(TibetanReview.net, Sep27’23) – The 6th session of the 17th Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE), scheduled to be held from Sep 19 to 28, appears set to end after having met for just the first three days. The Dotoe province and religious constituency members, except the Speaker, had refused to turn up from the fourth day, demanding that their colleague, Bonpo religious constituency member Geshe Monlam Tharchin, be absolved by the executive branch of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) from any suspicion arising from reports that he may have met with a Chinese embassy official in a five-star hotel in Siliguri, West Bengal, on Jul 6.
The CTA’s Department of Security expressed helplessness to give him an immediate clean chit as demanded by the quorum-busting group while an investigation was underway. It also took exception to being needlessly dragged into the controversy, making it clear that the matter was for the TPiE itself to resolve as the issue arose in it rather than being raised by the executive branch of the CTA.
With only 25 members present as against the quorum requirement of 30 in the 45-member TPiE, the Speaker adjourned the session for as long as the boycott continued.
The main agenda of the session was to discuss the reports of the various Departments of the CTA. It was discussing the annual report of the Department of Religion and Culture when the boycott move came.
There is no provision in the exile Tibetan laws or rules and regulation for dealing with a situation in which quorum-busting members render the parliament in exile dysfunctional by boycotting its sessions entirely.
It was also hoped against hope that more or less the same group would finally allow the Charter of Tibetans in Exile to be amended to pave the way for the appointment of justice commissioners for reviving the full strength of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission (TSJC) so that the executive, judiciary and legislature triumvirate of the exile Tibetan democracy will be fully restored. The TSJC currently has just one justice commissioner against the Charter-mandated strength of three after the retirement of the other two, including the Chief Justice Commissioner.
Some 500 Tibetans from across the exile community had gathered during the TPiE session under the banner of a group called Zhirim Mimang (The Advocacy of the General Public for the Sustainability of CTA) to pressure the TPiE to make a positive move on this issue. This group has now ended its current campaign in light of the boycott move but has vowed to continue it during the next session in Mar 2024.
Earlier, a closed door meeting of the TPiE members was called for Sep 23 to find a way to resume the TPiE session, but many did not attend it, saying nothing will come of it in view of the known intransigence of the boycotting members.