India’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has pointed fingers at climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and his supporters for sparking violence in Leh town during a hunger strike over Ladakh’s demands. The clash on September 24 left four protesters dead and dozens injured, as security forces fired on a raging mob that set fires and attacked offices.
Wangchuk kicked off his hunger strike on September 10, pushing for 6th Schedule protections and full statehood for Ladakh. The government says it’s been working hard on these issues through talks with groups like the Apex Body Leh and Kargil Democratic Alliance. They’ve held formal meetings via a High Powered Committee and sub-committees, plus plenty of informal chats with leaders.
These efforts have brought real changes, the MHA notes. Reservations for Ladakh’s scheduled tribes jumped from 45% to 84%. Councils now reserve one-third of seats for women, and Bhoti and Purgi languages got official status. Plus, recruitment started for 1,800 jobs to boost local opportunities.
But the statement claims some politically driven people aren’t satisfied and want to derail the progress. The next High Powered Committee meeting is set for October 6, with more talks planned for September 25 and 26. Wangchuk’s demands are front and center in these discussions. Even as other leaders called on him to end the strike, he kept going and referenced dramatic events like the Arab Spring uprisings and Gen Z protests in Nepal, which the MHA calls misleading and provocative.
Things turned ugly around 11:30 a.m. on September 24. A crowd, fired up by those speeches, left the hunger strike site and targeted a political party office—specifically the BJP office—and the Chief Executive Councilor’s government office in Leh. They vandalized the buildings, set them ablaze, attacked security personnel, and burned a police vehicle and a CRPF one too. The mob even tried to torch the Leh Hill Development Council secretariat.
More than 30 police and CRPF officers got hurt in the chaos. As the crowd kept destroying property and assaulting forces, police fired back in self-defense. Sadly, that led to four protester deaths and over 30 injuries among demonstrators. Over three dozen security personnel ended up injured overall.
By 4 p.m., authorities had the situation under control, though not without those tragic early incidents. Interestingly, Wangchuk called off his hunger strike right in the middle of all this. The MHA insists the mob’s actions stemmed directly from his inflammatory words.
Now, a curfew blankets Leh town to keep peace. Officials are urging residents to stay calm and not fall for tricks from “vested interests” who don’t truly care about the people or the administration. The government reaffirms its commitment to Ladakh’s future, promising strong constitutional safeguards to meet the region’s aspirations amid ongoing Ladakh protests.
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