Ladakh leaders submit 29-page draft proposal to MHA

The draft proposal to the ministry of home affairs included demands of statehood, Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh and amnesty to people arrested after the September 24 protest, including climate activist Sonam Wangchuk

The Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) on Monday submitted a 29-page draft proposal to the ministry of home affairs, which included demands of statehood, Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh and amnesty to people arrested after the September 24 protest, LAB co-chairman Chering Dorjay Lakrook said.

One of the demands is that all people arrested after September 24, including climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, be released under general amnesty. (ANI)

“One of the demands is that all people arrested after September 24, including climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, be released under general amnesty,” added Lakrook.

Leaders LAB and KDA have been holding talks with officials of the Union ministry of home affairs regarding their demands. The Ladakh bodies agreed for talks after the government ordered a judicial probe by a former Supreme Court judge into the Leh violence.

Apart from four deaths, nearly 100 others, including police and paramilitary personnel, were injured on September 24 when the protesters went on a rampage, vandalising buildings and setting a BJP office and a police vehicle on fire. The clashes had erupted over the demands of statehood and sixth schedule on the 15th day of the hunger strike led by climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been booked under NSA and incarcerated in Jodhpur jail. The Centre has blamed Wangchuk for instigating the violence.