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A hunger strike initiated by Sonam Wangchuk on September 10, demanding Sixth Schedule status and statehood for Ladakh, turned violent, leading to clashes with police and damage to public property.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Activist Sonam Wangchuk began a hunger strike on September 10, demanding the 6th Schedule and statehood for Ladakh. It is well known that the Government of India has been actively engaged with the Apex Body Leh and the Kargil Democratic Alliance on the same issues. A series of meetings was held with them through the formal channels of the High-Powered Committee, as well as the Sub-committee, and multiple informal meetings with leaders. The process of dialogue through this mechanism has yielded phenomenal results by increasing reservations for the Ladakh scheduled tribe from 45% to 84%, providing 1/3 women's reservations in the councils and declaring Bhoti and Purgi as official languages. With this process, the recruitment of 1800 posts was also commenced. However, certain politically motivated individuals were unhappy with the progress made under HPC and have been attempting to sabotage the dialogue process. The next meeting of High-Powered Committee has been scheduled on 6th October while meetings are also planned on 25th and 26th September with the leaders from Ladakh. The demands on which Mr Wangchuk was on hunger strike are an integral part of the discussion in HPC. In spite of many leaders urging to call off the hunger strike he continued with the hunger strike and misleading the people through provocative mention of Arab Spring-style protest and references to Gen Z protests in Nepal. On 24th September, at around 11.30 am, a mob instigated by his provocative speeches left the venue of the hunger strike and attacked a political party office as well as the Government office of the CEC Leh. They also put these offices on fire, attacked the security personnel, and torched police vehicle. According to the release, the unruly mob attacked the police personnel, injuring more than 30 police/CRPF personnel. The mob continued to destroy public property and attack the police personnel. In self-defence, police had to resort to firing in which unfortunately some casualties are reported. Barring unfortunate incidents that happened early in the day, the situation is brought under control by 4PM. It is clear that the mob was incited by Shri Sonam Wangchuk through his provocative statements. Incidentally, amidst these violent developments, he broke his fast and left for his village in an ambulance without making serious efforts to control the situation. The Government stands committed to the aspiration of the people of Ladakh by providing adequate constitutional safeguards, a release said. It is also requested that people should not circulate the old and provocative videos in the media and on social media. (ANI)
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