Ladakh Rises for 6th Scheduled, Statehood Shutdown in Kargil, Massive Rally Held in Leh

 Srinagar: A complete shutdown was on Saturday observed in Kargil and neighbouring townships whereas thousands of people marched along the streets of Leh to demand statehood for Ladakh and constitutional safeguards under the Sixth Scheduled.

The call for Kargil bandh and ‘Leh Chalo’ had been issued jointly by the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) which had earlier announced to intensify their stir for four demands -full-fledged statehood for Ladakh, constitutional safeguards for it under the 6th Scheduled, setting up a separate Public Service Commission for Ladakh with job security and early recruitments and creation of separate Lok Sabha constituencies for the twin districts of Leh and Kargil.

At present, Ladakh is the only Lok Sabha constituency of the Union Territory of Ladakh, the largest such constituency in the country in terms of area (173,266 sq.km). The 6th Schedule of the Constitution provides for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram to safeguard the rights of the tribal population in these states under Article 244(2) and Article 275(1).

While shops and other businesses in Kargil and neighbouring townships of Padum (Zanskar), Drass, Sankoo, Shargole, Shakar-Chiktan and Taisuru remained shut and public transport services stayed off the roads, a massive protest rally was held in Leh’s Polo Grounds. Earlier thousands of protesters marched along the streets of Ladakh’s main town despite bitterly cold temperatures, reports reached here said. Some of the placards being carried by protesters read “Ladakh demands statehood,” “Our demand 6th Schedule”, and “All isn’t well in Ladakh.”

Meanwhile the Union Home Ministry has invited the leaderships of both LAB and KDA and representatives of other groups of the landlocked region for the second meeting of the ‘High Powered Committee (HPC)’ on Ladakh scheduled to be held in New Delhi on February 19 “to discuss the issues as per its terms of reference”. The committee reconstituted on November 30 last year under the chairmanship of minister of state (home) Nitayanand Rai was assigned to work towards protecting land and employment for the people of Ladakh and preserving their unique culture and languages.

The first meeting of the committee held in New Delhi on December 4 was attended by the KDA and LAB representatives to reiterate their demands including statehood for Ladakh and constitutional safeguards under the 6th Schedule. At the meeting, the government had asked them to submit their demands in writing for further action but as was claimed then by former minister and member of the LAB Chering Dorjay, “They did not give us any assurance about our demands even though we have asked for a time- bound dialogue process focused on our 4-point agenda”.

Sajjad Hussain Kargili who is a member of the KDA said, “We hope the second round of the HPC meeting will be positive and productive.”