After the Modi government stripped Ladakh of its autonomy in August 2019 and severed it from Jammu and Kashmir while making it a union territory, the Shia Muslims of Kargil protested, while the Buddhists of Leh welcomed it. After 4.5 years, with no political representatives except one in Parliament, widespread unemployment, and no laws to protect their resources and ecology, the two communities have taken to the streets to demand the restoration of statehood and special protection for their tribes and ways of life. Sajjad Kargili, activist and negotiator, told Article 14 how this unity was achieved and what is at stake for the people of Ladakh.
By Betwa Sharma
Delhi: Thousands took to the streets in the main market of Kargil this week, demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government restore Ladakh’s statehood and include it in the sixth schedule in the Indian Constitution. This would give them autonomy to make laws to preserve their tribal culture, heritage, customs, environment, and way of life.
In the four years and six months since the Modi government rescinded the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir, bifurcated it from Ladakh, and turned both into union territories which the centre governs, the two religious minorities in India that live in Ladakh—Buddhists and Muslims—have come together to “fight for democracy”. They want more jobs, political representation and participation in the governance of the region with a population that is 97% tribal, bordering China on one side and Pakistan on the other.
“Ladakh is voiceless right now. We had an Assembly to express our problems, resentment, and sorrows. Today, we are in a vast area but don’t have representatives who can speak for us. Ladakhis will have no role in decisions about our identities, glaciers, and environment,” said Sajjad Kargili, a key figure behind the protest and a member of the six-member subcommittee in talks with home minister Amit Shah.
“So, Buddhists and Muslims have come together to fight for democracy in Ladakh,” he said.
In its manifesto for the Ladakh Constituency, the BJP promised the sixth schedule ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election in May.
This story was originally published in article-14.com. Read the full story here.