Darbar move likely for Leh, Kargil too

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 11

To soothe frayed nerves in Kargil, the Ladakh UT administration is learnt to have agreed to consider the demand for rotating the office of Lieutenant Governor, IGP and the Secretariat between the twin districts of Leh and Kargil that constitute the newly formed UT.

The ‘Darbar move’ was followed in the erstwhile state of J&K where offices were shifted from Jammu to Kashmir in winter and vice-versa in summer. 

The UT administration has reportedly also agreed to consider all “genuine” demands being raised by various groups of Kargil district since the scrapping of J&K’s special status and grant of UT status to Ladakh on August 5. 

An assurance on this was given to agitating groups when various delegations called on Ladakh L-G RK Mathur during his maiden visit to Kargil town on Monday. 

“The L-G agreed to our demand to rotate the key offices and the modalities will be finalised shortly,” JAC general secretary Nasir Hussain Munshi told The Tribune. He said an official announcement was likely soon. 

Feroz Ahmad Khan, Chief Executive Councillor of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, also confirmed the development. “We (council delegation) held a separate meeting with the L-G and he assured us on accepting our demand for rotational offices,” he said. 

Various political, social and religious groups in Shia Muslim-dominated Kargil district had been holding protests against the grant of UT status to Ladakh and alleged preferential treatment to Buddhist-dominated Leh district.