Tibetan leaders began a “special meeting” in Dharamsala 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.
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 , 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.

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 .

Dossier Tibet