Leh hopeful of new era

Arteev Sharma & Yangchan Dolma

Tribune Reporters

Jammu/Leh, November 11

Since August 5, when J&K’s special status was abolished and two Union Territories — J&K and Ladakh — were carved out of it, the strategically important Ladakh region believes that “a new era for Ladakhi people” has begun.

A constant fear of losing land, jobs and region’s unique identity to outsiders, however, haunts them, as the government is yet to come clear on these issues. With the start of the harsh winter, the “limited” working season of 5-6 months in Ladakh has come to an end and Ladakhi people feel they will realise the difference of governance, if any, between the erstwhile state government and UT administration once the developmental activities begin in the arid region next year.

On the other side, if the separation of Ladakh from erstwhile J&K and UT status to the region has brought cheers for Buddhist-dominated areas and gave Buddhist community a reason to celebrate, it has exposed the fault lines between the largely Buddhist Leh district and the Muslim-dominated Kargil district, where people are still unhappy with Centre’s move.

Aprehensions over land, jobs

There are apprehensions over the protection of land and reservation of jobs exclusively for locals in the Buddhist-dominated belt. Before the formal formation of UT on October 31, the representatives of two districts decided to bring “a consensus on the issues with regard to certain safeguards to protect land, jobs and identity of Ladakh”.

Anger in Kargil 

Only chaos and confusion have been added to the Ladakh situation. Till date, there is no clarity on a number of issues. People have no idea as to what is going to happen in the next few months. The Centre has only promised the moon to gullible people of Ladakh and nothing has changed on ground so far. We have suspended our agitation temporarily but it will again resume to seek justice for Kargil and its people. Nasir Hussain Munshi, general secy, joint action committee, Kargil