Nepal, Ladakh protests fuelled by opponents of Modi-Xi handshake: Ex-diplomat
There are mischief makers who do not want an improved relationship between the two countries and therefore, the frontiers have been put on fire, says former diplomat Phunchok Stobdan
New Delhi: The protests that erupted in Ladakh last week and earlier in the neighbouring Nepal could have been stoked by those who do not want improved India- China relationship, said former diplomat Phunchok Stobdan who served as India’s Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan and is the founding president of the Ladakh International Centre, Leh. He, however, added that not being given a legislature when the Union Territory was carved out following the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 led the Ladakhis to feel “disempowered.”
On September 24, curfew was imposed in the UT after protests over the demand for the restoration of statehood and the implementation of the Sixth Schedule turned violent, leaving four dead and hundreds injured.
Speaking to HT from Leh on the violence that has erupted in the UT, Stobdan said, “There is a possibility that the protests are an outcome of Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting China (for the SCO Summit) and shaking hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping. There are mischief makers who do not want an improved relationship between the two countries and therefore, the frontiers have been put on fire.”
While the union government had alleged interference by vested interests in stoking unrest in Ladakh that had for long demanded UT status, the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Development Alliance (KDA), a collective of social and political representatives have refuted the allegation and said the protests were an outcome of the government’s failure to respond to the demand for the restoration of statehood.
Both the LAB and the KDA have pulled out of the October 6 talks scheduled with the ministry of home affairs, demanding that the government first release all the Ladakhis who have been detained, including social and environment activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been detained under the National Security Act.
On the speculation of foreign involvement, Stobadan said it was for the government to investigate the issue. “But these players could have hijacked Sonam Wangchuk’s protest. Somebody could have taken advantage of the protest, he should have known this unless he was involved as well,” he said.
Criticising Wangchuk’s protest, Stobdan said the activist “dramatised” the situation on the ground in Ladakh. “...He made it look like some kind of an Arab Spring. This was a misplaced agenda as Ladakh is not a country and the people of the two regions, Kargil and Leh had a different set of demands initially.”
He also was critical of the government’s inability to convey why the Sixth Schedule cannot be implemented in the state which shares borders with China and Pakistan.
“This government does not have the wherewithal to handle Ladakh, which has a complicated history, shares borders with Pakistan and China, and has statecraft inbuilt in the people, given its strategic location. The government should have been able to explain to the Ladhakis why it cannot implement the Sixth schedule in Ladakh. It took it easy instead of addressing the concerns of people…” he said.
The former ambassador said in the absence of the government’s explanation on why the sixth schedule cannot be implemented in Ladakh, the issue has become emotive. “Ladakhis are not a tribe, they are Buddhists and they do not meet the anthropological definition of being designated as a tribe. They have been designated as scheduled tribes under the fifth schedule though,” he said.
To be sure, the BJP in its manifesto in 2019 had made the promise of implementing the provision to safeguard the territory, ethnicity and languages of Ladakh. The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, then headed by BJP’s Nandkumar Sai had also recommended accepting the demand after careful consideration.
“When the UT was carved out without a legislative, people felt disempowered. There was no clarity about the powers of the autonomous hill councils and the LG took over,” Stobdan said on the demand for restoration of statehood, although Ladakh had for decades been asking for being separated from J&K and given UT status.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, KDA co-chairman, Asgar Ali Karbalai said the outfit will not have discussions with the government till Wangchuk is released and a judicial probe is ordered to seek accountability for the killing of four civilians.
“We dismiss all the allegations of the administration and MHA about Wangchuk, who is a hero and should be immediately released,” he said.
The KDA also criticised the government for “labelling the protestors as anti-nationals.” Addressing the media soon after KDA’s press meet, Gitanjali Angmo, who is the wife of Sonam Wangchuk also reiterated that the “narratives” being spread against Wangchuk and his- Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh (HIAL) and The Students’ Educational and Cultural are “ baseless”.
“There was no need to put the NSA on Sonam Wangchuk… they are also giving one sided narratives and a witch-hunt has been going on against us. We have given all documents clarifying the charges to officials from CBI, to the Income Tax Department, yet a smokescreen is being created to defame Sonam, so that the movement for sixth-schedule can be weakened,” she said.
Denying the involvement of foreign players she said, Wangchuk’s visit to Pakistan for a climate conference organised by the UN and the Dawn Media in February was being misconstrued.
