Covid-19 pandemic forces Tibetan parliament to postpone upcoming session

SHIMLA: In the wake of ongoing covid-19 pandemic, Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile (TPiE) has postponed its 10th session of 16th TPiE, scheduled to be held for 8 days from September 16-24, until March next year. TPiE said that the decision to postpone the session has been taken considering the rising urgency situation across the World caused by Covid-19 which originated in Wuhan, China.
A decision to postpone the session was taken in the 327th Standing Committee meeting held on August 13 in accordance to the Article 6 and clause 2 of Article 49 of the Charter of Tibetans in exile.
Speaker Pema Jungjey along with Deputy Speaker Yeshi Phuntsok held a press conference in Dharamnshala on Monday to announce to postpone the session until March next year.
“We were bound to take this decision as we have to take responsibility especially when His Holiness the Dalai Lama resides here in Dharamshala. And even if the session is held supposedly, because of the current international travel ban Tibetan parliamentarians outside of India will not be able to attend the session and the Tibetan parliamentarians in India too might find it difficult to travel with the ongoing pandemic,” TPiE said in a statement issued on Monday.
It said that even though the September session will not be convened, matters and proceedings related to the TPiE will be executed without any negligence. It said that as usual the annual reports of the Central Tibetan Administration’s main offices as well as of institutions under it for the fiscal year 2019-20 is being reviewed by the members of Standing Committee and questions raised on the annual reports by the Standing Committee will be submitted to the respective departments through the Kashag Secretariat.