Ladakh is boiling, and it is not good news for India. It is through this cold Himalayan desert at the northern tip of India that the highly contentious Line of Actual Control, the de facto border between India and China, runs.
Ladakh lies amid disputed territories. The China-held Aksai Chin, which India claims, lies to the east and the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-administered-Kashmir sits to its north. Due to a history of conflict with both Pakistan and China, its borders remain highly sensitive. The last thing India needs in Ladakh is internal disturbance. But that’s what is happening.
On September 24, protests demanding protection of local interests suddenly turned violent and an office of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Leh was vandalized and set afire. Locals accused the BJP of fooling them with false promises. Subsequently, four protesters were killed in police firing.
The police crackdown that followed, along with administrative attempts to brand the movement as aided by Pakistan, has thrown the icy desert into a frying pan. At the time of filing this report on September 29, curfew and mobile internet suspension are still in force.
Apart from the police firing, the arrest of Ramon Magsaysay awardee and noted educationist-environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk, who emerged as the most prominent face of the protests, has angered locals. Wangchuk is one of Ladakh’s best-known personalities, partly because the popular character Rancho from the Bollywood blockbuster, “Three Idiots,” was based on him.
“People are deeply angry with the highhandedness of the authorities. Their trust in the administration has fallen significantly,” Ladakh Buddhist Association President Chering Dorjay Lakruk told The Diplomat. He also serves as the co-convenor of Leh Apex Body (LAB), the most influential organization in Ladakh’s Leh district.
Following the violence, the police and paramilitary forces arrested a few dozen persons on charges of vandalism and attacking security personnel. However, in a show of solidarity with the protesters, the Bar Association Leh decided to pro bono defend everyone named in police complaints. They demanded a high-level judicial inquiry under a magistrate’s supervision.
“There are concerns about framing the movement as ‘anti-national.’ Indiscriminate arrests and heavy-handed police actions could further complicate the situation,” said Mohd Shafi Lassu, president of the Bar Association Leh.
Feeling Fooled
Ladakh used to be part of India’s Jammu & Kashmir state until August 2019, when the Narendra Modi government revoked J&K’s statehood and special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories (UT): Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. UTs are federally administered units.
Unlike J&K, which has been convulsed in insurgency and unrest for decades, Ladakh has been one of the most peaceful parts of India. It is made up of two districts, the Buddhist-majority Leh and the Muslim-dominated Kargil.
Leh residents initially welcomed the separation of Leh from J&K, but later realized that the removal of the special status with the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution had opened doors for outsiders, including big business corporations, to exploit local resources.
Since 2021, Ladakh’s socio-political and religious leadership from both Leh and Kargil have been jointly pressing for a four-point agenda — statehood, inclusion under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution for safeguarding local interests, the establishment of a Public Service Commission (PSC) for Ladakh for local jobs, and the allocation of one more parliamentary seat for the region.
They fear that without safeguards, business corporations will take over their lands. Massive solar park projects planned in Ladakh have reaffirmed and exacerbated their anxieties.
Notably, granting Sixth Schedule status to Ladakh was one of the BJP’s electoral promises ahead of the 2019 parliamentary election. The promise helped them win Ladakh with a healthy margin. Soon after, the National Commission of Scheduled Tribes (NCST), an autonomous institution, endorsed the Sixth Schedule Demand.
But the Modi government dragged its feet on the issue, with Home Minister Amit Shah suggesting to a Ladakhi delegation in January 2021 that it stay open about constitutional safeguards “under some other provisions” are made. Soon, the BJP started speaking of safeguards “on the line of Sixth Schedule” instead of the Sixth Schedule itself.
Resultantly, Ladakh witnessed repeated protests, including hunger strikes and marches, over the past four years.
The Outburst
The latest round of protests started on September 10, when Wangchuk and 14 others, including seven former soldiers of the Indian Army, started a 35-day fast or hunger strike to press for their four demands. The venue drew big crowds.
On September 23, after two elderly protesters who were on hunger strike for 13 days had to be hospitalized due to deteriorating health conditions, the Congress, India’s main opposition party, warned the government that the situation could escalate dangerously if the government fails to respond.
The next day, trouble broke out when a section of protesters gathered outside the BJP’s Ladakh unit office and attacked it.
Senior political leaders from outside Ladakh blamed the Union government’s mishandling of the situation for the violence. Most of Ladakh’s political leadership disapproved of the violence and condemned police highhandedness. Objecting to the violence, Wangchuk broke his fast and left his sit-in demonstration venue.
However, the government arrested him on September 26, moved him out of Ladakh and is reported to have jailed him in Jodhpur. He has been booked under the National Security Act (NSA).
Besides, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), a federal investigating agency, initiated a probe against Wangchuk’s institution, the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh (HIAL), and cancelled its license for receiving foreign contributions.
Taking potshots at Wangchuk, Indian leaders and government officials dismissed his hunger strike as “needless,” arguing that his demands are an integral part of the talks the government is having with Ladakh’s representatives.
“In spite of many leaders urging to call off the hunger strike, he continued with the hunger strike and [is] misleading the people through provocative mention of Arab Spring-style protests and references to Gen Z protests in Nepal,” the government alleged.
The police even claimed that the Wangchguk-led protests had suspected Pakistan links. A recently arrested “Pakistani person of interest” was in touch with Sonam Wangchuk and sent reports across the border, cops claimed. Police cited Wangchuk’s presence at an event organized by The Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English daily, to strengthen their claim that he had Pakistani links.
“The allegations are outrageous. We condemn the concerted vilification attempt by a section of the administration, politicians and the media to brand our peaceful protests on legitimate demands as ‘anti-national,’” said Sajjad Kargili, another leader of the Ladakh protests. He belongs to the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA)
On September 29, Leh Apex Body (LAB) Chairman Thupstan Chhewang announced that they will boycott the talks with the Union government until normalcy is restored in Ladakh. Their demands include a probe into the police firing, withdrawal of cases slapped on protesters, and their release. The KDA has endorsed the LAB’s stand.
The federal government had scheduled a talk with a Ladakhi delegation on October 6. That has now become uncertain.