s decision went in favor of the meeting to be participated by Tibetans only though members did appreciate the works done by the SFT and other Tibetan Support Groups. According to the decision that was reached after the discussions, Tibetan members of Tibet Support Groups like SFT could participate on their personal capacities, and are welcome to the meeting.
