[Buddha-l] Tibetan Exiles Meeting Over Strategy

[Curt Steinmetz]

"Policy Shift not a focus of exile Tibetans' Meeting"
by Phurbu Thinley (from www.phayl.com)

Dharamsala, November 17: Tibetan leaders and representatives from all 
over the world on Monday began a historic “special meeting” in 
Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile, to discuss the 
future course of action on Tibet as dialogues with Beijing to address 
the sufferings of the Tibetan people and improve the current situation 
inside the Himalayan region failed to make any progress.

Some 581 Tibetan representatives from all over the world are taking part 
in the six-day meeting, making it the largest political meeting of 
Tibetan exiles ever held since coming into exile in 1959.

More than 17,000 Tibetans in Tibet have also contributed their say on 
the meeting, and a summary of their opinion and views have been prepared 
and would be discussed during this important “special meeting”.

According to the Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile Karma 
Chophel, the summary of their opinion, procured by the Kashag (Tibetan 
Cabinet), showed some 8000 Tibetans willing to follow the direction and 
decision taken by the Dalai Lama, more than 5000 of them opting for 
“complete independence” and almost 3000 of them showing support to the 
middle-way approach.

Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-exile Prof. Samdhong 
Rinpoche, however, in his today’s speech, ruled out the prospect of any 
change in policy from the meeting and said that the meeting should not 
turn out into a “debate between political organisations and rigid 
political ideologies”.

“Any change in policy need not come from this meeting,” Prof. Rinpoche said.

Rinpoche argued that the present policy, adopted by his government that 
seeks genuine autonomy for Tibetan people within the constitutional 
framework of the People’s Republic of China, has public mandate and 
added that there was no reason to seek further public support for it.

Rinpoche said his administration’s policy was in par with a unanimous 
resolution adopted by the Tibetan parliament on 18 Sept. 1997, which 
offered His Holiness the Dalai Lama full mandate to decide on the policy 
and direction of the Tibetan struggle, from time to time, keeping the 
global trend and other factors into consideration.

To carry out any change in basic policy, Rinpoche said, it should be 
done in a democratic process with the mandate of the Tibetan people.

While clarifying “many speculations and misunderstandings” about the 
purpose of holding the special meeting, the Tibetan PM said his 
administration had no “hidden agenda and plan” behind it.

He said his administration had also clearly instructed the CTA (Central 
Tibetan Administration) officials attending the meeting to freely raise 
their concerns and express their views, irrespective of the CTA’s 
standpoint and policy.

He said the Kalons (cabinet ministers) even requested that they be 
excused from attending the group discussions to avoid overwhelming the 
conference with his administration’s view and policies, but said their 
permission was not granted.

“As such this meeting is an opportunity for the Kalons to listen rather 
than voice its thoughts,” Rinpoche said.

He emphasized that meeting must instead concentrate on making efforts 
“to find a solution to the issue of Tibet” by taking into consideration 
the “seriousness of the situation in Tibet and the unspeakable 
sufferings of Tibetans in Tibet since March this year.”

“At this Meeting, by taking into account the urgent situation in Tibet, 
the current world situation and the behavior of the PRC's leadership, we 
should be able to understand the views and aspiration of the common 
Tibetans on what would be the best course of future actions beneficial 
to the Tibetan cause,” Prof. Rinpoche said.

“Under such dire circumstances, Tibetans in Tibet pinned all their hopes 
on fellow Tibetans in the free world. It is needless for us to mention 
that, at such times, we cannot be insensitive to their cries; we must 
show solidarity with our brethrens and we must do whatever is in our 
means to improve their situation,” Rinpoche said.

Rinpoche outlined that the main objectives of the meetings are to have 
open and frank discussions on the issues of Tibet by the general Tibetan 
masses at this critical point in time, to invite views and comments on 
the CTA’s policies and strategies that being expressed in media and on 
forums, and to provide official platform to receive critical views and 
opinions regarding the CTA’s policies.

While describing the meeting as being “timely and the need of the hour” 
and an important event in the history of the Tibetan movement, Rinpoche 
maintained that any stand decided for the future of the Tibet, should 
have the clear mandate of the people, and expressed hope that the united 
efforts of the Tibetan people should be visible on the international stage.

Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile Karma Chophel, in his opening 
speech, said the special meeting was called by the Dalai Lama in light 
of the recent upheavals and sufferings of the Tibetan people in Tibet.

“So everybody will discuss Tibetan issue in light of the recent 
upheavals in Tibet and the sufferings of the Tibetan people there, and 
to suggest what best could be done in future,” Chophel said.

Commenting on the Kashag’s decision not to influence the course of 
meeting, Speaker Chophel said, “They don’t want to influence the genuine 
feelings and opinions of the Tibetan people from being expressed during 
the meeting.”

“Even His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) decided not to attend the meeting 
for the same reasons,” Chophel added, saying “His Holiness wants the 
Tibetan representatives to engage in a free and frank discussions on all 
possible issues regarding the future actions over Tibet.”

Chophel said the meeting was called on to hear from the Tibetan masses 
on how to deal with the situation in Tibet in the face of Chinese 
government’s failure to mitigate the sufferings of the Tibetan people 
inside Tibet. Chophel said instead of addressing the anguishes and 
resentments expressed by Tibetans in Tibet, China continues to unleash 
unprecedented crackdowns on Tibetan expressions.

When asked, if the meetings would have any implications on the policy of 
the exiled Government, the Tibetan speaker said it would depend on the 
Dalai Lama’s consideration on the summary of the outcomes of the meeting.

He said the organising committee of the meeting has formed fifteen 
sub-committees to oversee the discussions in the coming days would come 
up with written suggestions and opinions of the participants of the meeting.

Karma said those suggestions and views would then be discussed and 
analyzed during a preliminary session on Nov. 21, and on the final 
concluding day of the meeting on Nov 22, the suggestions would be 
reviewed and consolidated into a final summary to be submitted to the 
Dalai Lama for his considerations.

After that the Dalai Lama might redirect the next step depending on his 
observation based on the context and contents of the summary, Karma said.

“If His Holiness the Dalai Lama issues direction to discuss the matter 
in the parliament, it would be discussed in parliamentary session and 
accordingly, based on the subject matter, it could influence our 
government’s policy,” Karma told Phayul.

Dan Lusthaus wrote:
> Tibetan Exiles Meet on Strategy
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> NYTimes:
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> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/world/asia/18tibet.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
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