Leh, Dec 04: Breaking the months-long stalemate, a delegation of leaders of the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) representing Ladakh held first round of talks with the high-powered committee (HPC) and officials of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), over the safeguards to the union territory of Ladakh, in the national capital.
The LAB and KDA leaders briefed Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai, who heads the HPC, of the situation in Ladakh and alleged disempowerment of local people by the bureaucracy in the union territory, as they rued their non-inclusion in decision-making process by the administration.
As they put forth their 4-point agenda of demands before the HPC, also comprising of union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and IB Director Tapan Deka, the MHA asked them to submit their demands and issues in written, and they would be taken up for discussion in the next meeting, slated to held after the winter session of the parliament.
On Monday forenoon, a 14-member delegation, comprising 7 leaders each from Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance– the two organisations leading the agitation in the UT—met the Union minister Nityanand Rai at North Block in the national capital and discussed with him their demands.
The demands include full statehood and extension of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to the region, early recruitment process including a separate Public Service Commission for Ladakh and making the jobs in the region exclusive to Ladakhis, besides separate Lok Sabha seats for Leh and Kargil districts.
The delegation sought from Rai an early resolution of their issues, who asked the delegation members to submit a detailed list with their demands and assured them that the Centre will look into the issues and take appropriate decisions, the sources said.
The sources informed Indus Dispatch that the delegation assured the union minister that till the time talks are going on, they won’t carry on with their protests in Ladakh.
The KDA and the LAB, in the recent past, protested at different locations, including New Delhi, Jammu and Ladakh, highlighting the four demands.
In the meeting that lasted over 90 minutes, the delegation members also apprised Rai and Bhalla of the bureaucratic overreach in the union territory, alleging that the people in Ladakh feel disempowered and that there is a trust deficit in the name of development, the sources informed Indus Dispatch.
“Bureaucracy has been taking decision on their own, without keeping people in mind or consulting them before deciding for them. The recent (draft) Industrial Policy is an example of that,” the delegation informed Rai and Bhalla. Sources said that the centre assured the delegation that their grievances will be heard.
Rai asked the Ladakh representatives to submit their demands in written and assured them that second meeting in this regard would be held soon, after the winter session of the parliament, the sources informed.
The delegation members expressed optimism over the deliberations. “Our meeting with MoS (home) concluded just now. He gave a patient hearing and listened to our demands. Our hope is alive. There will be the next round of talks with the center soon,” Kargil Democratic Alliance member and socio-political leader of Kargil district, Sajjad Kargili said after the meeting.
Leh Apex Body executive member and former minister Chhering Dorjey Lakrook said, “We have put forward our demands before him (MoS Nityanand Rai). He listened to all our demands but did not give any response. But assured us that there will be a second meeting on the matter.”
From LAB, those who attended the meeting included Thupstan Chhewang, ex MP and president Ladakh Buddhist Association, Chhering Dorjey Lakrook, former Cabinet Minister in erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir Government, Nawang Rigzin Jora, Congress president for Ladakh and ex-Cabinet Minister J&K, Tsering Wangdus, president, Ladakh Gonpa Association, Ashraf Ali Barcha, president, Anjuman Imamia Leh, Abdul Qayoom, president, Anjuman Moin-ul-Islam-Leh and Padma Stanzin, president Student Union-LEAF.
Similarly, seven KDA leaders who attended the meeting were Asgar Ali Karbalai (co-chairman of KDA and working president of Territorial Congress Committee, Ladakh), Qamar Ali Akhoon (general secretary of NC, Kargil), Sajjad Kargili (representative of Islamia School, Kargil), and Sheikh Bashir Shakir (representative of IKMT), Skarma Dadul (President LBA Kargil), Mubarak Shah Naqvi ( Representative of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat Kargil) and Syed Ahmed Rizvi (representative of Anjuman-e-Saheb Zaman).
Besides, Lok Sabha MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, Chief Executive Councillors-cum-Chairpersons of Leh and Kargil Hill Development Council—Tashi Gyalson and Mohd Jaffer Akhoon, and MHA officials also attended the meeting.
The HPC’s last meeting had come in June this year, after which the LAB and KDA had decided that they will attend next meeting only if their agenda is included in the talks.
Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance are coalitions of socio-religious, political and youth organisations of Leh and Kargil districts, formed after August 5, 2019, when the Centre abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated it into Union territories of J-K and Ladakh. They later joined hands and came out with the four-point agenda and held a series of protests in Leh, Kargil, Jammu and Delhi.
