LADAKH WARMS TO DIALOGUE

As talks resume, the Leh and Kargil bodies set out their maximal plan before New Delhi; BJP has a middle path

- By Kaleem Geelani

LADAKH'S WINTER HAS SET IN, BUT COMPETING ideas about the Union territory's future are generating enough thermal energy. Some of it—involving talks with the Centre—feels almost balmy, considering it was only in late September that the province saw its first spasms of violence in four decades, with four killed, nearly 100 injured, and feted climate activist Sonam Wangchuk booked under the National Security Act thereafter. But some of the internal argumentation is sharp as well, with the local BJP unit offering a counterpoint to the maximalist position of the protesters.