DHARAMSHALA, September 14: The 15th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile sat for its fourth session today in the exile Tibetan headquarters of Dharamshala, dedicating the entire day’s proceedings to deliberate on the ongoing critical situation inside Tibet.

Over the next eight working days from September 14-22, the Parliament will review the work of the various departments under the Kashag (cabinet) and also carry out legislative duties.

In his opening remarks, Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament, Penpa Tsering paid homage to the 51 Tibetans who set themselves on fire since 2009 in Tibet, demanding freedom and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile.

He said that the Chinese government, instead of addressing the grievances of the Tibetan people has employed increasingly repressive measures and greater security clampdown thus deepening the crisis in Tibet.

Calling for more effective campaigns to draw international support on the situation in Tibet, Speaker Tsering spoke on the importance of the second Special Meeting of Tibetans to be held in Dharamshala from September 25-28.

The meeting is scheduled to hold extensive discussions and brainstorming aimed at bringing in suggestions regarding the exile movement in support and solidarity with the plight of the people inside Tibet.

Speaker Tsering also emphasised on the Tibetan Parliament’s responsibility in taking preemptive measures to avoid and obstruct “baseless charges” causing distress to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, who devolved all his political powers to the elected Tibetan leadership last year, had recently expressed ‘hurt’ over ‘talks’ of his role in ‘shutting down’ the Tibetan Government-in-Exile

“Instead of fulfilling their duties, a small group of Tibetans have engaged in making groundless claims to create discord in the community,” Speaker Tsering said. “By the virtue of its legislative authorities, the Tibetan Parliament had approved the final decision concerning the devolution of powers and thus
the responsibility lies with the parliament to obstruct all causes of distress to His Holiness.”

He stressed on the shared responsibility of the Kashag, the Parliament and the NGOs in providing clarifications and bringing awareness on this matter.

Speaker Tsering also cautioned the Tibetan media from carrying anonymous contents and comments under pseudonyms, which fuel social discord and denigrate the Dalai Lama.

The current session of the parliament is being held at the hall of new Kashag Secretariat following a major renovation of the Tibetan parliament building.

Two MPs, Ven. Thubten Wangchen, who is currently the torchbearer of the ‘Flame of Truth’ campaign in Europe and Dolkar Lhamo, have submitted leaves for the entire session.

Live webcast of the parliamentary proceedings can be viewed at Tibetonline.tv from 9:30 hrs – 5:00 hrs (Indian Standard Time).