By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Dec. 25: The All-Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet, first established in 1970, assumed its workings with the Tibetan delegation during their advocacy campaign in the national capital of India, New Delhi. The lobby was spearheaded by the Speaker Khenpo Sonam Tenphel with five members of 17th Tibetan parliament-in-exile, Serta Tsultrim, Geshe Lharampa Gowo Lobsang Phende, Lhagyari Namgyal Dolkar, Geshe Atong Rinchen Gyaltsen and Choedak Gyatso. The group reached out to 38 Indian lawmakers during the 10-day campaign.
“The Tibet support group within the parliaments around the world has existed but we wanted to make sure that this forum for Tibet, not just for its revival, but crucial to create an opportunity for the Indian parliament and the Tibetan parliament to reshape the way we have been working so far in the past. [This initiative] also attempts to bring a new variation in terms of Indo-China relationship, by making clear how the Tibet issue still remains a strong part [of the discussion],” MP Namgyal Dolkar told Phayul about the campaign. The delegation was able to add 21 new MPs into the APIPFT following their visit.
“We are happy that it concluded the way it did, but we feel like it could have been better, however we acknowledge the fact that there is a lot going on in India in terms of important elections in UP and Goa, where ruling and opposition parties are focused on the elections at the moment,” she further divulged. In collaboration with the India-Tibet Coordination Office (ITCO), the delegation organized a dinner reception for forum members at the Imperial Hotel in New Delhi. The group also officially appointed MP Sujeet Kumar of Odisha from the Rajya Sabha to take over as the Convener of the Forum.
The 17th TPiE members apprised the forum members on five key points; to take a leading role on the international platform on the question of survival of Tibetans; join world leaders for their campaign against human rights violations in Tibet; support the resumption of dialogue between Chinese and Tibetan leaders; join UNFCCC to launch research for learning climate change impact on Tibet; and to boycott the Winter Olympics in Beijing next year.
The 35-year-old said that the Indian parliamentarians had varied response on the issue of boycott, “Everyone agreed that they vehemently opposed the ongoing human rights abuses by CCP. However, they all appreciated that the world leaders were diplomatically boycotting the event. Some of them said that they had to stay “safe” with regards to sending any signals to China, whereas others said that they will definitely take up this initiative, if not in the parliament, they will send letters to the office of PM Modi. Some members were not keen on sporting boycotts.”
The new convener MP Sujeet Kumar, at the dinner reception, told the forum members and Tibetan delegation how the political party ‘Biju Janata Dal’ was named after Odisha’s former Chief Minister Shri Biju Patnaik, who was a strong Tibet supporter. The convener also shared his experience of an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and firmly asserted that Tibet was never a part of China and that India does not share the border with China. He also called upon the need for conferment of India’s highest civilian honour, Bharat Ratna, on Dalai Lama. Minister Rajiv Chandrasekhar, Minister Ramdas Athawale, MP K. C. Ramamurthy, MP Maneka Gandhi, MP Janardan Singh Sigriwal, MP Swapan Dasgupta, MP Jairam Ramesh, MP Manish Tewari, MP Chandeshwar Prasad, MP Rani Pratibha Singh were among the members that attended the reception.
APIPFT was first established in 1970 under the leadership of Mr. M.C. Chagla. Subsequently, Mr. George Fernandes and Mr. Mohan Singh took over the forum.
