'India can play cricket with Pakistan, why can't…': Jailed activist Wangchuk's wife posts question amid Asia Cup final
Sonam Wangchuk's wife, Gitanjali Angmo has questioned the narrative around his visit to Pakistan to attend a climate conference in February 2025
Citing the ongoing India-Pakistan final in the Asia Cup cricket tournament in Dubai, jailed Ladakh activist Sonam Wangchuk's wife, Gitanjali Angmo has questioned the narrative around his visit to Pakistan to attend a climate conference in February 2025.
“If India can play cricket with Pakistan, why can’t one of its heroes, (Sonam Wangchuk), attend a UN conference there?” she posted on X.
Earlier, she shared a video clip in which, she said, Sonam Wangchuk was speaking about climate change and praising PM Narendra Modi's initiatives at the event titles ‘Breathe Pakistan’.
This came just hours after she saaid security forces were responsible for the statehood protest turning violent in Leh.
She pointedly reacted to Ladakh UT police chief SD Singh Jamwal's charge that Wangchuk could have Pakistan “links”. He had cited his visit to the neighbouring country for the event.
Angmo said that visit to Pakistan was purely professional and climate-focused.
"We attended a conference organised by the United Nations, and it was on climate change," she told PTI.
“I was also there to present a paper on women's role in climate change... In fact, he (Wangchuk) praised Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi on stage at the event.
Wangchuk, primarily an innovator and climate activist, has been adopting ‘satyagraha’ or hunger strike as a means of protest ever since Ladakh lost its special status — affecting protections for land rights and tribal areas — after it was carved out of J&K, and the state divided into two UTs in 2019.
What was Pak event? Angmo explains
His wife Gitanjali Angmo said the ‘Breathe Pakistan’ conference held in February was organised by United Nations Pakistan chapter and Dawn Media, and involved multinational cooperation.
“There are organisations like the ICIMOD, which bring together all the eight Hindu Kush countries and work on different issues. We are part of the ICIMOD’s Himalayan University Consortium," Angmo, who co-runs the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL), said.
She questioned the negative portrayal of Wangchuk: “How can you portray a person as anti-national who has been talking about making shelters for the Indian Army, and boycotting Chinese goods?”
She challenged the slapping of the stringent NSA on Wangchuk, which allows detention without trial for up to 12 months. “I think it is a very wrong charge. Sonam certainly is not a threat to any public order,” Angmo said.
Also read | ‘He praised Modi': Wangchuk's wife trashes ‘anti-national’ tag
She also spoke about government statements that Wangchuk made “provocative” statements referring to the recent “Gen Z” protests in Nepal and Bangladesh. “The reference being bandied around is actually an example Sonam gave, that, ‘when governments are not responsive, it leads to a revolution’. We should avoid the interpretations,” she said.
Angmo said his Ladakhi words were mistranslated. “He just said that ‘when change has to happen, it can start with one individual, or with the death of one individual and that individual could be me; I'm happy to give my life for it’," she said.
She said Wangchuk was only reminding the BJP-led NDA government of its promises to Ladakhis, and all through maintaining that the protest organised by the Leh Apex Body was peaceful.
Wangchuk had slammed the violence on September 24 and abandoned his hunger strike in disgust.
