Altaf Hamid Rao.
MIRPUR ( AJK), (Parliament Times) :The Indian Illegally occupied Jammu & Kashmir’s high-altitude Ladakh region, thousands of local population are protesting in sub-zero temperature, since 2019, to press the occupying Indian government to fulfill their longstanding demand for a region separate from Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir. But since 2020, they have frequently taken to streets, accusing the Indian government of “betrayal” and unkept promises, says,a report reaching here on Tuesday from across the Line of Control (LoC).
Our Special Jammu and Kashmir special Correspondent Altaf Hamid Rao reports that Ladakh, the Indian Illegally occupied Jammu & Kashmir’s northern-most region, is a desert inhabited by 300,000 people from the Muslim and Buddhist communities. The occupied Leh region is dominated by Buddhists while the Kargil region is inhabited by Shia Muslims.
“For decades, the Buddhist community demanded a separate region for its people, while those in Kargil wanted to be integrated with the Muslim-majority region of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir”, the report said.
On 5th of August In 2019, Modi’s government revoked Article 370 of the constitution which accorded special status to the former state of Jammu and Kashmir and gave it significant autonomy. The internationally-acknowledged disputed Indian occupied state was then divided into two parts – Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir forcibly absolutely against the wishes of the people of entire occupied state and and both are unlawfully claimed as the “Indian central government- administered territories”, the report added.
A year later, Kargil and Leh districts joined hands and formed the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), aimed at addressing people’s concerns. The civil society groups have held massive rallies against the Indian government and its installed puppet administration in the State.
Earlier this week, shops closed and thousands took to the streets in Kargil to demand statehood. In Leh, protesters have planned a border march next week.
“We were demanding a separate territory with a legislature,” says Chhering Dorjey Lakrook, a veteran Buddhist leader from Leh. “But we were granted only a centrally governed territory.”, the report said quoting the Buddhest leader as saying above.
For people in Ladakh, who depend primarily on agriculture, the move also sparked fears it would affect the region’s culture and identity as it made it easier for those from outside the region to buy land in the area.
According to India’s home ministry, as of 5 April 2023, no Indian company had invested in Ladakh in the past three years, nor had anyone from outside purchased any land.
But residents remain apprehensive about an influx like in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir state where, data shows, 185 outsiders (Indian nationals) have bought land between 2020-22.Their demands include statehood for Ladakh, jobs, protection of their land and resources, and a parliamentary seat each for Leh and Kargil districts, according to the report.
They also want implementation of the Sixth Schedule, a constitutional provision that protects tribal populations and allows them to set up autonomous organisations that frame laws on land, health and agriculture. Nearly 97% of Ladakh’s population is tribal, the report revealed.
“The Sixth Schedule was designed to protect the rights of indigenous and tribal groups,” says Chhering Dorjey Lakrook, who until 2020 was president of the regional unit of India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This, he adds, will save them from exploitation by industrialists, it said.
The federal home ministry set up a committee to discuss these demands, but locals say there has been no progress.
“Young people in the region are also concerned about not getting government jobs.Ladakh holds significant geostrategic importance for India as it shares borders with both China and Pakistan, the two countries which strongly condemned India’s decision to revoke Article 370.Mr Sonam Wangchuk, who gained fame after Bollywood star Aamir Khan played a character based on him in the 2009 blockbuster Three Idiots, is on a 21-day-long fast “to remind the government of its promises to safeguard Ladakh’s environment and tribal indigenous culture”.Experts say China would watch for any sign of “weakness” in the region”, according to the report.
“Unrest and discontent, especially if sustained, is something that Beijing could try to exploit,” says Michael Kugelman, director of Washington-based think-tank South Asia Institute at the Wilson Centre.
The report continued as saying “Beijing didn’t recognise the creation of Ladakh as a centrally-governed territory in 2019. The region lies along the disputed 3,440km (2,100 mile)-long de facto border along the Himalayas – called the Line of Actual Control, or LAC – which is poorly demarcated.
Since 2020, tensions between India and China have been high after their forces clashed in the Galwan river valley in Ladakh, which left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead.
Following the clashes, both Delhi and Beijing increased troop movement and built massive military infrastructure along the LAC. China launched incursions in Ladakh, claiming over 1,000 sq km of India-claimed territory. India has repeatedly denied China’s claim.
Incidents of Chinese soldiers entering Ladakh and restricting residents from grazing their herds have added to local grievances.
In January, a group of local herders clashed with Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers after they were prevented from taking their cattle to traditional grazing lands near the LAC – Line of Actual Control facing China.
Mr Kugelman argues that while India cannot afford an unstable Ladakh.
Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst for the International Crisis Group, a Delhi think-tank, says this is most likely why India refuses to extend powers to the local government in Ladakh.
“The LAC in the occupied Ladakh region of the IIOJK facing IChina is unstable since the Galwan clash between Chinese and Indian troops and India probably would like to tread carefully,” he says.
The occupied Ladakh residents, however, hope the strength of their unity – the joint action by the Muslim and Buddhist communities – will eventually force the authorities to address the issue till the permanent settlement of the much delayed global issue of Jammu and Kashmir in line with international norms and commitments mainly under the spirit of the United Nations resolutions on the Kashmir dispute”, the report concluded.
