Ladakh needs a difficult balancing act

The Centre will have to do a difficult balancing act. Discontent cannot be allowed to grow in a region close to the disputed China border; with China at times claiming Ladakh as Chinese territory. 

Editorial, EOI, 8 February 2024 : While the BJP government at the Centre has been taking credit over a successful Kashmir policy --- that the valley has now become accessible to large numbers of tourists from mainland India, that incidents of terrorism have come down and that people are no longer throwing stones on security forces --- the same cannot possibly be said about Ladakh. 

Discontent is rising over the demand that Ladakh be brought under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and full statehool be granted to the sparsely populated sprawling territory, comprising the the three valleys of Indus, Shyok and Zanskar and criss-crossed by tall mountain ranges. 

Being ethnically and culturally different from the Kashmir valley, and having a different history, the people of Lakadh had demanded separation from the state of Jammu and Kashmir. But evidently the state in which Ladakh finds itself after the reorganization of the state of J&K has not solved the problems of the Ladakhi people. 

It is now a Union Territory administered by a Lieutenant Governor, without a legislature with elected representatives of its own; and having a Ladakh Autonomous Development Council with only limited powers and functions. Now the discontent in this strategically important border area of the country has come out in the open, with common people taking out a massive rally last Saturday through the streets of Leh with their demands and the Leh Apex Body and the Kargil Democratic Alliance launching an agitation demanding safeguards under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and full statehood for Ladakh. There was a complete shutdown in Ladakh on that day. 

Well-known activist of Ladakh and Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Sonam Wangchuk has threatened to go for ‘fast unto death’ from February 19 if the demands of the Ladakhi people are not met. More details of the agitation to be launched were being worked out, he said on Monday. 

“People came out in numbers like 30,000, which is unprecedented in the history of Ladakh,” Wangchuk said about Saturday’s agitation, "It's like one-third of the population coming out to tell the government that it was not the voice of one person but that everyone wanted safeguard for the region.” 

Earlier in June last year Sonam Wangchuk went on a nine-day fast in Leh. He had planned to hold his fast on the top of Khardung La Pass but had to shift the venue on being denied permission of the authorities to do so. Now the demand for an elected legislature for Ladakh has much merit, and so also the demand for protection of the Ladakh Autonomous Development Council under the Sixth Schedule as Ladakh is essentially a tribal area. 

Without an elected legislature of its own, the development of Ladakh has been suffering, it has been pointed out. Protection under the Sixth Schedule will help Ladakhi people to protect their land.

The demand for his last fast was that the fragile eco- system of Ladakh be protected. This, they said, was suffering because of the rapid construction of roads and growth of tourism. Without a constitutional safeguard, it is not possible for Ladakh is to protect their land. 

The Centre will have to do a difficult balancing act. Discontent cannot be allowed to grow in a region close to the disputed China border; with China at times claiming Ladakh as Chinese territory. 

There is apprehension that declaring Ladakh a Sixth Schedule area will encourage centrifugal tendencies. On the other hand, Ladakh is must also have their say in their own way of development. For this, an elected government is necessary