(TibetanReview.net, Sep11’24) – The 8th regular session of the 17th Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE) began today at Dharamshala, India, with a large group of the Tibetan public gathering on the nearby basketball court to demand that it carry out the long-ignored amendment of the Charter of Tibetans in Exile to provide for the appointment of Justice Commissioners of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission (TSJC). The main agenda of this session is to discuss the reports of the various departments of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).
Gathering under the banner of “People’s Movement for Securing the Central Tibetan Administration”, the organizing group, which calls itself “The Advocacy of the General Public for the Sustainability of CTA”, has been carrying out the campaign since Oct 8, 2021.
The group has expressed disappointment that despite having submitted petitions from thousands of people, urging that the democratic system of the CTA be safeguarded with the appointment of the justice commissioners of the TSJC, the TPiE had consistently ignored and disregarded the matter.
This continued despite the fact that last year, during the TPiE’s sixth session in September, nearly a thousand people from across India, Nepal, and other countries gathered in Dharamshala to launch an appeal campaign, the group has said.
The group has accused the TPiE of undermining the importance and relevance of the TSCJ by carrying out Charter amendments which dispensed with the mandatory requirement of the swearing in of top officials of the CTA being carried out by the person holding that position.
The group has said around 1,000 Tibetans from 28 locations – including India, Nepal, North America and Europe – were participating in the campaign calling for the amendment of the Charter to provide for the appointment of the justice commissioners of the TSCJC.
These Tibetans are watching the proceedings of the TPiE being live-TV-screened on the basketball court.
If nothing is done to provide for the appointment of the justice commissioners of the TSJC, the organizers plan to carry out a series of action plans that include calling for the resignation of all the 45 current members of the TPiE; beginning a hunger-strike campaign for this purpose; submitting a petition to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, invoking his authority under Article 1(ii) of the Charter; calling for the representation for overseas Tibetan TPiE members in the Standing Committee; and streamlining the voting right of the religious seat voters.
The current TPiE session will continue till Sep 19.