SRI NAGAR: The deadlock in talks between Ladakh leaders and the Centre has finally been broken, with the next round of discussions scheduled for October 6 in New Delhi.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the meeting of the High-Powered Committee (HPC)—constituted for the Union Territory of Ladakh and headed by the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs—will include officials from the MHA as well as leaders of the Kargil Democratic Alliance and the Leh Apex Body, an umbrella group representing various religious, social, political, trade, and student organizations from Kargil and Leh districts.
The meeting is scheduled for 11 am on October 6 in the Conference Hall, Kartavya Bhavan-3, MHA, New Delhi.
The last meeting between Ladakh leaders and the central government was held on May 27 in New Delhi, in which the domicile law with a cap of 15 years from August 5, 2019, was agreed upon.
The centre also agreed on reservations in jobs with President of India Droupadi Murmu promulgating the Union Territory of Ladakh Reservation (Amendment) Regulation, 2025 on June 3 and reserved 85 per cent jobs in the Union Territory.
The President also promulgated the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (Amendment) Regulation, 2025 to reserve 1/3rd seats in Hill Councils of both Leh and Kargil Hill Councils for women.
“Finally, MHA has decided to resume talks with the Ladakhis' leadership. We hope these talks will lead to the restoration of democratic rights in terms of statehood and Sixth Schedule for Ladakh,” said KDA leader Sajjad Kargili.
Leh Apex Body (LAB) co-chairman Chering Dorjey said instead of waiting for 16 more days, the MHA should have called talks soon.
He said they had received a call from MHA yesterday in which they were asked to submit names of the members who would attend the meeting. “We have submitted the names of seven members today”.
Dorjey said their two main demands in the meeting would be to grant statehood and 6th Schedule status to Ladakh UT.
The invitation of talks from the centre has come after Ladakh leaders threatened to intensify agitation if their core demands, including statehood and constitutional safeguards under 6th Schedule for the cold desert of Ladakh Union Territory are not addressed.
The leaders also asked the central government to make the two core issues the principal agenda in the forthcoming rounds of talks.
To build pressure on the centre to start the stalled dialogue process, climate activist and innovator Sonam Wangchuk has gone on a 35-day hunger strike from September 10.
The KDA and LAB have held a series of protests and sit-ins in Ladakh, Jammu and Delhi to press the centre to fulfil their 4 point demands, including grant of statehood (with legislature), 6th Schedule status, separate Public Service Commission and two Lok Sabha seats for Ladakh UT.
After abrogation of Article 370 and downgrading and bifurcation of the erstwhile J&K state into two UTs, people in Leh had celebrated the decision while those in the Kargil district had opposed the move.
However, later parties in Leh joined hands with political, religious and trade leaders of Kargil to jointly agitate for 4-point demands to safeguard the local identity and fragile environment of the UT.