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A day after four protesters were killed and many injured in police firing in Leh, police detained over 50 people in raids across the city and booked a Congress leader accused by the BJP of instigating the stir, which was called in support of the demand for statehood and protections under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution for Ladakh.
Separately, the Centre announced cancellation of the FCRA licence of an organisation run by Sonam Wangchuk, the climate activist seen as the face of the protests. Action under the FCRA – or Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act – came in a case that was lodged two months ago, and followed a day after the government accused Wangchuk of provoking the violence.
New Delhi also dispatched a ‘special envoy’ to Leh Thursday to try and resolve the unprecedented situation. A six-member delegation (three each from Leh and Kargil districts) flew to Delhi Thursday evening to engage with the Centre.
Thupstan Chhewang, the Chairman of the Leh Apex Body (LAB), indicated they were ready for a way forward, saying: “An official of the Centre has come and the signal we are getting is that they are ready to start the talks immediately.”
The LAB is an amalgam of socio-religious parties spearheading the protests. Speaking to the media, Chhewang also talked about how the October 6 negotiations were already on the cards, with Wednesday’s violence “causing some hurdles”. However, he added, “the signal we have got from officials is that we are going to Delhi for the meeting”.
Police conducted raids at several places in search of those behind the violent protests Wednesday, during which the BJP’s Leh office was also burnt down.
A police officer said: “We have started identifying the rioters and their instigators. So far, we have picked up over 50 people… We have zero tolerance towards violence and anybody involved will face the consequences.” Sources said political leaders would not be spared, Wangchuk being among them.
The Congress councillor who has been booked is Stanzin Tsepag. On Wednesday, a picture of a masked man with a stick in his hand went viral on social media, and the BJP claimed the photo was of him.
Ladakh Lt Governor Kavinder Gupta said it is the protesters who were responsible for the death of four people, as police were only trying to control the violence. “People who have spoiled the atmosphere will not be spared,” he said.
On Wangchuk, the Centre said the “mob was incited” by the activist’s “provocative statements”, adding that several “politically motivated individuals” were not happy about the “progress” being made in the talks between the government and Ladakh groups, and were trying to sabotage it.
A Union Home Ministry statement said demands made by Wangchuk were already on the table, and that despite this, he had started a hunger strike on September 15, “misleading the people through provocative mention of Arab Spring-style protests and references to Gen Z protests in Nepal”. Wangchuk called off the strike Wednesday, after the violence.
While the FCRA licence of the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh, founded by Wangchuk, was cancelled Thursday morning, his Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh is also facing a CBI inquiry related to alleged FCRA violations.
Wangchuk accused the government of building a case against him “to bring me under the Public Safety Act and throw me in jail for two years”. “I am ready for that, but Sonam Wangchuk in jail may cause them more problems than a free Sonam Wangchuk,” he said.
On Thursday, Chhewang and another LAB leader, Chering Dorje Lakruk, visited the injured in hospital. Speaking to The Indian Express over the phone, Lakruk, who is co-chairman of the LAB and the president of the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA), said a large number of people had been detained, though most of them were just bystanders.
Lakruk said police were trying to round up leaders too, “but have not been able to get them”. Away from Leh, the Muslim-majority Kargil district of Ladakh observed a complete shutdown on Thursday in solidarity with the protesters and to protest against the killings. The shutdown call was given by the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), which is spearheading the movement for statehood and the implementation of the Sixth Schedule in Kargil.
The government passed prohibitory orders here too, preventing the assembly of four or more people, while police and paramilitary forces were deployed.
In a video message, Sajad Kargili of the KDA asked people in Kargil to stay indoors and avoid any form of violence, saying “it has no place in Ladakh”. “To observe a shutdown is our moral responsibility and also a protest against the loss of lives,” he said.
There were voices in solidarity with Leh from Kashmir too. J&K CM Omar Abdullah held the BJP responsible for the violence as its governments were in control, including at the Centre.
Speaking to mediapersons during a visit to Reasi district in Jammu, Abdullah questioned the blame being put on a Congress councillor, saying: “If the Congress is so powerful that it can engineer violence, then why could their councillor not get elected (to the Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council)?”
The CM also appealed for peace, and urged the Centre to consider the genuine demands of the people of Leh.
Hurriyat Chairman and Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq linked what had happened in Leh Wednesday to the “aftershocks” of the Centre’s August 5, 2019, move, which had scrapped the special status of entire Jammu and Kashmir, including Ladakh, and split it into two Union Territories. “Hope promises made to the people of Ladakh are honoured and lives saved,” Mirwaiz posted on X.
National Conference president and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah also blamed the Centre. “They (the Ladakhis) used a Gandhian method… But then the children felt that the promises made to them for five years, of jobs, facilities, of being able to move ahead, all those promises were in vain… They could not bear it any more.”
Speaking in Srinagar, Farooq said it was also wrong to say that the protests were instigated from outside and urged the Centre to meet Ladakh’s demands.
With inputs from ENS, Jammu, and PTI
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