Ladakh Admin Asks Those With More than Two Firearms to Surrender Extra Weapons
Jehangir Ali
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Srinagar: The administration in Ladakh has ordered a review of firearm licences in the violence-affected Leh district while those with more than two firearms have been asked to surrender their extra weapons.
In a public notice on October 10 (Friday), Leh additional deputy commissioner (ADC) Ghulam Mohd directed firearm licence holders with more than two firearms to surrender their extra weapons in the judicial section of Leh district magistrate (DM) within a month.
The notice titled ‘Surrender of Arms Weapon who possess more than Two Firearms’ cites a communication from the Union home ministry (F. No. V-11026/41/2025-Arms dated 29th August 2025), a circular by the home department of Ladakh (Home/UTL(18)82025-2885-86 dated 10th September 2025) and section 3 of the Arms Act, 1959.
Under the Arms Act, a licence holder can possess a maximum of three firearms, including a person's primary firearms and any acquired through inheritance. Section 3 of the Arms Act criminalises possession of firearms or ammunition without a licence and “more than three firearms”. Subsection 2 directs such persons to surrender extra firearms at the nearest police stations or other notified places.
The one-page notice by ADC Leh directs the licence holders to “bring their original licence along with them within a period of one month from the date of issue of this notice to review the firearm licences”.
The notice however isn’t clear whether all the firearm licences issued by Leh DM were subject of the review or only the licences of those who have more than two weapons.
Deputy commissioner Leh Romil Singh Donk said that the notice was not specifically meant for Ladakh as it followed the directions of the MHA which were sent to all the states and Union territories.
On the issue of the difference in the number of firearms a licence holder can possess under the Arms Act and the number mentioned in the notice, Donk told The Wire that it was done after a formal review. He however did not clarify which licences were subjected to the review.
According to a report, the notice is “part of the ongoing compliance process to ensure uniform enforcement of the Arms Act … to maintain accurate records of firearm ownership, strengthen monitoring mechanisms and enhance public safety” in Ladakh.
A Right to Information query by The Wire in 2023 revealed that there were 492 firearms licence holders in Ladakh which also comprises the Kargil region.
An agitation and four deaths
The notice by ADC Leh has been issued at a time when the capital Leh is struggling to come out of the trauma caused by the September 24 violence, the first of its kind seen in Ladakh in which four civilian protesters were killed in firing by security forces.
The violence has pushed the fate of the upcoming Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) elections – which are scheduled to be held by the end of this year – towards uncertain waters.
A peaceful agitation seeking constitutional safeguards for Ladakh and return to democracy boiled down into violent clashes on September 24 in which at least 90 civilian protesters, mostly minors, suffered firearm injuries.
The Leh Apex Body which was spearheading the agitation in Ladakh along with Kargil Democratic Alliance has sought a judicial probe led by a retired Supreme Court judge into the violence before resuming informal talks with the Union home ministry.
The ruling Bhartiya Janta Party which is in power in LAHDC-Leh, has supported the demand for a judicial probe.
Although a sparsely populated region, Ladakh’s relation with firearms is not new, mainly due to the region’s proximity to Pakistan and China.
Many Ladakhis have multiple members in the Indian Army, mostly in the Ladakh Scouts, a regiment of five battalions which has played a significant role in the high altitude battles that have been fought on the rugged Himalayan borders.
Ladakh Scouts, which became the first army regiment to set up a check-post on the Siachen Glacier in 1984, has earned 850 gallantry awards for operations in the wars in 1948, 1962, 1965, 1971, and 1999.
In 2018, following the MHA directions, the administration in Ladakh carried out a drive across Leh district to digitise the data of arms license holders for the National Database of Arms License.
A unique ID was generated for the license holders and those who refused to become part of the digitisation drive were threatened with cancellation of license.
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