3rd Special General Meeting of Tibetans begins in Dharamsala
DHARAMSALA, 3 Oct: Apart from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (Gaden Phodrang) and the Dalai Lama Trust, no one has the right or legitimacy to determine the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, says the Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile.
“Let me reiterate that the issue of His Holiness’ reincarnation is his personal right, apart from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Gaden Phodrang and the Dalai Lama trust, no other government, organization or person has the right to decide about that,” Speaker Pema Jungney said at third Special General Meeting of the Tibetans.
The third Special General Meeting of the Tibetans will be held over Oct 3-5 to discuss on two agendas that is ‘Central Tibetan Administration’s 5-50 Vision’ and ‘The relationship between the lineage of the Dalai Lamas and Tibetan people’.
The participants of the meeting include a total of 340 Tibetans comprising of the current and former cabinet of Central Tibetan Administration(CTA) members of the parliament-in-exile and other Tibetan leaders from CTA and representatives from Tibetan NGO’s from 24 different countries.
The Speaker in his address also talked about the relationship between the lineage of the Dalai Lamas and Tibetan people and series of His Holiness’ remarks on his reincarnation from as early as 1969 till date.
The decision to convene the meeting was announced earlier this year on 15th March at a joint Press conference by the President in accordance with article 59 of the Tibetan charter.
The President of the CTA Dr Lobsang Sangay Began by stating the evolution of five-fifty Vision, and said it is premised on His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s advice to “Hope for the Best and Prepare for the Worst”.
The vision calls for maximizing efforts to resolve the Tibet issue within five years based on the Middle Way Approach while ensuring CTA’s resilience to sustain the Tibetan freedom struggle and preserve Tibetan culture for the next fifty years if needed.
He further stressed on the relationship between the Dalai Lamas and the Tibetan people, how heavily indebted the Tibetan people are to the 14th Dalia Lama, the merits of His Holiness’ longevity to the Tibetan people and the Tibetan cause in particular and the world at large and further highlighted on the series of statements issued by the Chinese authorities to meddle in the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation and threatening other countries over interfering.
“As per the aspiration and the hope of the entire Tibetans, we should earnestly appeal for the continuation of the Dalai Lama institution at the special general meeting,” President Sangay said.
Following the inaugural ceremony, the participants left to discuss and collect opinions and suggestions in the ten groups there were divided into which will be collectively discussed and framed into the recommendations on the final day of the meeting.
Unlike the previous two meetings held in 2008 and 2012, the composition of the representatives for this year’s meeting will have no former members of Parliament, volunteers and religious personalities (Lamas and Tulkus).
The last two Special General Meetings were held to hold an extensive discussion and debate considering the urgent situation inside Tibet and the situation in the world in general, and to discuss ways and means to deal with the urgent and critical situation inside Tibet respectively.
The first meeting was attended by a total of 560 participants from 19 different countries while the second saw 432 delegates from 26 countries.
