Heavy security in Leh amid tensions and curfew following Wednesday protests.
Shutdown call by Leh Apex Body due to delay in talks on statehood demand and Sixth Schedule.
Four died, 80 were injured in protests demanding statehood amidst shutdown.
Leh town was enveloped in tense gloom amid curfew declared on Wednesday, hours after hundreds of protesters marching for statehood for the Union Territory of Ladakh had resorted to arson and violence. People in the town said on Thursday that they wanted the central government to fulfill their demand for statehood. They also sought measures to preserve the demographic structure of the region, seeking autonomy to legislate against jobs and the right to purchase property to non-locals.
It took minutes for the area to descend into chaos on Wednesday as a protest march, called amid a shutdown called by the Leh Apex Body (LAB), turned violent. The shutdown was called due to alleged delays by the government in holding talks regarding the demands of the people.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office in Leh, overlooking a public square where hundreds had gathered in protest the previous day, stood reduced to a charred structure. Its walls were blackened by fire and door frames and metal furniture reduced to a mass of rubble.
The Union Territory of Ladakh was carved out of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019, when the central government abrogated Article 370, which had granted the region special status under the Constitution of India.
When the protesters seeking to raise their demand were prevented by police from proceeding beyond a prominent roundabout in Leh town, the angry crowd sought to push ahead, leading to the clashes.
Angry youth pelted stones at police and, within minutes, set ablaze the BJP office, a police van outside it, and damaged a few government offices, including the secretariat of the Ladakh Area Hill Development Council (LAHDC), an elected body.
Speaking to Outlook, Tashi Angdua, 64, said Ladakh becoming a Union Territory coincided with the woes of the locals increasing manifold. “Locals are just a few lakh people, and we fear being reduced to a minority if outsiders invest here. It would snatch our jobs, rather than giving us any,” he said. Among the problems that have amplified are local shopkeepers being asked to register afresh. Meanwhile, there is anger over the government not advertising fresh posts.
Rigzin Namgyal, 29, also said that making Ladakh a state will ensure development in the region. “The Ladakh region should get statehood to ensure overall development. It will especially ensure people get jobs and [better] infrastructure,“ he said.
Across Leh town, heavy security was deployed on Thursday with police rolling out spools of barbed wire on areas connected to residential pockets to prevent movement of people.
Shards of glass and damaged windows were visible at government offices outside the LAHDC secretariat. The shutdown call yesterday, by the LAB, was also due to the delay in inclusion of the region in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. This would protect domicile rights of locals, as is the situation in some other parts of India.
Pedestrian and vehicular movement on the roads was thin on Thursday, while shops and business establishments remained shut. There were no reports of protests in the town However, the situation was tense in the aftermath of unprecedented violence.
Chand Babu, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, who worked as a salesman, came to inspect whether the shop he worked at had suffered any damages due to the fire near the BJP office. He felt lucky that the fire had not spread, but the road outside was strewn with shards of glass and stones while police and other security forces patrolled in heavy numbers.
For many, like Narbadhar, 65, a resident of Nepal, the curfew meant loss of business and income from daily jobs. “I work as a labourer, but couldn’t go on the job due to the curfew and the suspension of public transport services,” he said.
