Ladakh lieutenant governor Kavinder Gupta on Monday claimed the region had returned to normal, evoking a sharp reaction from local leaders who asked the administration to lift all curbs and ease its heavy-handed approach.
The LG’s statement came on a day Ladakh continued to be calm, with markets reporting near-normal activities. However, curbs on the Internet and restrictions on businesses and other activities during early morning and evening hours remained.
The LG’s office said Gupta chaired a high-level meeting of top civil and police officers to review the security situation on Monday.
“The UT remains peaceful, with schools, offices and markets reopened. HLG (Honourable LG) asked officials to remain vigilant and focus on peace and development,” a post on X by the LG’s office said.
Leh Apex Body co-chairman Chering Dorjay and other office-bearers rebuffed the claim, blaming the administration for restoring normality through intimidation.
“The normality here on the surface is not normality. It is a fake normality. Internet is still suspended. The restrictions on people remain. The questioning of people and arrests are still continuing. Ladakh is no way normal,” Dorjay, who also heads the influential Ladakh Buddhist Association, told a media conference.
Dorjay said if the government wanted to improve the situation, all restrictions should be lifted.
“Internet, as well as people’s confidence, should be restored. This is very important to bring Ladakh back to normal,” he said.
Dorjay claimed the administration was harassing numberdars (village heads) by summoning them for questioning over the September 24 violence that claimed four lives and left dozens injured.
“(They) are an important part of our culture. Whatever happens in Ladakh happens with their approval. When the Leh apex body issued a message to go on a fast (on September 24), it was their work to make it reach people,” he said. “But they are being summoned for questioning without any reason. We condemn it and see it as an assault on our culture.”