New Delhi: The ongoing agitation in Ladakh against the Union government is going to get bigger, with the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) set to join the hunger strike by environmental activist and Ramon Magsasay award winner Sonam Wangchuk on March 24.
Tensions are simmering in the strategic region bordering China and Pakistan after the year-long talks broke down in third round earlier this month. A Union home ministry committee refused to concede to the demands of constitutional safeguards for Ladakh after it was downgraded into a union territory in 2019.
Speaking with The Wire, Sajjad Hussain, a member of KDA who contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Ladakh, said that the grouping will join Wangchuk from March 24 to March 27 as the talks with the Union government have failed to address their demands of Sixth Schedule rights for Ladakh and restoration of its statehood.
“The issue of statehood and Sixth Schedule are close to the hearts of Ladakhis. It is not just our demand. It is a popular sentiment and aspiration of people of Ladakh and we will take this struggle to its logical conclusion,” Hussain, who is also a prominent social activist, said.
A massive protest was held in Kargil on Wednesday, March 20, following a half-day shutdown call by the KDA in support of Wangchuk who has been fasting in Leh for the last 15 days braving extreme sub-zero conditions under open skies. Thousands of people from Ladakh have joined him.
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Shouting slogans, the protesters assembled in the main market of Kargil which resonated with demands of restoration of democracy and statehood and inclusion of Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule among others.
Asghar Ali Karbalai, a co-convenor of KDA and former J&K lawmaker, led the crowd as it rallied from Fatima Chowk to Hussaini Park in Kargil. Karbalai urged the protesters to brace for a long haul following the breakdown of talks with the Union government.
“The Central government is underestimating our determination. They believe that the voices in Ladakh can be quelled with force. But we must stand resolute and prepared to face any situation in the fight for Ladakh and our rights,” he told the crowd.
Thousands of people gathered in Kargil town of Ladakh to extend support to Sonam Wangchuk who has been on a fast to demand constitutional safeguards for the region. Photo: Special arrangement
Karbalai also announced that along with Hussain and Qamar Ali Akhoon, a former J&K minister from National Conference party and another co-convenor of KDA, he would join Wangchuk’s fast which entered Day 16 on Thursday (March 21).
Wangchuk, who has been drinking only water and salt since he began the fast on March 6, broadcasts regular video messages on social media platforms to draw the attention of people to the fragile environment of Ladakh and how allowing industrial setups in the region could create an environmental catastrophe.
Through his video messages, Wangchuk has also been reminding the BJP leadership of the promises that it had made to the people of Ladakh in its poll manifestos ahead of the 2019 parliamentary election and 2020 Hill Council elections.
“This Government likes to call India the ‘Mother of Democracy’. But if India denies democratic rights to people of Ladakh & continues to keep it under bureaucrats controlled from New Delhi then it could only be called a Stepmother of Democracy as far as Ladakh is concerned,” Wangchuk said in a recent post on X.
Wangchuk, who has been leading the hunger strike in Leh under the banner of the ‘People’s Movement for Sixth Schedule for Ladakh’, is also planning a ‘border march’ of 10,000 Ladakhi shepherds and farmers to “show the ground reality” at a time when “nomads are losing prime pasture land to huge Indian industrial plants to the south and Chinese encroachment to the north.”
Also read: This is About Truth, the Environment and Democracy, Says Sonam Wangchuk on Day 8 of His Climate Fast
Karbalai said that the grouping will hold a meeting with Leh Apex Body (LAB), which is spearheading the agitation for constitutional safeguards in Leh region, to chalk out future course of action after the talks with the Union government ended on a deadlock earlier this month.
“Some vested interests want to pitch the people of Ladakh against each other but our agitation is not restricted to one community or one district. Everyone in Ladakh is part of the agitation and united in support of our demands,” he said.
Besides the grant of statehood and inclusion of Ladakh in Sixth Schedule, the LAB-KDA combine, which has been leading the talks with the MHA-panel headed by junior home minister, Nityanand Rai, was also seeking job reservation policy in the administration for locals of Ladakh and a parliamentary seat each for the Leh and Kargil districts.
Under Article 244, the Sixth Schedule provides constitutional safeguards to tribal populations and also allows them to set up autonomous development councils to frame laws on land, public health, and agriculture.
