Ladakh experiencing recurring bouts of political unease

Luv puri

Journalist And Author

THE cold and arid region of Ladakh is experiencing recurring bouts of contestation over institutional practices and interpretations among various stakeholders. It became a union territory on August 5, 2019, after the division of J&K as a consequence of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

As part of the ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court on the abrogation of Article 370, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on August 29 stated that the Union Government would restore J&K’s statehood but Ladakh would remain a UT. Situated along Chinese-controlled territory and Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan, the Ladakhi population is nearly 46.4 per cent Muslim, 39.7 per cent Buddhist and 12.1 per cent Hindu. It comprises two districts: Kargil, via Gilgit-Baltistan, which falls on the old route of South Asia’s connectivity with Central Asia, and the eastern part of Leh, which faces China-controlled Tibet, with which it shares the same form of Buddhism. The establishment of the UT of Ladakh and consequent developments are a classic case of how the absence of detailed homework, including institutional practices, can lead to contestation and confusion.

In the immediate scenario, the spotlight is on Kargil, which saw incursions by the Pakistani army in 1999 and a daredevil offensive by the Indian Army. This, coupled with the intervention by the then US President, Bill Clinton, led to the withdrawal of the Pakistani army from the Indian side of the LoC.

The row is about the upcoming elections to 26 seats of the 30-member Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Kargil (LAHDC-K). This is the second electoral exercise in Ladakh since August 5, 2019. The polls for the Ladakh Hill Development Council-Leh took place in October 2020.

The denial of a nod to the candidates of the National Conference (NC) to contest the LAHDC-K elections on the party symbol is the reason for the present contestation. Unlike in Leh, the NC is a potent electoral force in Kargil, though two religious seminaries — the Anjuman Jamiatul Ulama Islamia School-Kargil and the Imam Khomeini Memorial Trust — also hold the key to victory.

As in Gilgit-Baltistan, Kargil has Shia Muslim majority and strong religious associations with Iran, though there is a considerable Buddhist population in Zanskar district. The party symbol, plough (with a red background), is also the NC’s flag, whose history goes back to the party’s foundation. Its importance can be gauged from the fact that the symbol, with the addition of three vertical white stripes on the red background, represents the regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, and as a consequence of a resolution passed by J&K’s Constituent Assembly in 1952, it became J&K’s flag.

The August 5, 2019, legislative exercise nullified the separate state flag. In recent weeks, the denial of the plough symbol by the Election Commission was litigated as Deputy Solicitor General of India TM Shamsi reportedly contended that the NC is not a recognised political party in the UT of Ladakh. It is only recognised as a political party for the UT of J&K and the symbol is reserved only for that unit, the Election Commission notification reportedly stated. The J&K and Ladakh High Court decided in favour of the NC, a decision which was challenged in the SC, where the matter is being litigated.

The present contestation is symptomatic of the larger institutional confusion that has accompanied the establishment of the UT of Ladakh. The demand for the UT was in concurrence with the age-old demand of Leh, a demand opposed by Kargil, and its acceptance was accompanied by public celebrations. Leh’s demand for a UT status started in 1947, as the statements of the former parliamentarian and religious leader, Kushok Bakula Rinpoche, indicate. On October 10, 1993, the Central Government had announced ‘elected autonomous hill council status’ for Leh as J&K was under the President’s rule.

Kargil, which had originally opposed the demand, got a similar council in 2003 under former CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The day Ladakh attained its UT status, there were protests in Kargil as people demanded that the capital of the new UT rotate between Leh and Kargil. Historically, Kargil has been opposed to the separation of Ladakh from the Muslim-majority J&K. The reactions in Leh and Kargil were, therefore, along the expected lines. However, it didn’t take long for Leh to change its position.

The reasons are not hard to decipher as Leh has increasingly felt politically disempowered. Lack of clarity over the powers of the elected councils of Leh and Kargil in the new constitutional arrangement proved to be a trigger. In this arrangement, the Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) is the de facto head of the government and head of the state. Of the nearly Rs 6,000-crore budget allocated annually for Ladakh by New Delhi, approximately 9 per cent has to be shared by the two councils. The rest is under the L-G’s administration. The working season in the region is less than six months and the principle of rolling over of the unspent funds was followed before August 5, 2019. Now, the unspent funds lapse. The political elites in both regions contend that there is also an absence of a mechanism of institutional coordination between the administration of the L-G and the elected council, with senior bureaucrats reporting to the former.

In terms of tangible political goals, the leadership in Leh and Kargil demands the application of a North-East-centric Sixth Schedule of the Constitution for Ladakh. The Sixth Schedule was primarily designed for the tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, where autonomous district and regional councils are endowed with legislative, executive, judicial and financial powers.

Fulfilling these demands may or may not be feasible, but the recurrent disaffection in Leh and Kargil, two strategically important regions, indicates the need for a rigorous inclusive consultative mechanism among various stakeholders to evolve institutional conventions and practices.

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