DHARAMSALA

Countdown for Referendum begins: In what can be seen as a countdown for the upcoming Referendum, a three-day preliminary educational workshop on Referendum, organised by the Kashag (Cabinet) and Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies (ATPD), was held here in Dharamsala beginning on 21 January with different speakers advocating on the four sample options for the benefit of 239 representatives of Tibetan communities in the exile diaspora.

The workshop - that was attended by Representatives of Offices of Tibet, Settlement heads, Executives of Tibetan Freedom Movement and Local Tibetan Assemblies, leaders of various NGOs, Government officials from above the Joint Secretary level, Directors of TCV schools and Rectors of Central School for Tibetans - saw an active debate on the pros and cons of the four sample options by the participating speakers and scholars. After their presentations, the speakers were grilled with questions and doubts by the participants - for whom awaited the more pressing duty of explaining what they have learned to the people in their respective communities and settlements.

The four sample options of Referendum put forth before the public by the Tibetan Government- in-Exile are: Middle-Way Approach, Complete Independence, Self-determination and Satya Graha or Truth Insistence.

At the Workshop, the Middle-Way approach was championed by Lodi Gyari, Special Envoy of His Holiness, and Kalsang Gyaltsen, Political Secretary to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, while Lhasang Tsering, co-Director of Amnye Machen Institute and Karma Choephel, member of ATPD advocated on Complete Independence. Dawa Norbu, Associate Professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, and Kalon Tashi Wangdi, Minister for Department of Information & International Relations, spoke on the merits of Self-Determination and Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche, Chairman of ATPD, promoted Satya Graha or Truth Insistence.

The decision to hold a Referendum on the future course of the Tibetan struggle was made following His Holiness the Dalai Lama's subsequent Uprising Day speeches in 1994 and 1995, in which he said that his Middle-Way Approach has failed to bring the Chinese to the negotiating table and that he will consult the Tibetan people in determining the future course of the Tibetan struggle.

This will be followed by an opinion poll on 31 July this year. The Referendum itself, to quote a circular issued by the Kashag Secretariat, will be held when the time is ripe.

Much-awaited snowfall delights Dharamsala: When the much-awaited snowfall enveloped the whole region of Dharamsala in its pure whiteness and scenic grandeur on 21 January, its residents were more than overjoyed. Only that the chilling cold and conveyance problem that came with its were not received with the same enthusiasm.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama referred to the coincidence of the snowfall and the Referendum Workshop as an auspicious symbol, during his address at the morning session of the Administrative meeting.

The snowfall - to put in the words of Lhasang Tsering, co-Director of Amnye Machen Institute symbolised a reminder to the exiled Tibetans, by the supernatural beings, of the Tibetans' own Land of Snow and a warning against further dilly-dallying with an issue as important as Referendum.