Talks Between Union Government and Ladakh Bodies Set to Resume
Srinagar: With the BJP-led Union government set to revive talks with the leadership of Ladakh, all eyes are on what the Government of India will offer to the people of two-district Ladakh Union Territory, who are seeking statehood and inclusion of the region in Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
The Union government seems to be keen to find solution to the demands of Ladakhi people at least before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, observers say, due to the region’s unique geopolitical importance and the ruling party’s own political compulsions.
Resumption of talks
The Government of India is set to resume the talks with the leadership of Ladakh, who are seeking statehood for the region and safeguards under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. These safeguards were available to the region and other parts of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir before the BJP-led Union government read down Article 370 and reorganised the erstwhile state into two union territories.
The talks are resuming after the leadership of Ladakh announced that they will hold a first round of talks without any conditions. Earlier, they had refused to be part of a high-powered committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in January this year.
“We have been invited for talks on June 19,” Chering Dorjay Lakrook, a former minister in the PDP-BJP government in J&K and member of Leh Apex Body (LAB), told The Wire.
He said three members each from the LAB and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) will travel to New Delhi for the talks with the Union government. “We have not set any preconditions for the talks. We will go with an open mind and listen to them. The next round of talks will take place if the agenda is finalised in the June 19 meeting,” he said.
Representative of Jamiat-ul-Ulama Kargil and a core member of the KDA Sajjad Kargili said that they are not backtracking from their key demands and will try to convince the Union government to concede to them. “We believe that dialogue is the way forward and only through dialogue we can achieve our goal. We hope that government will listen to us with open mind and heart,” he said.
In January this year, the LAB and KDA – the amalgams of different political, social and religious groups respectively in Leh and Kargil districts – refused to be part of proceedings of the high-powered committee constituted by the Union government under the chairmanship of Union minister of state for home Nitayanand Rai to discuss measures for the protection of the region’s unique culture and language, taking into consideration its geographical location and strategic importance. The committee was meant to ensure protection of land and employment for the people of Ladakh, strategise on inclusive development and discuss matters related to the empowerment of the Hill Councils of Leh and Kargil.
The LAB and KDA had said that their key demands of statehood and Sixth Schedule rights were not incorporated in tje agenda of the high-powered committee. Apart from these demands, these groups are also seeking two Lok Sabha seats for Ladakh, employment for youth and a separate Public Service Commission for the region.
Union government’s position on demands
While the Union government is unlikely to concede to the demand of statehood for the two-district Ladakh UT, all eyes will be on how it will deal with the demand for granting safeguards to the region under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India. The inclusion of Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule would require amendments to the Constitution.
Under the Sixth Schedule, the autonomous district and regional councils have specific legislative, executive, judicial and financial powers in the states of Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and Assam. While the Union government has not spelt out its stand on the demand for Sixth Schedule rights, BJP MP from Ladakh Jamayang Namagyal – who was one of the key proponents of the demand earlier – recently said that it would weaken Hill Councils, inviting criticism from two-time MP and widely revered Buddhist leader Thupstan Chhewang.
The demand of Sixth Schedule rights has become a rallying crying in Ladakh, especially Leh district. This could be gauged from the fact that thousands of people rallied in support of Sonam Wangchuk on January 31, 2023 in Leh after he observed a five-day fast to press for the demand.
The Union government would like to see a solution to the matter due to its own political compulsions. The BJP had won the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat both in 2014 and 2019, due to division of the Muslim vote. It would like to retain the seat in 2024 but the odds are stacked against it this time, due to mass mobilisation behind the Sixth Schedule demand in Leh district.
In the 2020 Leh Hill Council election, the BJP won five seats short of its tally in the last Council election held in 2015.
The election for the Hill Council in Muslim-dominated Kargil district is likely to take place in August-September this year, but the BJP is unlikely to make an impact here. In the last election, it only won one seat in Kargil.
Umer Maqbool is an independent journalist based in Kashmir. He writes on politics, governance, human rights and legal issues.
This article went live on June second, two thousand twenty three, at fifteen minutes past five in the evening.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
