Leh, Dec 10: Two prominent groups in Ladakh Friday called for a complete bandh in the region on December 13 against the alleged government failure to withstand its assurance of constitutional safeguard.
Earlier, the Bandh call was issued in November for December 06 which was later withdrawn and a fresh date was announced by the regional leaders.
The two prominent groups in the region include Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) and Apex Body Leh.
The alliance Friday held a meeting in Ladakh regarding the steps and strategy aimed to make the bandh call successful and sought cooperation from all the stakeholders in the region.
Addressing a news conference on the side-lines of the meeting, Former Member Parliament, Thupstan Chewang as per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said that the meeting with the stakeholders which include, Transporters Tourist operators, Hotel and Restaurant Associations, Tour Operators and Taxi Operators besides others ended on a positive note and they assured to extend support on December 13 to make Bandh successful in the region with complete Chakka Jam.
He said that certain sections have been exempted which include airport passengers having scheduled flights, Army vehicles, students appearing in exams, chemists, and Ambulances while no other vehicular movement will be allowed.
“To ensure everything goes normal and the Bandh is observed without causing any harm leading to untoward incidents, the youth of all religious groups including Shia, Sunni, Buddhist, and Christian will monitor and supervise the overall situation at every point”, the Apex Body founding member said.
He said that the Bandh is aimed to remind the government and Home Ministry in particular about the assurances they had given to further hold deliberations with the regional leaders regarding constitutional safeguard to the region.
The former minister said that despite the assurance to hold talks with the regional leaders no concrete or sincere steps have been initiated so far by the government.
He informed that KDA is scheduled to meet all the stakeholders tomorrow in Kargil and share details about the support from them (Stakeholders) and make Ladakh Bandh successful.
Notably, the two groups have agreed to four-point demand which includes full-fledged statehood, job policy, constitutional, and land safeguard beside the separate Member Parliament seats for twin districts of Leh and Kargil.
It may be recalled that both the groups since then have held at least one meeting each with the MoS Home during which they were assured about the formation of a joint team from the region and a committee headed by the Union Minister to look into the demands and possibilities of constitutional safeguard to the region.kno
This post was published on December 11, 2021