Statehood on agenda, Ladakh delegation to meet MHA panel

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, December 3

With the major demands of statehood and Sixth Schedule for Ladakh on mind, a delegation of 14 members will visit New Delhi to meet with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) panel on Monday (December 4).

The MHA has invited seven leaders each from Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) besides Member of Parliament from Ladakh, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, and chairman of both hill councils of Leh and Kargil.

Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, Ladakh’s Lt Governor Brig BD Mishra (retd) and senior officials of MHA will be present during the meeting.

LAB and KDA have kept forward four point demands including Sixth Schedule, statehood, one Lok Sabha seat each for Leh and Kargil (presently only one) and constitution of Public Service Commission for job opportunities for locals.

It has been reliably learnt that while the MHA will discuss the four-point agenda during Monday’s meeting, it is highly likely that there will be a logjam on the demand of statehood. Interestingly, leaders of Ladakh for decades protested for a separate Union Territory, which was granted to them in 2019 after separation from J&K.

The Union government is expected to offer special provisions under Sixth Schedule of the Constitution for the region, which will be clear after many rounds of talks, sources informed. They said the discussion on Monday is just the beginning and rounds of talks will continue in the coming times. “The government is expecting an amicable resolution to the demands of the people of Ladakh,” sources said.

However the delegation is fully prepared to keep all four demands strongly in front of the MHA panel.

Sajjad Kargili, who is part of KDA delegation, said, “Our ultimate demand is statehood and Sixth Schedule. We want statehood at any cost and will not be satisfied with anything less than this. Our protests in the past had clearly manifested the importance of demand.”

KDA and LAB had in the recent past protested at different locations including New Delhi, Jammu and Ladakh, highlighting the four demands.

Jigmet Paljor, a member of LAB but not part of the delegation said the reaction of the MHA panel will be important in Monday’s meeting. “We have to see how they react to our demands. Even during the last meeting (in June) there was no conclusion. However, the MHA had agreed for reformation of the delegation of KDA and LAB in which members of our preference were included.”

Last meeting of the high-powered committee was held on June 19 after which the representatives of both the groups had decided that they will attend next meeting only if all the four points were included in the talks.

The MHA had earlier clearly ruled out the demand of statehood but they promised discussions on the issue.

4-point agenda

• Statehood for Ladakh
• Protection under Sixth Schedule of the Constitution which provides for greater administrative and political autonomy to certain tribal areas
• One Lok Sabha seat each for Leh and Kargil
• Constitution of Public Service Commission to provide job opportunities for locals