The Centre must speak to agitators in Ladakh and address their concerns specially because Jammu and Kashmir is a border state and “much of our land there already under” China’s control, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said Thursday, a day after four people were killed and scores of people were injured in Leh as protesters demanding statehood and special status for Ladakh clashed with police.
“Today, we are facing a very serious issue that has taken place in Ladakh, especially in Leh, where the youth have come out on the streets,” Farooq, the father of J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah, said at a press meet.
Wednesday’s shutdown was called by the Leh Apex Body (LAB), which has been spearheading an agitation for statehood for Ladakh for the past five years.
“The reason behind this [violence] is that they had been on a hunger strike for the last 14 days,” Abdullah told reporters.
“For the past five years, they have been silently protesting, demanding Sixth Schedule status and statehood. Their leader, Sonam Wangchuck, even walked from Leh to Delhi to ask for attention to this cause. They followed Gandhian methods — no violent agitation… Regrettably, instead of continuing on Gandhi’s path, they chose agitation and took some very harsh steps. They set fire to the BJP office, burnt several police vehicles, and tried to torch other offices as well. This forced the police to open fire.”
He underlined that it was the Centre’s responsibility to quell the violence through dialogue.
“I want to tell the Government of India that this is a border state, with China sitting right above us, and much of our land there already under their control,” Farooq said.
“If such unrest continues here, it is dangerous for our nation. Please make efforts to resolve this quickly and take the path of dialogue without delay. Do not wait for another spark to ignite. I do not believe that any outside group is behind this.”
When quizzed further by journalists for the reasons behind the Leh protests, Farooq said: “They are openly saying: ‘What happened to the promises you made to us?’…At the higher levels, there are no jobs at all; all positions are filled with outsiders who have been pushed in. The people feel that they have been turned into nothing more than a colony. Because of this, especially among the youth, a spirit has risen: ‘Even if we lose our lives, we must secure our rights”.”
The National Conference would never resort to violence, he stressed.
“The National Conference has never abandoned Gandhi’s path. We have never picked up stones or guns, we have made sacrifices, but never resorted to such means. But what will happen tomorrow, what our children might do — that I cannot say.”
He added: “As for the BJP, they always want to point fingers elsewhere instead of seeing their own faults. But the responsibility lies with them, because they are the ones running the government.”
Ladakh lieutenant governor Kavinder Gupta had on Wednesday blamed "vested interests" for the violence that led to the death of four people in the Union Territory.
Curfew has been clamped in major towns of Ladakh to prevent more bloodshed.