NEW DELHI: A key Ladakh group on Sunday reversed their call for a boycott of the elections to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) in Leh and extended their support for their good conduct, in light of the guarantee from the Center for that all issues related to the protection of the language, demographics, ethnicity, land and jobs of the Ladakh people will be positively considered.
Security was given by Interior Minister Amit Shah to a delegation from the ‘People’s Movement for Constitutional Safeguarding under the Sixth Program for Ladakh’, comprising Ladakh veterans such as former Rajya Sabha MP Thiksay Rinpoche, former Lok Sabha MP Thupstan Chhewang and former J&K minister Chhering dorje – at a meeting held at his residence on Saturday. The meeting was attended by the Minister of Youth Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, and the Minister of the Interior G Kishan Reddy.
According to the agreement reached, a dialogue was established between a wider Ladakhi delegation, made up of representatives from the districts of Leh and Union Home Ministry would begin 15 days after the completion of the LAHDC, Leh survey, scheduled for mid-October. Reddy will also travel to Ladakh along with the delegation on Monday to allay the apprehensions of the people there.
Shah assured the delegation on Saturday that the Government of India is committed to empowering the LAHDC of Leh and Kargil and safeguarding the interests of the people of the Union Territory. “The government is open to discussing the protection available under the Sixth Program of the Constitution of India while issues related to the people of Ladakhi are being investigated, “said an Interior Ministry statement released on Sunday.
Rijiju said that the Union Minister of the Interior had said that the provisions of the Sixth Annex would be examined and that “beyond that, everything possible for the protection of the people of Ladakh under the provisions of the Constitution will be considered.” .
The Ladakh people have been demanding protection under the Sixth Program, a constitutional provision that guarantees the rights of indigenous peoples in some tribal-dominated regions of the northeastern states by imposing restrictions on the acquisition and transfer of rights to land.
Chhewang, who was part of the delegation that met with the interior minister, said that the people of Ladakh, after the annulment of Article 370, have some apprehensions about their future, land, culture and jobs, as there are no more no legislative body there.
Claiming that the Ladakhis were opposed to a domicile law along the J&K line, Chhewang said the region, with a 97% tribal population, needed protection for land, ethnicity, language, etc. “Whether we get this protection under the Sixth Program or any other provision of the Constitution, we will get more protection than what was offered us by Articles 370 and 35A,” he said.
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