Canberra: Australia’s Parliamentary Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Human Rights convened a hearing on Tibet, including “the status of dialogue between the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Chinese leadership, and human rights situation inside Tibet”.
At the invitation of the joint parliamentary committee, three senior officials of the Central Tibetan Administration, Mr Sonam Norbu Dagpo, His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s representative to Australia, Mr Chhime Rigzin, Secretary to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Mr Tenzin Phuntsok Atisha, Secretary at the Department of Information and
The hearing was held under the chairmanship of Mr Michael Danby, a member of the Australian House of Representatives. In July 2009, Mr Dandy led an Australian parliamentarian delegation to visit the Tibetan community in Dharamsala.
Leading members of the Opposition Party’s foreign affairs committee including 10 Members of Parliament attended the hearing.
During the course of the hearing, His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Representative Sonam Dagpo gave a briefing about the Middle-Way policy proposed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to resolve the issue of Tibet and the dialogue process with the PRC leadership.
International Secretary Tenzin Phuntsok Atisha briefed about the human rights situation inside Tibet.
The participating delegates put forward a wide range of questions concerning Tibet’s environment and water, causes leading to the mudslide tragedy in Tibet’s Drugchu region, Chinese population transfer to Tibet, His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s congratulatory message to Liu Xiaobo on winning Nobel Peace Prize and His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s retirement plan made during a recent TV interview in India.
The Tibetan officials replied to the questions and issues raised during the hearing.