By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala, Sept 19: The Eighth session of the 14th Tibetan parliament-in-Exile on Saturday suffered a jolt as it was forced to wrap up entirely short of its final concluding session.
The House geared up twice to resume the session earlier this morning, but failed in both the attempts as several MPs, who staged a furious and dramatic walkout from the session last night, decidedly stayed away from today’s scheduled sitting.
The concluding session failed to resume for sheer need of sufficient member attendance.
The charter of Tibetans in Exile stipulates attendance by two-thirds (28 out of 42) of the parliamentary members for a session, but during the first two sittings in the morning only 25 MPs turned up in the House.
The third and final attempt for a concluding session later in the afternoon still failed to reach the quorum, as only two more MPs turned up.
Left with no choice, Speaker Penpa Tsering finally decided to wrap up the session without its final sitting.
The situation took an ugly turn late night yesterday after a fellow MP from Do-med moved a motion challenging a decision made by the Parliaments’ Standing Committee. Her motion was said to be supported and signed by 14 other MPs.
However, describing the motion and the manner in which it was raised in the House as being improper and provocative, several members, including some members of the Standing Committee, walked out the House during the session.
The session was called off last night following the confrontational walkout by the MPs.
The Tibetan Parliament had been in session since September 7.
The Ninth session of the Tibetan Parliament will resume sometime in March 2010.
