Dharamshala: - Mr Penpa Tsering, Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile on Sunday said 'the India based 'Central Tibetan Administration' (CTA) is the legitimate representative of the Tibetan people and the Middle Way Approach seeks genuine autonomy for Tibet within the People's Republic of China.
Mr Tsering was addressing during a lawyers' training in Dharamshala, which was organised by the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission of the Central Tibetan Administration, to increase awareness about the role of judiciary in the Tibetan democratic polity.
According to the CTA, the speaker also awarded lawyer's certificate to 35 Tibetan teachers who participated in a 10-day intensive lawyer's training at Sarah Tibetan college.
He spoke briefly about the evolution of Tibetan democracy and the formation of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission in fully democratising the Tibetan polity.
"The Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission is the third pillar of Tibetan democracy. It was established in 1992 with the aim of sustaining the rule of law and providing justice and equality to the Tibetan community," Mr Tsering said.
Highlighting the importance of such legal training, the speaker said that through such training, the TSJC is planting seeds of awareness about the rule of law and the democratic functioning of the Central Tibetan Administration.
He added that the education system, particularly the teachers, play a vital role in this exercise, urging the teachers to advice their students to study Tibetan charter to understand Tibetan democracy.
Welcoming the increasing number of Tibetan students pursuing law and legal education in their further studies, Speaker Penpa Tsering, exclaimed that our students should have an in-depth knowledge of our own constitution (charter) first, before we go on to study other countries' laws.
Speaking about the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), he said the CTA is the legitimate representative of the Tibetan people. The Middle Way Policy of the Central Tibetan Administration seeks genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people, as enshrined in the Chinese constitution, he said.
Speaker Penpa Tsering also talked about the importance of preserving our Tibetan culture,religion and language to safeguard the Tibetan identity. He urged Tibetans in the west to speak and write Tibetans at home, especially when the language of communication is not Tibetan outside of the home.
Mr Tsering Dhondup, Justice Commissioner and one of the resource persons, said the training went very well. The participants are co-operative and very keen to learn the workings of the Tibetan judicial system, he said.
"Since all the participants are teachers this time, we hope it will have a larger effect, as they will go back to their respective schools and teach their students about the Tibetan judiciary and the Tibetan democratic structure, he added.
The participants underwent a 10-day comprehensive training on the Tibetan Code of Judiciary, the Code of Civil Procedure and the Evidence Act from 27 December 2013.
