These are trying times in the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh where the violence of September 24 leading to four deaths and injuries to 90 others have vitiated the atmosphere. The arrest of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who was leading a hunger strike, under National Security Act (NSA), and his shifting to a jail in Jodhpur is an irritant for Ladakhi leaders. They have been demanding the release of all those arrested around that time but the administration has not heeded them.
One major demand of the Ladakhi leaders was a judicial probe into the violence and deaths. That having been conceded by the Central government, way has been paved for a meeting between senior officials of the Union Home Ministry and the Ladakhi leaders. On Wednesday (September 22), the discussions between the two sides, earlier scheduled for October 6, will resume.
Former Leh MP Thupstan Chhewang, Tsering Dorjay Lakruk, Sajjad Kargili, Asgar Karbalai, Leh MP Hanifa Jan and a couple of others will comprise the Ladakh delegation. They have been insisting that full statehood for Ladakh, with a legislature, and 6th Schedule constitutional safeguards, are the issues on the table, and none others. However, these are not demands which the Centre is willing to concede easily if the past parleys are an indication.
The problem with the statehood demand is that presently, there is no precedent of such a small state with only a population of barely three lakh. The demand for an additional Lok Sabha MP for the Union Territory (UT) has further complicated talks with the Ladakhi leadership.
On Sunday, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had invited the leaders of Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) for talks in New Delhi. However, this will be the Sub-Committee meeting only, a notch lower than the High Powered Committee (HPC) headed by Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai. A MHA Joint Secretary will likely lead it, with Ladakh Chief Secretary Pawan Kotwal and three members each from Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), participating.
The LAB will be represented by Thupstan Chhewang, Chering Dorjay Lakruk and Ashraf Ali. From Kargil, the KDA members who will attend the meeting include Qamar Ali Akhoon, Asgar Ali Karbalai and Sajjad Kargili.
The last serious discussions between the Ladakhi leaders from the two districts and the MHA team had happened in New Delhi in May end, five months ago. It may be recalled that the MHA had announced a meeting on October 6, but the Ladakhi leadership spurned that offer.
Incidentally, the term of Ladakh Autonomous Hill District Council (LAHDC) of Leh is coming to an end within the next fortnight. The elections for LAHDC-Leh were last held on October 26, 2020, and swearing-in of councillors held in early November. This means that there will soon be no LAHDC in Leh and no local elected representatives. Given the harsh winters that Ladakh faces, it is unlikely that these elections are going to be held any time soon.
This will practically mean end of LAHDC-Leh which was first put in place during a time in 1995 when PV Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister. At that time, LAHDC was a compromise between leadership of the Leh district, mainly Buddhists, and the Central government. Some years later, LAHDC was created in Kargil district also, is functional at present and has some years of tenure left.
The Sub Committee meeting for Wednesday has been called in consultations with the LAB and KDA, who were of the view that this will create ground for the HPC meeting headed by MoS Home. LAB co-chairman Chering Dorjay Lakruk has said that they have now only two major issues for discussions including Statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh.
“We have only two issues to discuss now, Statehood and Sixth Schedule status,” he is reported to have asserted in most of his public statements. “We were informed by the Home Ministry that a meeting of the Sub-Committee is scheduled for October 22, and both LAB and KDA are invited to it. We welcome the decision of the Government of India to invite us and look forward to the positive outcome of the dialogue,” Lakruk said in Leh while talking to reporters.
Expressing confidence that the fresh round of talks would be fruitful, Lakruk said the apex body chairman and former MP Thupstan Chhewang will lead their delegation. The KDA will be led by co-chairmen Qamar Ali Akhoon and Asgar Ali Karbalai, along with prominent member Sajjad Kargili. Anjuman Imamia of Leh president Ashraf Ali Barcha and LAB legal advisor are also taking part in the talks besides the Ladakh MP.
These talks will be preliminary in the sense that they will pave the way for the next round of discussions with the High-Powered Committee (HPC) headed by Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai.
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