Bengaluru: Addressing a video conference from Leh on the evening of Saturday, April 6, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk said that leaders in Ladakh have unanimously decided not to go forward with the much-awaited Pashmina March on April 7.
Leh has been reduced to a “warzone”, with Section 144 being implemented and youth leaders being arrested, Wangchuk said. There are smoke grenades being deployed and people are being prevented from arriving at Leh due to barricades being set up by the Union government on roads leading to the city, he added.
Wangchuk claimed that due to these restrictions imposed by the Union government, India and the world now know about the issues that the Pashmina March meant to highlight — the land that pastoralists are losing to corporates for projects (including energy projects) in the Changthang area of Ladakh which borders China, and how much land has been lost to the Chinese incursion along the border.
“So the purpose of the march is already achieved,” Wangchuk said, “The union government’s restrictions aimed at preventing the march shows just how much the government has to hide.”
Wangchuk and citizens of Ladakh – who have been on a protest since April 4 to draw attention to their needs including statehood for Ladakh and the implementation of the Sixth Schedule citing environmental reasons – had planned a peaceful march which they had named the Pashmina March from Leh to the Changthang (one of the highest pasture lands in the world, where indigenous nomadic communities graze their prized pashmina goats and produce pashmina wool).
Leh has become a “warzone”
Wangchuk and Ladakh’s local leaders had called for the Pashmina March mainly to highlight how these indigenous pastoralists are losing large tracts of prime pasture land in the Changthang to corporates who want to develop projects including energy projects. The event was to occur on Sunday, April 7.
“Tomorrow was the march to highlight the situation in the Changthang plateau, how they [pastoralists] are losing their land in large quantities both from incursion from China and corporates from the mainland who are capturing land to begin projects,” Wanghcuk said.
Leaders are saying not an inch has been lost, but this is not true, he added. “This is very unfortunate because our army is very capable of replying and getting our land back.”
“If they lose their lands, Ladakh’s nomadic pastoralists would be forced to sell their goats and become menial labourers and leave to the cities. Nobody cares about their plight,” Wanghcuk mentioned.
The issue of the Changpa community losing lands and rights is “really really important”, a researcher working in the area told The Wire.“I was in Chumur (border ground) a week ago… they were saying the Chinese army takes away their horses and then comes back to beat them up and take part of their land,” the researcher, on condition of anonymity, told The Wire.
It has been “most unjust and unfair” to these nomadic people, Wangchuk reiterated. They can no longer go up to 15-20 kilometers as they used to, Wanghcuk told The Wire.
However, the Narendra Modi government imposed an indefinite prohibitory order under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and banned high speed Internet for 24 hours in Leh district on April 5 citing “apprehension of breach of peace and public tranquillity”.
Ever since, Leh has been reduced to a “warzone” with the deployment of army personnel in the city, and even the use of smoke grenades, said Wangchuk in a video conference on the evening of April 6, at around 6 p.m.
Also read: ‘Ladakh Is Like a Colony Governed by Officers From Far off Places’: Sonam Wangchuk
People have been stopped from arriving at Leh city ahead of the Pashmina March, with barricades being put up on all roads leading to Leh, Wangchuk said. The implementation of Section 144 is usually done in different situations, when there is violence.
“To use these stringent measures on peaceful fasting people is a drastic action,” he said.
He called the internet blackout and suspension an “extreme action” and pointed out that youth leaders are being arrested and made to sign bonds to say that they will not address the public.
Pashmina March cancelled
Wangchuk said they expected the government to stop them during the march, and that has now happened with several restrictions being imposed on Leh district. “It just shows how much the government has to hide in the Changthang.”
The Pashmina March therefore now stands cancelled, Wangchuk announced.
The decision was taken after leaders in Ladakh discussed and unanimously decided not to go forward with the march due to security concerns and “fear that people protesting peacefully might be hurt in the process”.
“If the government does not care about the safety of the people engaged in the protest, the leaders of the protest cannot do the same; they have decided that they cannot risk violence being meted out to the protestors during the march. And this was a definite possibility given the various actions that the government has taken to prevent the march,” Wangchuk said.
“Anyway the purpose of the march has now been achieved,” he asserted, “Our aim was to take out a peaceful march and let the rest of India know about the issues at stake. Now with the government imposing such stringent restrictions, every news media is talking about it.”
The climate activist underlined that the purpose was not to destabilise the peace of the region.
Wangchuk also appealed to the leaders at the centre to lift “all the scary, dangerous barricades on all roads” leading to the city, and stop the spree of arresting youth leaders.
Protest to continue
Wangchuk and the citizens of Ladakh will continue their peaceful fast.
“We will continue our peaceful protest right till the election time, although it is the Model Code of Conduct,” he said, responding to The Wire during the video conference. “We would be happy to have a written assurance which is legally acceptable from both the alliances, the NDA and INDIA alliances.”
The INDIA bloc has already pledged their promise to protect Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule just yesterday, he added. “We expect the same from the NDA which was the one that made the promises. So they have more responsibility.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had promised to accede to Ladakh’s demands in their political manifestos but this has not happened so far; recent talks with home minister Amit Shah had also failed, after which Wangchuk and others began their climate fast and protests.
Also read: This is About Truth, the Environment and Democracy, Says Sonam Wangchuk on Day 8 of His Climate Fast
“You have made these promises. You must keep these promises to keep honesty and transparency alive,” Wangchuk said in an appeal to the Centre. “Otherwise our nation will become one of dishonest people who do not honour promises and nobody in the world will believe or trust us, leave aside becoming a vishwaguru.”
Wangchuk also addressed students at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) who were just about to take out a march in solidarity with Ladakh in New Delhi. More than 200 students have gathered here for the march in solidarity with Ladakh, said Tsenam Namgail, a student at JNU.
“This is what gives us the energy here to continue our peaceful anshan,” Wangchuk said, talking to the students and thanking them for joining the movement.
Marches are being undertaken in several cities including Bengaluru in support of Ladakh, organisers said.
“Use Sundays to raise awareness about how our country is being managed, raise awareness about how we can use our votes to change their ways or change the government,” Wangchuk appealed to all of India.