The Kashmir DialoguesLAB, KDA to hold joint sitting ahead of Dec 3 meet
Twin Ladakh bodies to stick to 4-pt agenda
JAMMU, Nov 7: Three members each from Leh and Kargil districts, both CECs-cum-Chairpersons of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils, Lok Sabha Member and Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor are among those likely to be invited by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for talks on the issues of the Union Territory of Ladakh scheduled to be held in the Union capital on December 3.
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai will chair the meeting while top officers of the MHA including the Home Secretary will attend.
Sources told the Excelsior that three members each from Leh and Kargil districts being extended the invitation for talks include Thupstan Chhewang, a two-time MP from Ladakh, Chering Dorjay Lakruk and Nawang Rigzin Jora (all from Leh); Qamar Ali Akhoon, Asgar Karbalaie and Sajjad Kargili (all from Kargil).
Chhewang and Lakruk are chairman and co-chairman Leh Apex Body (LAB) while Jora is Congress chief for the Union Territory. Akhoon representing National Conference and Karbalaie hailing from the Congress are co-chairpersons of Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA). Sajjad Kargili is a prominent political leader and activist.
Struggle for four-point agenda of Ladakh including Sixth Schedule status, Statehood, two Parliamentary seats and dedicated Public Service Commission was first launched jointly by LAB and KDA. However, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk led month-long ‘padyatra’ from Ladakh to New Delhi and then staged sit-in at Ladakh Bhawan for many days till the Union Home Ministry on October 21 announced resumption of talks with Ladakh representatives and announced the date of December 3.
CECs-cum Chairpersons of Leh and Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Councils including Tashi Gyalson and Dr Zaffar Akhoon, Ladakh MP Haji Hanifa Jan and Advisor to Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh Dr Pawan Kotwal are also being called to the meeting, the sources said, adding that top officials of the MHA including the Home Secretary, the Joint Secretary Incharge Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and others will also join.
Like the past, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai will chair the meeting.
The LAB and KDA, as per the sources, will hold a joint sitting ahead of their meeting with the Union MoS for Home in New Delhi to discuss strategy though the twin bodies will stick on their four-point agenda.
A High Powered Committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Government of India for the Union Territory of Ladakh vide the Home Ministry’s order dated 2.1.2023. The said Committee was reconstituted further under the chairmanship of Rai on 30.11.2023.
The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution includes provisions for the administration of tribal areas in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram in the northeast. It establishes autonomous councils that have legislative, judicial, executive and financial powers to independently govern these areas.
Earlier, the Union Home Ministry had rejected the demand for Sixth Schedule and Statehood to Ladakh but was open to protect land, job, culture and other rights of the people of the Union Territory through the twin Hill Development Councils.
On August 26 this year, the Union Home Ministry had announced creation of five new districts for Ladakh including Sham, Nubra and Changthang, all in Leh district and Zanskar and Drass in Kargil district.
Presently, the Ladakh UT created on August 5, 2019 after being separated from Jammu and Kashmir, has two districts only including Leh and Kargil. Total number of districts has now gone up to seven.
However, the new districts are yet to be created formally. To identity boundaries of new districts and all other related issues, a high-level Committee has been set up which is on the job.
