The Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) has announced it will not participate in talks with the central government until climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and others arrested in Leh are released and a judicial probe into the recent firing incident is ordered.
A home ministry team reviews the security situation in Leh as curfew continues for the third day following violence related to demands for statehood and extension of the Sixth Schedule.
The home ministry said the central government would continue to welcome the discussion with LAB and KDA through the high powered committee on Ladakh or any such platform.
The Leh Apex Body (LAB) is demanding a judicial probe into the recent violence in Leh, which resulted in four deaths and numerous injuries. The LAB co-chairman, Chering Dorjay, denies any foreign involvement and alleges excessive force by police and CRPF personnel.
Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk called off his hunger strike as protests for Ladakh statehood and Sixth Schedule extension turned violent. The BJP office was set on fire, vehicles were torched, and clashes erupted, leading to the imposition of prohibitory orders.
Ladakh MP Thupstan Chhewang on Chinese incursions, the environment and effects of global warming in Ladakh and the relations between the Muslim and Buddhist populations.
The Ladakh Union Territory Front (LUFT) on Thursday merged with the BJP in a bid to bolster their long pending demand for declaring Ladakh as a Union Territory.
Scripting history, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday emerged victorious for the first time from the Ladakh seat with its candidate Thupstan Chhewang defeating Ghulam Raza by a slender margin of 36 votes.
Sonam Wangchuk, a key campaigner for constitutional safeguards for Ladakh, on Monday said they would launch a fast unto death from February 19 to press their demands and that details of participation of local residents in the agitation were being worked out.
The 14-member delegation of the Apex Body Leh and Kargil Democratic Alliance met the high-powered committee for Ladakh headed by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai.
The ministry said the high powered committee for Ladakh headed by Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai has been working actively with representatives of the ABL and the KDA and significant progress has been made.
What should have been a direct contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress in the Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency is now a three-corner fight with an alliance of local groups fielding an Independent to challenge the national parties.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ladakh MP revealed his reason to quit the BJP and resign from the Lok Sabha ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Environmental activist and educator Sonam Wangchuk accused the BJP of reneging on its promise of including Ladakh under the sixth schedule.
There will be total of 51 seats going to polls spread across 7 states in the fifth phase.
Since 1950 successive governments have tried various options but failed to reduce alienation amongst the people, for different reasons, of Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh. It is best to accept this reality and let each region charter its own path, within the framework of the Indian Constitution, says Sanjeev Nayyar.