Parliament Seeks UN Help to Secure Tibetans’ Rights in Nepal[Monday, 11 October 2010, 2:19 p.m.]
The
Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile has called on the United Nations and the
Amnesty International for their help in ensuring the rights of Tibetans
living in Nepal to conduct democratic elections.Dharamsala: The
appeal came days after the Nepalese government disrupted the general
election of Tibetans in Nepal by forcibly confiscating ballot boxes
during the first round of voting on 3 October.The deputy
speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile has written an appeal letter
to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Navanthem Pillay and the director of London-based Amnesty
International on 8 October.“I would humbly like to submit that
the 2nd of September 2010 marked the 50th year of Tibetan Democracy in
Exile. That on the 3rd of October, Tibetan community in exile went on
primary to the election of the members of the 15th Tibetan Parliament
in Exile and also to that of the Kalon Tripa,” Deputy Speaker Dolma
Gyari said in the letter.“The first elected members of the
Tibetan Parliament in Exile took of Office on the 2nd of September
1960. In the last 50 years, there has never been a law and order
problem created by our community on the days of the elections. More so,
we are grateful to our host nations that there never was interruption
to prevent us from electing our own representatives and the Kalon
Tripa,” the letter noted.“Therefore, the 3rd October incident
in Nepal, whereby the Nepalese police personnel, in spite of the
permission granted by the competent local authorities, forcefully took
away ballot boxes from the polling centers at Boudha and Swyambhu, both
under the jurisdiction of the Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, is shocking
and we strongly condemn this unprecedented act against democracy.”“The
Tibetan Parliament in Exile appeals to the United Nations and the
Amnesty International that through your official and personal channel
to help release the ballot boxes from the police authority of Nepal
and to ensure that the Tibetan diaspora community is able to continue
to democratically elect their own representatives and the Kalon Tripa,”
the letter noted.
