5 summers later, Ladakh dejected
Arjun Sharma
Jammu, August 1
As part of the erstwhile star-crossed Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh troika, Ladakh had always felt like the third wheel. And so, the cold desert was awash with exuberance when, on August 5, 2019, the Centre did away with Article 370. It had come out of the shadows. But five summers later, its people feel that they have been handed the short end of the stick.
No one cares about our demands
There is a trust deficit, for sure. We feel humiliated. No one listens to us. Whatever happened on August 5, 2019, is being seen as a betrayal. — Sajjad Kargili, an activist and leader from Kargil
For the past three years, Ladakh has been trying — in vain — to get its three key demands accepted — safeguards under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, statehood and setting up of a Public Service Commission. Endless meetings with Central government officials and ministers have yielded nothing.
“There is a trust deficit, for sure. We feel humiliated. No one listens to us. Whatever happened on August 5, 2019, is being seen as a betrayal,” says Sajjad Kargili, an activist and leader from Kargil. Last month, Ladakh MP Haji Hanifa Jan raised the issue of the Sixth Schedule and statehood during Zero Hour in Parliament.
A fresh stir is now being planned to exert pressure on the government. After an Independent candidate from Kargil won the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat this year, leaders of the Ladakh BJP unit reassured people — the government was giving their demands a serious thought. As usual, nothing moved.
Kargili is part of the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), which, along with the Leh Apex Body (LAB), held meetings with MHA officials and met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi in support of their demands.
On July 28, a delegation of BJP leaders, including former MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal and party chief of UT Phunchok Stanzin, met Shah and raised the issue of constitutional safeguards for Ladakh, reservation in jobs, early notification of vacancies for gazetted posts and strengthening the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs) of Leh and Kargil.
“When we were part of J&K, we felt the region was discriminated against. Our four MLAs used to raise the issue in the state Assembly often. But now, there is no representation as we are a UT without an Assembly,” he laments, adding that the only good thing that came of the abrogation of Article 370 was that it united the Buddhists and Muslims against the government’s ill-perceived policies.
People of the region celebrated the scrapping of Article 370, says Chering Dorjay Lakrook, president of the Ladakh Buddhist Association and member of the Leh Apex Body. But it soon changed. “They have realised that they gained nothing,” he says.
“While the administration is getting enough funds from the Centre, these are not being diverted towards LAHDCs. Earlier, the bureaucracy did not interfere in the working of the councils. Now, that has also changed,” he adds. Educationist and innovator Sonam Wangchuk recently said he would go on indefinite fast from August 15 if the Centre did not call Ladakh leaders for talks.
The writing is on the wall — people of Ladakh are losing patience.
