By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala, Jan 6: In a memorandum submitted to the exiled Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Wednesday, the parliament of the Tibetans in exile has urged him not to retire – either semi or fully – from the Tibetan leadership role.
In the memorandum, the Standing Committee of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile has said it held successive meetings with “extremely grave concern” over Dalai Lama’s wish to take complete retirement from governmental roles.
The memorandum comes in the wake of recent announcements by the Dalai Lama, who already calls himself a semi-retired person, that he was contemplating “complete retirement” in months’ time from political and administrative matters.
During his visits to north eastern parts of India last month, the Dalai Lama however clarified that his retirement did not mean complete disassociation from the Tibetan people’s struggle for freedom.
“Tibetans both in Tibet and in exile have been greatly concerned and grieved by this and have been continuing to petition Your Holiness, beseeching that you never entertain any thought about carrying out a plan for such a decision,” the standing committee of the Tibetan parliament wrote in the latest memorandum.
The memorandum also cites various resolutions adopted by the Tibetan administration, including the First Special General Meeting of Tibetans held in November 2008 and a unanimous resolution adopted during the ninth session of the 14th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, that gave Dalai Lama full authority in dealing with the future course of action for resolving the issue of Tibet.
“Thus, it is inconceivable that for as long as this eon endures, there can ever be a moment at which the people of Tibet can at all be separated from your excellent religious and temporal leadership,” the memorandum notes.
In the memorandum, the Tibetan Parliament also offered “immense gratitude” to the Dalai Lama on behalf of the Tibetan people both in Tibet and in exile for his leadership role.
The Tibetan parliament in 1997 passed a unanimous resolution accepting Dalai Lama’s approach to resolve the Tibet issue. It was passed after vast majority of Tibetan people expressed views that whatever His Holiness the Dalai Lama decides, considering the international situation, will be acceptable to them.
“Giving due consideration to the above series of pleas, we beseech and pray with heartfelt devotion that Your Holiness never ever contemplate going into either semi-retirement or full retirement,” the memorandum notes.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has lately described himself as a “semi-retired” person, saying he has already delegated much of the administrative and political decisions to the democratically elected Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.
The decision, the Dalai Lama says, is pursuant to the “highest priority” given soon after coming into exile in 1959 to establishing a system of governance for the Tibetan people fully based on democratic principles.
The Dalai Lama, however, insists, it would be his “moral responsibility” to continue to act as the “free spokesperson” of Tibetan people until a mutually satisfactory solution to the Tibet problem is found.
