Shutdown in Ladakh over demand for statehood and constitutional safeguards

The newly formed Union Territory of Ladakh observed complete shutdown on Monday to press their demand for restoration of statehood and implementation of the sixth schedule of the Constitution to safeguard their identity, culture, land and jobs. The public transport across the UT remained off the roads, businesses remained shut and attendance in the offices was thin as well. The strike was jointly called by the Leh-based apex body of People’s Movement for 6th Schedule and the Kargil-based Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) who have also decided to start a follow-up awareness and protest programmes across the UT, in the coming spring. The two conglomerates of social, political and religious bodies in Leh and Kargil asked youth to ensure that the protest remains completely peaceful and the administration had also deployed extra contingents of police on all major roads. The BJP government had claimed that Ladakh was happy with the decisions of August 5, 2019, when the special status of J&K was revoked and Ladakh was carved out as a separate Union Territory. However, the residents of Kargil had observed a strike for several weeks against the decision, even as the majority of Leh residents welcomed the BJP’s decision. But two years later, people across the region are fearful of loss of land, jobs and demographic change and are living in a perpetual uncertainty.

The two bodies, formed to ensure the protection of identity, land, jobs and culture of the UT, have joined hands in August this year to demand the granting of statehood for Ladakh, constitutional safeguards, including implementation of sixth schedule, two Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha seats and filling up of over 10,000 vacancies to fight unemployment in the UT.The representatives from across the Ladakh region accused the BJP-led government in New Delhi of non-seriousness and adopting delaying tactics. The central government hasn’t followed up on the meeting of these leaders with the Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai in Leh on August 29 this year. He had assured that a high-level committee would be formed soon to take the dialogue process further.“This strike was called so that the government in Delhi wakes up, as they are in deep slumber and have slept on our demands despite several assurances,” said Thusptan Chhewang, former Lok Sabha member and Ladakh Buddhist Association chairman Thupstan Chhewang, who also leads the apex body in Leh. He said that the one day strike may have caused inconvenience briefly, but it was done to ensure that the people of this region are granted their rights. “It is the most democratic way to express our concerns and demand our rights,” he said.Meanwhile, the hostile faceoff between India and China in the eastern border of Ladakh has entered its second winter and tensions refuse to calm along the Line of Actual Control. The border residents in eastern Ladakh have already called for their relocation, amid the escalating tensions between the two nuclear powers.