Sonam Wangchuk held under National Security Act over Ladakh clash
People close to Sonam Wangchuk said the NSA, which allows detention up to 12 months without court, was invoked against him.
Police on Friday detained activist Sonam Wangchuk under the draconian National Security Act (NSA) and flew him from Leh to Jodhpur,people aware of the matter said, two days after protests over statehood and land protections roiled Ladakh and left four people dead and 100 injured.
The Union government has blamed Wangchuk, a climate activist who won the Magsaysay Award in 2018 and who was among the leading figures of the Ladakh statehood movement, for provoking the clashes on Wednesday. A day later, the Union home ministry cancelled the foreign funding licence of a non-governmental organisation run by Wangchuk.
Wangchuk was taken into custody by a police party led by Ladakh Police chief SD Singh Jamwal at 2:30 pm, an official said on condition of anonymity, adding that he was shifted out of Ladakh afterwards. The development was widely condemned by opposition parties, including Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah.
The administration snapped mobile internet services in the Leh area as a precautionary measure. There was no official word on Wangchuk’s detention but officials, and people close to the activist, said that the NSA – a stringent 1980 law under which authorities can detain a person for up to 12 months without producing him in court was invoked against the 59-year-old.
Wangchuk, who first started a hunger strike to push for statehood on September 10 but gave it up when violence flared up on Wednesday, had called a press meet at Hotel Abduz in Leh on Friday but failed to reach the venue.
Vice president of the Leh Apex Body (LAB), Chering Dorjey, said Wangchuk never reached the press meet. “We came to know he was arrested either from his village or somewhere close to Leh. The situation won’t improve by his detention but is going to cause further unease,” Dorjey added.
Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali Angmo, said they were at their home in Uleytokpo village when three senior police officials arrived, accompanied by over a hundred police officers. “The police took him away. Later , I received a call from an inspector in Leh who said Wangchuk was detained under NSA,” she said. Angmo added that Wanchuk was taken to the Jodhpur Central Jail. “The inspector said the detention order was issued by the deputy commissioner, but they would not disclose any reason for it, nor did they provide an FIR or a copy of the detention order. The police also ransacked the house,” she added.
She accused the government of spreading a “false narrative” aimed at tarnishing his image “He was treated like a criminal without any reason,” Angmo said, alleging that their house was ransacked by police.
The NSA empowers both the central and state governments to detain individuals without formal charges if they are deemed to be acting in a manner prejudicial to national security, relations with foreign countries, public order, or the maintenance of essential services. This detention can occur even in the absence of a trial and can last a maximum of 12 months, before it comes up for review and can be extended further. The act allows authorities to detain individuals without informing them of the reasons for their detention but within 15 days, the detainee must be provided with the grounds of detention, unless the government believes that disclosing such information would be prejudicial to national security.
Haji Mustafa, legal counsel for the Leh Apex Body (LAB) who has also represented Wangchuk in the past, said they will meet on Saturday to decide future course of action.
Wangchuk had shifted to Ulyaktopo on Wednesday after the clashes and his associates said the activist was anticipating his detention. “He was prepared for his arrest as the statements issued by the government were just to put every blame on him,” said one of his associates on condition of anonymity.
The development came two days after four people were killed and around 100 injured in Ladakh during sweeping protests demanding full statehood for the Union territory and protections for jobs and land. Eyewitnesses said young protesters in their hundreds pelted stones, vandalised buildings and set the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office and a police vehicle ablaze. Police said it had to resort to lathi charge and tear gas shells to disperse the protesters but Wangchuk said police used lethal weapons.
The Union home ministry later said violence broke out at 11.30am and was brought under control by 4pm on Wednesday. “It is clear that the mob was incited by Shri Sonam Wangchuk through his provocative statements,” it said in a statement released on Wednesday night.
On Thursday, the ministry said it cancelled the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licence of the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), one of the organisations founded by Wangchuk, with “immediate effect”.
The order said SECMOL received ₹4.93 lakh in 2021-22 from a foreign donor in Sweden, for educational programmes for creating awareness on migration, climate change, global warming, food security and sovereignty of the country. “The foreign contributions cannot be accepted for study on the sovereignty of the nation. This act of association is against the national interest of the country,” the ministry had said.
The activist had called the order a “witch hunt” and said the unrest was due to the frustration among the common people in Ladakh. “They may be clever in making somebody else a scapegoat, but they are not wise. At this time, we all need wisdom rather than cleverness because youth is already frustrated,” Wangchuk told PTI on Thursday, adding that he was ready to be arrested.
To be sure, the timing of the investigation and its revelation -- he is widely seen as one of the leaders of the movement in Ladakh demanding more autonomy and perhaps statehood -- mean that the action could be seen as being politically motivated.
LAB – one of the organisations engaged in talks with the central government – said the step was going to complicate the situation rather than bring normalcy to the Union territory. “We have also heard about the arrest of Wangchuk, which is a very unfortunate and unwise decision on the part of the government…I do not see his role in Wednesday’s unrest that claimed the lives of four protesters and left 90 others injured,” legal adviser Haji Ghulam Mustafa told PTI.
Omar Abdullah condemned the development. “The way the centre government was after him from yesterday his arrest looked inevitable. They (Centre) had made certain promises with them, the way they had made promises with us. I fail to understand why they can’t fulfill their own promises,” he said.
Ladakh MP Haneefa Jan condemned development and said whatever was happening in Ladakh was due to frustration of young people. “Whatever happened in Leh should be properly investigated. And also the police opened direct fire on the protestors which should also be probed and officers responsible for firing should be made accountable. There should be a judicial probe” he said.
HT reached out to BJP Ladakh president Tashi Gayalson for a response but he refused to comment.
The UT of Ladakh was created on August 5, 2019 after the Centre effectively abrogated Article 370, which used to bestow special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and split the erstwhile state into two UTs – J&K with a legislative assembly and Ladakh without one. Since then, a string of protests have rocked Ladakh and had echoes in Delhi. In February 2024, thousands protested in Delhi, Leh and other parts of Ladakh demanding statehood and safeguards under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. Wangchuk and 34 other protesters began the hunger strike on September 10, demanding statehood and protection under the sixth schedule of the Constitution to safeguard land, language, employment and cultural rights. But anger peaked after two activists had to be hospitalised on Tuesday.
The government has pointed out that negotiations were ongoing between the government and representatives in Ladakh and Kargil, which had yielded results in the form of higher reservations, language rights and the beginning of a recruitment process. It also said that the next meeting was scheduled on October 6 and smaller informal meets were planned later this week. “However, certain politically motivated individuals were not happy with the progress made...has been trying to sabotage the dialogue process,” the home ministry statement said on Wednesday.
(With inputs from Sanjeev Jha)
