SRI NAGAR: The cold desert of Ladakh is poised for a hot political summer after the Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) announced an agitation from June 1 seeking statehood with legislature and constitutional guarantees to the Union Territory.
Ladakh Apex Body (LAB) leader Chering Dorje Labrook told this newspaper that they have been waiting in vain for an invitation from the Central government for talks.
“We were expecting that the Centre would invite both LAB and KDA for talks in New Delhi to listen to our charter of demands and announce a mechanism to fulfill it. However, nothing of this sort has happened, and there was no fruitful follow-up to our meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi last year,” he said.
Labrook said LAB chairman and former MP Thupstan Chewang and others would stage a dharna on June 1 in Leh.
“We will contact the KDA leadership and jointly launch the agitation to press for fulfillment of all our genuine demands,” he said.
Notably, the talk of agitation by LAB marks a total turnaround for the Leh district, which had celebrated the removal of Article 370 and bifurcation of J&K state into two UTs – Jammu and Kashmir (with legislature) and Ladakh (without legislature) on August 5, 2019.
The LAB and KDA are demanding statehood with legislature, constitutional safeguards under the 6th Schedule to protect jobs and land, separate Lok Sabha seats for Kargil and Leh districts, a Rajya Sabha seat for the region and filling of vacant posts by recruiting locals.
KDA co-chairman Qamar Ali Akhoon said the leadership of the alliance would be meeting soon and they would evolve a strategy with LAB.
“Whatever we will do, it will be jointly carried out by LAB and KDA,” he said.