OFFICIAL OBITUARY REFERENCE
PREAMBLE
The sad event of the passing away of Shri Ram Jethmalani, former minister in the Government of India, occurred at 7:45 am on the 8th day of September in 2019 in his private home in India’s capital New Delhi. He died due to old-age related ailment at the age of 95.
The late Shri Ram Jethmalani was born on Friday, the 14th day of September in 1923, the son of Shri Bhoolchand Gurmukhdas Jethmalani, his father, and Smt. Parbati Bhoolchand, his mother, in Shikarpur, a small town that later became part of Pakistan after the partition of India.
From a young age Shri Ram Jethmalani stood out from all other students for his brilliance and power of intellect. He completed his matriculation at the age of 13 from the Sindh Model High School, a Hindu educational undertaking. He went on to pursue his bachelor’s degree in laws, which was followed by the completion of a master’s degree in laws from Bombay University. The late Shri Ram Jethmalani’s favourite subject and games since his childhood were juridical science and Badminton. His late father’s great wish was for him to become an engineer. However, the boy’s ardent love was in the field of juridical science. Both his late father and grandfather had been practicing lawyers and these gave him additional encouragement to pursue the profession. He was a member of Lok Sabha, the Lower House of the Indian Parliament, for two successive terms. During the period of emergency in India from 1975 to 1977, he was the chairman of the Bar Association of India. In 1977, he was honoured by a group called World Peace Through Law with its Human Rights Award. In 1987, the late Shri Ram Jethmalani launched his own political front, the Bharat Mukti Morcha, as a mass movement. In 1988 he was elected for the first time as a member of Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian parliament. Later in 1995, he launched his own political party, called the Pavitra Hindustan Kazhagam, with the motto to achieve “transparency in functioning of Indian democracy”. In 1996, the late Shri Ram Jethmalani was made the Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Shr Atal Bihari Vajpayee. From 2010, he served a full term as a member of Rajya Sabha.
The late Shri Ram Jethmalani was a renowned Indian lawyer and one of the most experienced senior politicians in the country. He had served as the Union Law and Justice Minister and also as the Union Minister for Urban Development. He also served as the Chairman of the Bar Council of India, a statutory body.
The late Shri Ram Jethmalani wrote a number of books which enjoyed popular readership. He also especially wrote a number of articles related to the issue of Tibet. Throughout his life, Shri Ram Jethmalani made a number of sacrifices for the sake of the Indian public and nation. He made it a point to come to attend and preside over a number of conferences in India’s capital New Delhi which were held on the issue of Tibet and the Tibetan people. When delegations of members of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile officially visited New Delhi to advocate support for the issue of Tibet, he readily welcomed them all the time without any sort of demur as and when they called on him. He also took part in a number of indo-Tibetan friendship as well as a number of other related kinds of meetings. While in parliament he took part in every discussion that took place in it on Tibet related issues and was personally a strong supporter of the Middle Way Approach for seeking a peaceful solution to the issue of Tibet. In all instances thus far where urgent resolutions on the issue of Tibet were required, or when the issue of Tibet needed to be raised on any forum, he played active role in extending help and cooperation, including in terms of getting signatures from member of the Indian parliament on petitions for these purposes. While he was alive Shri Ram Jethmalani always kept the Tibetan people in his mind and on that basis was someone who extended strong support for the issue of Tibet. With the aim to achieve the realization of the just cause of Tibet, he was among those who initiated campaign actions directed at it and was a dependable friend of Tibet and the Tibetan people. In particular, he was an eminent personage who had a close personal rapport with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and on that basis had a profound reverence for Him.
RESOLUTION
The Tibetan Parliament in Exile greatly respects and admires the late Shri Ram Jethmalani for his outstanding accomplishments while offering its exaltations to him. His passing away has been a great loss to the Tibetan struggle too. On behalf of all the Tibetan people in Tibet and in exile, the Tibetan Parliament in Exile hereby offers its heartfelt condolences to his surviving family members and others who were close to him. The Tibetan Parliament in Exile ardently prays that his visionary noble wishes may all be seen fulfilled, that whatever he had done that amounted to accumulation of sins may all be cleansed so that he stands purified and may ascend through stages of blissfulness after blissfulness. The Tibetan Parliament in Exile hereby adopts this resolution with unanimous approval on this the 20th day of September in 2019.
The above resolution was adopted with unanimous approval at the 8th session of the 16th Tibetan Parliament in Exile on this the 20th day of September in 2019.
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* In case of any discrepancy between this English translation and its Tibetan original, the latter should be considered authoritative and final for all purposes