NEW DELHI: The Ladakh Apex Body (LAB) has warned that it will intensify its agitation if the Centre fails to make “clear progress” on its key demands ahead of a meeting with a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) sub-committee in Delhi on September 9.
The LAB and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) have been jointly pressing the Centre for greater political and constitutional safeguards for Ladakh since the region was granted Union Territory status in August 2019.
Their key demands include legislative powers for Ladakh at the Union Territory level, constitutional safeguards under Article 371, withdrawal of cases registered following last year’s violence, compensation for victims and publication of the inquiry commission report.
LAB president Tsering Dorjay Lakrook said the group welcomed the upcoming meeting but would judge it by its outcome.
“We will welcome a positive outcome and constructive and meaningful discussions. Otherwise, we will continue our agitation with greater intensity,” he said.
Lakrook also criticised the delay in releasing the inquiry commission’s report into the violence of September 24 last year, in which four people were killed.
He welcomed reports that steps were being taken to withdraw cases registered after a July 20 incident at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, but alleged that the Centre was treating Ladakh differently. Of around 80 cases linked to last year’s violence, only 25 have been withdrawn so far, he claimed.
“We are all Indians and everyone should be treated equally. The lives of people in Ladakh are not cheap,” Lakrook said, demanding compensation for families of those killed and injured during the agitation.
Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk said LAB has designated September as a “month of martyrs” to remember those killed, injured or jailed during last year’s protests.
The proposed Kargil-to-Leh foot march, scheduled to begin on September 10, has been postponed in view of the MHA meeting a day earlier, Wangchuk said.
He said the march could be revived if the September 9 talks fail to produce satisfactory results. If the situation remains unchanged, the march may be organised around five days before September 24, he added.
The LAB also expects the Centre to bring a detailed draft proposal covering the powers and rights of the proposed Ladakh legislature to the September 9 meeting.
“We will consider the talks successful if there is progress on these issues,” Wangchuk said.
