Yet to get Wangchuk’s detention orders: Wife

Gitanjali Angmo, wife of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, on Tuesday said she had to fly to New Delhi to “present her side of the story” after her access to the media was barred.

Speaking to The Tribune, Angmo said the authorities were yet to provide her Wangchuk’s detention order and that officials had stopped taking her calls. Wangchuk was detained on Friday under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) and shifted to Jodhpur jail. This followed violent protests in Leh where four persons were killed and nearly 100 injured.

Talking about the current situation in Leh, Angmo said a curfew was in place and Internet remained suspended, leaving “no way one can work or give one’s point of view to the media”.

The Leh authorities are not allowing mediapersons to enter the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL), which she co-founded, she said, adding, “They are questioning everybody. Yesterday, when some mediapersons came, CRPF personnel followed them onto our campus. It is becoming very oppressive and difficult to work.” Notably, The Tribune team was also barred from visiting the institute.

Angmo said she had to travel to Delhi so she “can explain her side of the story and to chart the next course of action”.

“We all know this is not how a good democracy should be. Everyone should be allowed to explain their side of the story. Right now, the government is using the entire machinery and holding unilateral press conferences and not giving us the means to express ourselves, while curtailing the Internet and media access to our institute,” she claimed.

Angmo said since her husband’s detention last week, she had not been able to speak with him and the local officials she was in contact with were no longer responding. “No, they haven’t let me speak (to him), nor have they given me the detention order," she said.

She said while she knew Wangchuk was in Jodhpur Central Jail, but she wasn’t aware about his present condition. “I have asked others also to visit the inspector or the DC office to find out about him, but nobody has got any information.”

When asked about the authorities blaming Wangchuk for provoking the youth, she termed it “a smokescreen” and said, “Big words are being used to confuse the public so they can get away with this draconian law they have tried to impose.”

“Wangchuk has been working peacefully for five years. It was the CRPF firing that provoked the people. And they will have to explain who gave them the right to open fire,” she said.

According to Angmo, there was nothing shameful about HIAL’s collaboration with foreign universities. “It is an export of services. There are duly signed service agreements which have been handed over to the CBI. The probe agency has accepted that there is nothing wrong with it. We have worked as consultants, action researchers and third-party contractors for them, which is like exporting your services,” she said.

The CBI recently initiated an inquiry into alleged FCRA violations by the HIAL. Angmo also hit out at the LG administration for using “force and oppression”. “It will not work. Only dialogue and peaceful debate will help,” she said, adding that the authorities should not use “pressure tactics like jailing somebody and calling him anti-national to win the war”.