By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, Sept 22: The parliament of the exile Tibetan government has been adjourned as the necessary quorum for assembly according to Article 49 of the Charter, of at least two third of MPs, is unfulfilled on the fourth day of the ongoing parliament session. The Speaker of the Parliament Khenpo Sonam Tenphel said that a group of MPs informed him that they will not participate in the parliamentary proceedings until the Department of Security resolves the allegations over MP Geshe Monlam Tharchin’s alleged meeting with a Chinese government staff.
The development follows the extensive debate among parliamentarians on Thursday in the house over the alleged meeting between MP Geshe Monlam Tharchin and a Chinese government staff. On Wednesday, on the second day of the session, MP Dawa Phunkyi while raising a point of order alleged that MP Geshe Monlam Tharchin accompanied a “Chinese spy” in Northeast India.
The accused MP categorically denied meeting any Chinese government staff and further revealed that the security wing of the CTA reached out to him over the same matter and that he has been co-operating with their probe.
In her address, the Minister of the Department of Security, Gyari Dolma, reported receiving information about a potential meeting between the accused MP and a Chinese state employee at the Mayfair Hotel in Siliguri, West Bengal in July. She further revealed that upon meeting the accused MP, he admitted to be in the hotel on the same day of July 6, but denied that he met with any Chinese government official, supplementing his claim with his diary of appointments that he presented to the probing authorities.
The accused MP Geshe Monlam Tharchin said that allegation against him are baseless while demanding resolute proof from the Dept. of Security on whether he met the Chinese government staff. Minister Gyari Dolma in response said that her sources maintained the credibility of the information while clarifying that the incident hinges on the key fact of whether the MP met with the Chinese government staff or not, and not whether the accused is a suspect of being an agent of China.
She further said that her department will continue to probe the matter by reaching out to the sources again and take responsibility in resolving the matter.
While some MPs said that such accusations must be supplemented with concrete proofs, others argued that similar accusations have been raised multiple times in the past without proof. A fellow MP demanded that MP Dawa Phunkyi be questioned on how he received the information considering the sensitivity of the incident, however the Minister of Security said such probe will not be done. MP Dawa Phunkyi later told the house that his remarks are made in the heat of the moment and as per information that he received.
The President of the CTA, Penpa Tsering assured that his administration will probe the matter and appealed to the lawmakers to not disrupt the parliamentary proceedings over the incident as the investigation may take time and will depend on the co-operation of other parties.
Tsering Dhundup contributed reporting.
2 Responses
Sad to see the never ending squabbling of our elected leaders. It has now become a regular features that new issues are unnecessarily raised which disrupts the smooth functioning of the House. Can we afford this ? Do we have the luxury to waste our time squabbling on issues in the line of regionalism and religious sects ?
Unfortunately for the people living in Tibet, as opposed to being in exile, there is not an option other than to interact with Chinese officials. Tibet is not the first country to have this sort of an issue with occupied territories. Perhaps the one thing of note is China’s nuclear capacity on the Tibetan plateau. In some ways, that is not that dissimilar to the current situation in Ukraine. It hardly does anyone any good from being the pawns of one to being the pawns of another. Actions in exile effect real lives of real people living in Tibet. How many Tibetans outside of India are considered refugees? And how many have chosen to become citizens of the place to where they migrated? And in the case of the latter, how Tibetan do they still remain after a few generations?