Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Background

In 1949 the People's Liberation Army of China marched into Tibet's eastern provinces of Do-med and Do-tod, occupying the eastern Tibetan headquarters of Chamdo in the following year. Then, in 1951, China imposed what they call "The 17-Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet". In the succeeding years, the Chinese army crushed the Tibetan national uprising of Lhasa in 1959. In the same year, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and some 80,000 Tibetans crossed the Himalayas to seek refuge in India, Nepal and Bhutan. The influx of refugees continues even today.

On April 29, 1959 His Holiness the Dalai Lama relocated the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in the north Indian hill station of Mussoorie. In May 1960 the exile administration was moved to Dharamsala.

The Tibetan people, both in and outside Tibet, look to the CTA as their sole and legitimate representative. This and the CTA's commitment to truth, non-violence and genuine democracy as its inviolable principles means that it is now being recognized increasingly by parliaments and general public around the world as the legitimate and true representative of the Tibetan people.

Right from its inception, the CTA has set itself the twin task of rehabilitating Tibetan refugees and restoring freedom and happiness in Tibet. The rehabilitation agenda includes three important programmes:
a) promoting education among the exile population;
b) building a firm culture of democracy;
c) and paving the way for self-reliance so that the Tibetan people are able to survive with self-esteem and confidence that flows from not having to depend on external assistance.

The CTA's experiment with democracy, in particular, is a preparation for the reconstruction of Tibet when freedom is restored there. As part of this exercise, a parliament, then named the Commission of the Tibetan People's Deputies, was instituted on September 2, 1960. The parliament gradually matured into a full-fledged legislative body, thus coming to be known as the Assembly of the Tibetan People's Deputies. In 1990 His Holiness announced further democratization, by which the composition of the Tibetan Assembly was increased to 46 members. The Assembly was empowered to elect the Tibetan Kashag, which was made answerable to the people's elected representatives. Similarly, the Tibetan judiciary, known as the Supreme Justice Commission, was instituted. The newly empowered Assembly of the Tibetan People's Deputies issued the exile Tibetan constitution under the title of the Charter of the Tibetans in Exile.

In 2001 the ATPD, on the advice of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, amended the Charter to provide for direct election of the Kalon Tripa (the highest executive authority) by the exile populace. The Kalon Tripa, in turn, nominates candidates for the post of other kalons, and seeks the parliament's approval for their appointment. The candidates winning a two-third majority vote in the parliament are declared appointed. The first directly-elected Kalon Tripa was Professor Samdhong Rinpoche, a Gandhian with lifelong commitment to education, non-violence and local self-rule. He took the oath of office on 5 September 2001.

Today, the CTA functions as a veritable government, and has all the departments and attributes of a free democratic administration. It must be noted, though, that the CTA is not designed to take power in Tibet. In his manifesto for future Tibet entitled Guidelines for Future Tibet's Polity and Basic Features of its Constitution, His Holiness the Dalai Lama stated that the present exile administration would be dissolved as soon as freedom was restored in Tibet. The Tibetans currently residing in Tibet, he said, would head the government of free Tibet, not the members of the exile administration. He said that there would be a transitional government in Tibet which would be headed by an Interim-President, elected or appointed by him. To this Interim-President His Holiness would transfer all his temporal power. The Interim-President, in his turn, would be required to hold a general election within two years and then hand over the power to the popularly elected government.