Srinagar: Ladakh’s Sonam Wangchuk, 57, an engineer and an education reformist who was on a five-day fast at the rooftop of his Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh demanding the inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution have said that the Ladakh administration which is directly run by New Delhi is ‘trying hard to sow seeds of militancy in the peaceful region.’
Before beginning his fast, he had made a video appeal from Khardung La pass to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider safeguards for Ladakh’s mountains and its people under the Sixth Schedule.
The Sixth Schedule provides for the formation of autonomous administrative district councils in tribal areas that have some legislative, judicial, and administrative autonomy. These councils can make rules and regulations governing land, forest, water, agriculture, health, sanitation, inheritance, marriage and divorce, mining, and more.
Sonam whose life inspired Bollywood Star Aamir Khan’s character in 3Idiots film said that Ladakh was better being a part of J&K and claimed that the Centre’s policy was alienating the youth by sowing seeds of militancy.
“The fear is not that people will turn against India, the fear is that love for India will subside and it is dangerous for a country that is facing the Chinese. Unlike people in Mumbai and Delhi, people here have helped the Army during the war by acting as porters and supplying food,” Mr. Wangchuk said in an interview with The Hindu.
He observed a five-day fast at a time when two major citizens’ bodies from Ladakh refused to participate in proceedings of a high-level panel constituted by the BJP-led Union government to discuss job and land safeguards for the region.
The bodies have also said that their demands of statehood Ladakh and constitutional safeguards under the Sixth Schedule have not been included in the panel’s agenda.
Earlier, he was asked to sign a bond promising that he will not make any statements or participate in any public gatherings over recent happenings in Leh for one month, and as per the bond document provided by the administration, these activities have the potential to endanger ‘peace and tranquility and law and order’ in the Himalayan region.
The bond document which was served to the Ramon Magsaysay Award was similar to the ‘surety bond’ which mainstream Kashmir political unionists were asked to sign after the August 5, 2019, constitutional changes to secure their release.
After the BJP-led government of India unilaterally scrapped the autonomous status of J&K and bifurcated the Himalayan region into two union territories; the Ladakh region including Muslim majority Kargil and Buddist majority Leh have been seeking constitutional safeguards provided to other tribal regions in India under the Sixth Schedule to protect their demography, jobs, and land.
Before August 5, 2019, these safeguards were available to the people of Ladakh, which was then part of the erstwhile state of J&K, under Article 370 and Article 35A of the Indian Constitution.
The Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance, the umbrella political, social, and religious groups in the Leh and Kargil districts have also been protesting over these demands.
Earlier this month, both boycotted the meeting constituted by the home ministry under the chairmanship of Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai, saying their demands of statehood and Sixth Schedule were not on its agenda.