Srinagar: The Ladakh administration has denied permission to a civil society group which was planning to hold a peaceful rally against the Union government's alleged delay in restoring the constitutional rights and democracy in the border region.

The powerful Leh Apex Body (LAB) which has been spearheading the ongoing agitation in Ladakh along with the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) said that it had planned to carry out a peaceful rally in the capital Leh on Thursday (March 12).

The KDA was also expected to carry out a similar rally in Kargil district against the delay in the resumption of “meaningful talks” with the Centre among other issues.

The rallies were planned a day ahead of the swearing-in ceremony of Ladakh’s new lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena who is likely to take oath on March 13 at the Lok Bhawan in Leh amid deepening political uncertainty in the border region.

Speaking with The Wire, Chering Dorjay Lakrook, the LAB co-chairman, said that they had applied for permission from the police administration in Leh last week.

“It was going to be a peaceful rally aimed at raising our voices and bringing focus on the dispossession and disempowerment of Ladakh since 2019. However, the administration didn’t grant us permission,” he said.

On August 5, 2019, the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP)-led Union government had read down Article 370 and Ladakh was separated from Jammu and Kashmir and demoted into a Union territory without a legislature, a decision which was initially celebrated by people in the border region.

Lakrook, who is also the chairman of the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA), said that the LBA and KDA leaders are holding consultations about the “future course of action” following the denial of permission for the “peaceful rally”.

“Our agenda for the talks (with the MHA) has not changed and it is not going to change in future also. The (Union) government’s refusal to accept our demands has already angered the people of Ladakh and the ongoing political uncertainty will only breed mistrust and alienate our people,” he warned.

The two bodies met with the Union home ministry’s high-powered committee (HPC) on February 4 during which they sought the implementation of their four point agenda including granting statehood and Sixth Schedule status to Ladakh.

However, the talks had remained “inconclusive” with the MHA proposing safeguards under Article 371 of the Constitution for Ladakh and strengthening of the autonomous hill councils instead of statehood and Sixth Schedule which was rejected by the two groups.

During the meeting, the MHA officials had told the participants from the LAB-KDA combine that their demands were “not feasible and impractical”.

Last year, a 19-page draft proposal was also submitted by the two groups to the HPC which called for the release of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and others who were detained in the aftermath of the deadly protests in Leh in September and the withdrawal of cases against them.

Wangchuk, who has been detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA), is languishing in a jail in Rajasthan. His wife Gitanjali Angmo has challenged his detention in the Supreme Court.

The civil society groups have also urged the Union government to release the report of the judicial inquiry led by former Supreme Court judge B.S. Chauhan into the violence in which four civilians were killed allegedly in retaliatory action by security forces to control violent protests that broke out in Leh on September 24, 2025.

In what seems to be an attempt to placate the concerns over growing unemployment in Ladakh, the Union territory (UT) administration recently advertised some graduate-level non-gazetted posts in Kargil and Leh districts while the process for filling up the vacancies at the UT-level is expected to be rolled out in coming days.

Meanwhile, Saxena, the newly appointed LG of Ladakh, arrived in Leh earlier this week. He replaced former Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) minister and senior J&K BJP leader Kavinder Gupta who was appointed as the governor of Himachal Pradesh.

Gupta, a former deputy chief minister of J&K served as Ladakh’s third LG for less than eight months during which he faced allegations of allegedly grabbing 41 kanal and nine marla of State land at Ghank village in Bhalwal tehsil of Jammu, a charge he has denied.

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