SRINAGAR: Political and religious parties in Kargil district have joined hands to form a Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) for demanding statehood with legislature for Ladakh so that people can be governed by locals till the Supreme Court gives verdict on petitions challenging bifurcation of J&K state.
“The KDA has been formed with two objectives — restoration of August 5, 2019 position and in the present circumstances that position is sub-judice and none knows when and how it will be delivered. We are not satisfied with UT status to Ladakh and also don’t support granting 6th schedule to the region,” said Asgar Karbalai, former Congress MLA and co-chairman of KDA.
There is a general consensus in the KDA that Ladakh should be ruled by the Ladakhis only, he said.“We demand full-fledged statehood to Ladakh so that people can be governed by locals. We have not accepted UT status. We also don’t want UT with a legislature and neither Sixth Schedule.
In the UT legislature, the power lies with the L-G and he is not the people’s representatives.” The BJP has so far stayed away from the KDA and not attended two meetings despite being invited. KDA secretary Nasir Munshi said if Sikkim and Mizoram was granted statehood, why it cannot be granted to Ladakh.
“When Sikkim was granted statehood in 1975, its population comprised about 2 lakh having 7,000 sq km area. Ladakh has over 3 lakh population having over 60,000 sq km area. Strategically, Ladakh has more importance than Sikkim.”