Fury In The Cold Desert: Protests For Ladakh Statehood Turn Deadly

Jigmet Stanzin, 34, lies in a crowded ward at the Sonam Narbo Memorial (SNM) Hospital in Leh, nursing a hand injury. A tear gas shell had exploded as he tried to fling the canister away from the protesting crowd of which he was part. He was among those injured when security forces opened fire to disperse a protest in the town square on September 24.

What began as a call for statehood and inclusion of Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution ended with hospital beds filling up and frantic families waiting outside for news of the wounded.

Jigmet, a technical graduate, had joined a march called by the Leh Apex Body (LAB), a coalition of politicians and activists in Buddhist-majority Leh. The protest on September 24 was meant to press the Centre for talks on statehood and Sixth Schedule status, demands that had been pending for months. A local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office was torched and the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) premises were also burnt and vandalised during the protests, which left four dead, injured nearly 90 people, including security personnel, and saw dozens detained. LAB member and climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, a Ramon Magsaysay Award winner who sat on a hunger strike along with several local people to further the demand for statehood, has been arrested under the National Security Act (NSA), drawing widespread condemnation.

Families of those arrested said their kin had been taken into custody even though they were not part of the demonstrations, which have drawn national attention to the rugged hilly northern Union Territory (UT), otherwise known for its stunning barren landscapes and adventure tourism. Outside SNM Hospital, Amina Banoo waited with relatives after hearing that her son Zulfikar Ali had been brought there for a routine medical check. She said Zulfikar had gone to college in the morning and had not returned home.

In other neighbourhoods, households were preparing for condolence prayers for the young men killed in the clashes, including at the residence of 25-year-old Jigmet Dorjay, who was among those who died in the protests. His uncle, Konchok Dorjay, 48, said that Jigmet had received a bullet in the neck that caused his death. Family members said that he had been part of the protests when he was shot. Mourning also continued at the house of 23-year-old Stanzin Namgyal in Choglamser, a crowded area of low-roofed mud houses scattered across the desert landscape.

On August 5, 2019, the Government of India revoked Article 370 of the Constitution, effectively dissolving the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Subsequently, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, was enacted, bifurcating the erstwhile state into two separate UTs: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. The UT of Jammu and Kashmir was provided with a legislative assembly, while Ladakh was designated as a UT without a legislature, on the lines of Chandigarh. This reorganisation marked a significant political and administrative change in the northern region.

Since then, the LAB has sought for Ladakh to be included in the Sixth Schedule, on the lines of some northeastern states where autonomous councils can enact laws to protect jobs and land for local residents. The Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), a coalition of politicians and activists from the Muslim-majority Kargil area, has backed the demand made by the LAB, dominated largely by Ladakh’s Buddhists.

For more than six years, residents of both Leh and Kargil have been pressing for a set of demands that include increasing the number of parliamentary seats from one to two and the creation of a Public Service Commission to manage recruitment for gazetted posts. On September 10, Wangchuk, a member of the LAB and a climate activist, began a hunger strike in Leh, joined by several local residents, to press for these demands. The protest prompted the Ministry of Home Affairs to schedule a meeting of the High-Powered Committee on October 6 with representatives of the LAB and the KDA. The LAB, however, called for a shutdown on Wednesday, saying the Centre had shown indifference to those on the hunger strike by not bringing the meeting forward. LAB officials also said the health of two elderly protesters deteriorated on Tuesday, requiring hospitalisation, which added to the urgency of the shutdown.

On the day of the shutdown, thousands of people marched through the main square in Leh. The procession began peacefully, but violence broke out later, with some youth setting fire to the BJP office and damaging several government buildings, including the office of the LAHDC. Security forces stationed along the roads opened fire on the crowd.

Police said they had detained at least 49 youths believed to be responsible for the damage, though parents said their children had no involvement and had been taken from schools or from the hospital, where they had gone after the violence. On Friday, authorities arrested Wangchuk, accusing him of instigating the protests through provocative statements, and cut off mobile internet services.

Protesters said they had only intended to take part in a peaceful march. They said the damage to public property occurred after security forces opened fire. Several demonstrators said they were stopped by police and paramilitary personnel from moving forward in the main square where the office of the LADHDC is located. As the crowd resisted being turned back, a melee broke out. Protesters said security forces also used tear gas shells and fired into the air to disperse the crowd before some of the youth were shot.

Jigmet Stanzin said he was injured while trying to throw back an explosive device that had been fired directly into the crowd by security personnel. “As I picked up the explosive substance, which I thought was a tear gas shell, it exploded and injured me,” he says, adding that they were protesting peacefully, seeking employment and the demand for statehood. The youth had to undergo surgery at SNM Hospital for his wounds.

Doctors at the hospital said they received several patients with bullet wounds, describing the condition of at least two as more serious. “The patients had received bullets in the upper body and the ammunition had perforated the intestines and lungs of two people,” said a doctor at the hospital. Deputy Chairman of LAB, Chering Dorjay, said that bullets were fired without prior warning. “The police or CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) could have used water cannons or other non-lethal means, but they fired bullets and pellets instead. The CRPF was called from outside and the violence erupted as the youth were peacefully protesting for their genuine demands.”

The violence came days before elections for the LAHDC in Leh, whose term ends in October. Several protesters and members of the LAB said the police and paramilitary personnel fired directly into the crowd without warning, and some youth were hit in the upper body. Doctors at SNM Hospital said they carried out surgeries on seven or eight people with bullet wounds in vital areas.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the protests were led by “politically motivated individuals” blaming Wangchuk for the violence and “misleading the people through provocative mention of Arab Spring-style protests and references to Gen Z protests in Nepal.” Following the unrest, several people have been arrested.

On September 26, curfew remained in place in Leh following the violence. After it was set ablaze, the BJP office in Leh, overlooking a public square, was reduced to a charred structure with walls blackened by fire and door frames and metal furniture reduced to rubble. A police van outside the office, which was also set on fire, was being removed while heavy paramilitary personnel were deployed to prevent entry to the scene. Shards of glass were strewn across the damaged government offices and spools of barbed wire blocked public movement on the roads. Pedestrian and vehicular movement was thin on the fourth day, while shops and business establishments remained shut and police were seen turning away people from the streets.

While security was beefed up after the arrest of Wangchuk, the course of talks with the central government will now be spearheaded by other leaders of the LAB, even as Wangchuk, now in custody, faces accusations of having links with Pakistan.

Several BJP leaders questioned Wangchuk’s mode of agitational politics, saying there was no need for it when the central government was ready to meet the demands of the Ladakhi population. They said there was a demand from Ladakh itself that the area be declared a UT.

The political landscape in Ladakh is marked by a distinct divide between the Buddhist-majority Leh and the Muslim-majority Kargil. Historically, Leh has been at the forefront of demands for Ladakh’s statehood and inclusion under the Sixth Schedule, with the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Wangchuk leading these initiatives. In contrast, Kargil has expressed reservations about Leh’s dominance in regional politics, with the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) advocating for the region’s rights and empowerment.

Local residents said it was important that jobs should be reserved for local residents and expressed their fear that outside investment would only damage the environment of the area, a desert landscape where Buddhist stupas and monasteries dot the terrain, which has little green cover and few industries. Tourism remains the backbone of Leh town, where foreign nationals were spotted amid the shutdown, while local people, in a bid to preserve the environment, have also set up mud houses.

Thinless, 33, an automobile spare parts store owner, who received a bullet wound in his leg, blamed government forces for the violence. Covered in a cast at SNM Hospital, he said the security forces had resorted to indiscriminate fire on protesters.

“What have we been demanding, better development? And what was the result? We were fired upon. Who gave the police and the paramilitary forces permission to fire directly into the crowd?” asks Thinless. “Now they are blaming Wangchuk. You know the kind of leader he is, who cares for people and wants the region to be developed. Who are outsiders to tell us and dictate terms to us? How can they use force?” he adds.

Recalling the scene of the protests, Thinless says the young people were demonstrating peacefully for their rights to protect their jobs and land. “When I received the bullet, it felt like an electric shock. When I touched my leg, it was all splattered with blood, and then the youth called ambulances and I was rushed to the hospital,” says Thinless.

Mohammad Ramzan, who is one of the advocates fighting the cases of the youth, says that around 40 people remain in detention, some of whom have now been shifted to judicial custody. He says that the cases have been initiated on flimsy grounds. “These cases have no basis and have been initiated even though the youth had no involvement in the protests,” he adds.

Several religious organisations of Buddhists and Muslims in the region, including Anjuman-e-Moin-ul-Islam and the Ladakh Buddhist Association Leh, also extended support to the agitation. Local residents say that measures like statehood and inclusion in the Sixth Schedule are needed to ensure that they do not become a minority. Jobs remain sparse in the region.

“The youth who were protesting were well-educated and possibly unemployed, which forced them to take to the streets. We had urged calm, but the youth were angry,” says LAB’s Dorjay. Tashi Angdua, 64, says there are fears among the locals that they could be reduced to a minority if non-locals settle here. “The local population is of a few lakh people only, and we fear being reduced to a minority if outsiders come and settle here. It would snatch our jobs. Already there is little employment here,” he says, adding that the people in the region have protected their culture and identity, which could be lost.

In Leh, in several parts, the mud walls remain visible while the houses maintain a unique architecture. Food was being served in some houses on small tables. “The authorities are telling us that this was the handiwork of some anti-national elements. But the youth did not burn the tricolour at the BJP,” says Dorjay, questioning the timing of the charges against Wangchuk for receiving foreign funding. “The authorities are saying that there is involvement of a foreign hand in the protests, but what were they doing before the protests? Ladakh has seen an influx of non-locals and force was also used against bystanders,” he adds.

Ishfaq Naseem is senior special correspondent, Outlook. He is based in Srinagar.

This appeared in the magazine October 11, 2025, issue 'I Have A Lot Left Inside' as 'Fury In The Cold Desert'.