HIMALAYAN STORM FOR STATEHOOD

Leh's demands for constitutional safeguards lead to violence and a highprofile arrest, exposing the fragility of New Delhi's Ladakh experiment

- By KALEEM GEELANI

LADAKH, THE ICE-COLD DESERT WITH A MOONSCAPE, was one of the most placid places on the Indian map-till September 24, that is. That's when arson and violence shattered its long calm, leaving four dead and dozens injured in its wake. If any other sign was needed to show how abnormal things were, Sonam Wangchuk-iconic innovator, Magsaysay awardee, climate activist-was in jail.

Evidently, beneath Ladakh's serene topsoil, there had been stirrings of a volcanic unrest. Its sudden eruption, if anything, exposes the fragility of New Delhi's political experiment in this northern outpost. Since Ladakh's separation from Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019, and rebirth as a Union Territory, its demands have been getting louder: not only jobs, but full statehood, a legislature, inclusion under the Sixth Schedule (which provides for self-administration of tribal areas), land rights and full control over its ecology. During his 14-day hunger strike, Wangchuk had warned that, without meaningful concessions, Ladakh could see "Gen-Z protests of the likes of Nepal and Bangladesh...the real cause is the frustration of six years of unemployment and unmet promises at every level". Soon, the peaceful demonstrations he had led till then took a violent turn. Wangchuk was arrested on September 26 under the stringent National Security Acton charges of "inciting mob violence" through "provocative statements"-and shifted out to Jodhpur jail in Rajasthan.