(TibetanReview.net, Mar14’24) —The 6th session of the current, 17th Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE), disrupted by an unsavoury walkout by a quorum-busting section of its members in Sep 2023 after sitting for just three days, resumed on Mar 13. This will be followed by the regular 7th session from Mar 18, which will mainly discuss the annual budget of the Central Tibetan Administration(CTA) for the financial year Apr 2024 – Mar 2025.
The remaining session’s main agenda is to continue the discussion of the reports of the different departments of the CTA. Besides, it still remains unclear whether the much-needed Charter amendment for the appointment of justice commissioners of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission (TSJC), as well as the appointment of the remaining Kalons (ministers) of the CTA, could or will be carried out, during this or the next session.
The resumed 6th session of the TPiE began with the Speaker announcing that all exchanges that had taken place during the disrupted Sep 2023 session between a member who alleged that a fellow-member had likely met with a Chinese embassy official at a resort in Siliguri city of West Bengal on Jul 6, 2023 and the latter member who angrily and vigorously denied it, will be expunged.
This allegation, which the member in question later retracted with an apology, and the CTA’s Security Department Kalon’s intervention to “clarify” that the issue was being investigated was what led to the supporters of the latter member to stage a walkout. And they pointedly refused to return until the Security Department Kalon resolved the issue.
And so, at the start of the resumed session on Mar 13, the Speaker read out a statement from the Security Department, saying that while the member in question and the Chinese embassy official had indeed arrived at the resort in Siliguri at different times during the day, there was no material evidence whatsoever showing that the two had met.
The statement was dated Nov 6, 2023, which explains why the TPiE initially decided to resume the postponed Sep 2023 session in December. However, a number of members expressed inability to attend it, which therefore rendered it unviable.
The resumed session began with offering of mourning for the recent passing away of former TPiE member Drawupon Rinchen Tsering, former Chief Justice Commissioner of TSJC and former Deputy Speaker Dachi Phunrab Lobsang Dhargyal, and US Senator Dianne Feinstein “who was a staunch supporter of Tibet”.
At today’s session, Sikyong Penpa Tsering, presenting the Finance Department report, said over 6,500 Tibetans newly enrolled for the Tibetan green book to become annual contributors to the CTA’s finances after offering of massive concession for unpaid past years.
The Sikyong, the executive head of the CTA, presented the Home and Religion & Culture departments reports before that.
The Sikyong is also in charge of these and the Health Department. This is because a walkout by a quorum-busting section of the TPiE members had prevented voting on further nominees after confirming three candidates and rejecting two when a sixth nominee was presented during an Oct 2021 session. Those confirmed were given charges over the departments of Security, Education, and Information & International Relations. The Sikyong has refused to make further nominations in protest against the walkout action, which he felt was a subversion of his executive prerogative.