(TibetanReview.net, Dec18, 2014) – In a move to ensure the setting up of groups supporting the Tibet issue in the parliaments of democratic countries across the world, a delegation of 10 exile Tibetan MPs have successfully lobbied for the revival of the All Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet (APPFT), said the exile Tibetan Administration at Dharamshala, India, on its Tibet.net website Dec 16. The delegation has called on more than 100 Indian MPs belonging to 31 major political parties over the period of Dec 7-15.
The Indian MPs the delegation met with included a former prime minister and several former federal government ministers, speakers, Chief Ministers and several Party leaders.
The revival was formally announced at a dinner reception Dec 15 hosted at the Shangri-la Hotel and attended by 30 MPs from 28 major political parties. The exile Tibetan parliament speaker Mr Penpa Tsering, Sikyong Lobsang Sangay, the Dalai Lama’s New Delhi Representative Mr Tempa Tsering, and exile Tibetan MPs were among those who attended the dinner meeting. Mr Shanta Kumar, a former federal government minister and a former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, is the Convener of the Forum.
The APPFT was launched for the first time in the 1970s under the leadership of prominent Indian MP Mr MC Chagla.