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Despite Dalai Lama's rebuff, Tibetan deputies urge him to stay on

ROC Central News Agency

2011/03/18 23:26:23

By He Horn-Ju and Lilian Wu

Dharamsala, March 18 (CNA) The Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies on Friday approved a resolution by a 33-1 margin to advise the Dalai Lama to continue to serve as the political and spiritual leader of the government-in-exile.

Speaker Penpa Tsering said the assembly will send the resolution to the Dalai Lama's office, and if the Dalai Lama asks to hold consultations on the matter, it will "enter into the next round of discussions."

The Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies on Friday continued to debate four proposals worked out in a closed-door meeting Thursday related to the Dalai Lama's announcement that he would quit politics.

Penpa Tsering said the assembly passed three resolutions after Friday's meeting, among them one expressing the hope that the Dalai Lama would continue to serve as the political and spiritual leader of the government-in-exile.

The assembly also resolved that Tibet was now walking toward a democracy that met the needs of the Tibetan people and that the Dalai Lama had pursued over the past five decades.

The other successful resolution said that Tibetan citizens had yet to live up to the expectations of the Dalai Lama and would work harder to meet them and shoulder responsibility.

The second and third resolutions were passed unanimously by all 34 parliamentarians except for the speaker and the deputy speaker, who are not allowed to vote according to procedure.

A fourth resolution, to form a special task force to revise the government-in-exile's charter and related laws, was rejected by a 21-13 vote.

On the key issue of the Dalai Lama's future, a parliamentarian who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue said the resolution asking the Dalai Lama to stay on was bound to be rejected after it was sent to his office.

The Dalai Lama announced on March 10 that he would relinquish his political role to a popularly elected leader.

"My desire to devolve authority has nothing to do with a wish to shirk responsibility. It is to benefit Tibetans in the long run, " he said at the time.

The 75-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate reaffirmed his decision to quit Thursday, saying that he would give a definite "no" to a majority of Tibetan parliamentarians' request that he stay on to lead the government-in-exile.