SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday advised Ladakh leaders not to rely on verbal assurances from the Centre and urged them to seek written and signed commitments on their demands.
“Ladakh has its own issues and our issues are different. But I can only advise the leaders of Ladakh as a friend and elder brother that please do not believe any promise made by the central government unless they give you in writing and signed,” Omar told reporters in Srinagar.
Citing Jammu and Kashmir’s experience, Omar said, “We had been given a verbal promise that after the election, statehood would be restored. Now almost two years have passed but that promise has not been fulfilled.”
“That's why I would like to request the leaders of Ladakh with my folded-hands that please don’t trust and believe in the verbal assurances of the central government. As long as they do not get anything in the form of an affidavit, I do not think people of Ladakh will be able to achieve anything,” he said.
Omar said the outcome would ultimately depend on what the people of Ladakh were able to secure through the ongoing process.
“The rest, whatever is in their destiny, they will get,” he said.
The leaders of the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) and Leh Apex Body (LAB), which held sub-committee-level talks with Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials in New Delhi on September 9, have sought a draft on a UT-level elected body and constitutional safeguards under Article 371 for Ladakh.
LAB and KDA have been engaged in talks with the MHA since 2023. They initially demanded statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh after the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state on August 5, 2019.
The two groups are now engaged in talks with the Centre on a UT-level elected body and constitutional safeguards under Article 371.