Deadlock on Ladakh Statehood Prompts Hunger Strike by Activist Sonam Wangchuk

Promise not kept
It is akin to cheating as the government had promised Sixth Schedule, but is not ready to talk now. — Sonam Wangchuk

After the talks between a Ladakh delegation and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on statehood and a few other demands reached a deadlock, Leh observed a peaceful bandh on Wednesday. The shutdown was observed on a call given by social and religious organisations. A rally was organised in Leh town which was attended by hundreds of people from across the region. Ladakh innovator Sonam Wangchuk began fast unto death to mark his protest over the failure of talks which took place on March 4.

Addressing mediapersons, he said it was akin to cheating as the government had promised Sixth Schedule for the region but now it is not ready to talk regarding the issue. “People of Ladakh are hurt due to the unkept promise. To remind the government of its promise, I have decided to go on fast unto death,” he said.

It has been nearly two years that leaders from Ladakh have been demanding Sixth Schedule, statehood and a public service commission for the Union Territory. It was on February 19 that a sub-committee comprising six members from the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) was formed.

Leaders claimed that during the March 4 meeting in New Delhi, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was not ready to agree to their demands. The issue can snowball into a controversy ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, say leaders. Ladakh has only one Lok Sabha seat.

Former Nubra MLA Delden Namgial was also present in the Leh rally. He said the Central government should agree to the genuine demands of the people of Ladakh. “Local residents have very genuine demands which should be fulfilled by the Central Government. It is unfortunate that the government is not ready to accept these demands,” he said.

A Home Ministry official had stated after the meeting that Home Minister Amit Shah had assured the delegates that the government was committed to providing necessary constitutional safeguards to the UT.

“He (Shah) assured that the high-powered committee on Ladakh constituted to look into the demands of the LAB and the KDA had been discussing the modalities to provide such constitutional safeguards. The Home Minister expressed that the consultative mechanism established through this committee should continue to engage on issues such as measures to protect the region’s unique culture and language, protection of land and employment, inclusive development and employment generation, empowerment of the LAHDCs and examine constitutional safeguards for positive outcomes,” the official had stated.