Dharamshala: The Leadership and staff of the Central Tibetan Administration held a prayer service this afternoon to mourn the demise of Lobsang Dhargye Shiwo, the former Tibetan Justice Commissioner and Kalon, who departed his body yesterday, on 23 October 2024, at his house in Philadelphia.

Lobsang Dhargye Shiwo was a dedicated veteran civil servant who served in the Tibetan government during the time of independent Tibet. Following the upheaval, he continued his service by joining the Central Tibetan Administration in exile, where he remained committed to the Tibetan cause.

During the prayer service, Cabinet Secretary Tsegyal Chukya Dranyi read a brief biography of the late Lobsang Dhargye Shiwo.

Brief Bio: Kasur Lobsang Dhargye Shiwo was born in 1933 in the town of Namling, Shigatse. In his youth, he began his Tibetan reading and writing education at Ngarong Shar School in Lhasa. At the age of 20, he joined the government of independent Tibet, where he took on various significant roles within the Gaden Phodrang government.

After the Tibetan national uprising in 1959, he was arrested by Chinese authorities and endured approximately 15 years of imprisonment, first at Juizhen prison in Gansu and then at Drapchi. Following his release in 1974, he worked as a professor in Xi’an and then in Lhasa before ultimately escaping to India.

On 2 January 1985, he arrived in Dharamshala and began serving as a Senior Clerk in the Central Tibetan Administration’s Cabinet Secretariat. His dedication led to a promotion and a transfer to the Department of Information and International Relations, where he assisted the department’s Kalon (Minister). On 5 November 1988, he was appointed as Kalon of both the Department of Religion and Culture and the Department of Health.

From 1991 onward, he held the position of Director of the Institute of Tibetan Medicine and Astrology as well as the Tibetan reception centre for new arrivals. Later, he became the editor of the education department, and he was also a member of the committee researching the Dolgyal issue. Before retiring in 1999, he served as the Justice Commissioner of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission.

The former Tibetan Justice Commissioner and Kasur Lobsang Dhargye Shiwo passed away on 23 October 2024, in Philadelphia.