Historic Alliance in Ladakh: Buddhists and Muslims Lead Joint Statehood Protest

Leh Protest: A massive protest erupted in Leh on Wednestday. Led by young men, the protest turned violent in the capital of the union territory of Ladakh. The protest took a violent turn, two days after leaders of the Leh Apex Body, leading the protest, warned that public patience was dwindling. 

The protest video that surfaced on the online platform showcased protestors attacking a BJP office, igniting a police van, which injured several people. 

As the union territory is witnessing massive protest and violence, a historic alliance also emerged at the same time in the region. It is worthy to mentioned here that in 2019, the locals over there welcomed the decision of separating Ladakh from Jammu and Kashmir and recognising it as an Union Territory. Welcoming the decision, they expressed their satisfaction and stated that their decades-old demand has now been fulfilled.

Earlier, Ladakh residents used to complain about not receiving adequate funds from Jammu and Kashmir. And now, they state that even after separation from Jammu and Kashmir, they lack participation in governance. 

The locals state that territory is still being governed from Delhi instead of Srinagar or Jammu. They stated that there should be a legislative assembly here and Ladakh should be given the statehood. The region should also be included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to protect the language and culture of the locals here. 

A historic alliance of Leh-Kargil

A historic alliance emerged in the region between Kargil and Leh, which typically hold difference in opinion. Kargil region mostly includes Shia Muslim, while Leh is considered a Buddhist capital. However, during the statehood demand in the region, a historic alliance between the two groups were noticed. They united and formed the Leh-Kargil Democratic Alliance for the same purpose i.e. statehood demand. 

Locals met Amit Shah

As per the locals, due to the central government's direct rule from last three years, the protest has intensified here. They have been consistently demanding statehood in order to protect their culture, land, and resources. According to the locals, the central government also formed a committee to address these issues but to no avail depsite several meetings. They continued to add that in March this year, a delegation from Ladakh, also met Amit Shah in the same context, but discussion couldn't proceed further.