SRINAGAR: The dialogue between Centre and Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) over demands for constitutional safeguards and UT-level elected body appears to have hit a roadblock as Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) did not invite Ladakh leaders for sub-committee level talks scheduled for October 22 (Thursday) in New Delhi.
The LAB co chairman Chering Dorjey told this newspaper that they have not received any invitation from MHA for October 22’s sub-committee level talks.
The KDA has also not received the invite. "The meeting is not taking place as we have not received any invitation,” Dorjey said.
After sub-committee level talks in Leh on October 15, both sides had agreed to hold another meeting in the national capital on October 22. In the last meeting, MHA presented a 33-page draft to LAB and KDA leaders and both the bodies rejected it.
“We have submitted our response to the MHA draft,” Dorjey said. Alleging that centre is backtracking from its assurances and commitments, he said, “They don’t want to give us anything. The recent amendments to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Act have further strengthened LG administration and disempowered the councils.”
After LAHDC amendment, he said, if any of eight councils want to make any law, they will have to do it with the approval of LG.
Dorjey said in such a situation if some UT-level legislature body is given to Ladakh, it would not have enough powers.
He maintained that Ladakh’s leadership won’t accept any arrangement that failed to provide a fully empowered elected body at the UT level. “We will not accept anything short of a UT-level elected body,” he said.
Referring to May 22 meeting, Dorjey said MHA had given assurances regarding constitutional safeguards under Article 371 and an elected UT-level body with legislative and financial powers, including authority to prepare APR of the Chief Secretary.
He said the October 15 meeting had exposed a gap between those assurances and Centre’s current position and “now centre is backtracking from their commitments and assurances”.
Dorjey warned that they have been left with no option other than to continue their agitation.
According to KDA leader Sajjad Kargili while referring to centre amending LAHDC Act, said Ladakh has become a testing ground for the systematic erosion of democratic rights in the country. “While Gyanesh Kumar is allegedly undermining people’s voting rights, the Centre has deprived Ladakhis of their rightful political representation,” he said adding votes may be stolen from the EVM but in Ladakh, democracy itself has been robbed of its voice.
Questioning the government's commitment to ongoing dialogue, Kagili said the changes raised concerns about whether any eventual settlement would guarantee meaningful autonomy for Ladakh or leave its representative institutions subject to executive discretion.
With the next round of talks uncertain, the LAB and KDA have held a joint meeting to prepare their future course of action as their demands for constitutional safeguards and an empowered elected body remain unresolved.