Celebrated activist and Ladakh statehood campaigner Sonam Wangchuk, arrested on Friday for allegedly instigating Wednesday’s violent protests in Leh, is being investigated for Pakistan links, Ladakh police chief S.D. Singh Jamwal said on
Saturday.

Addressing a news conference, the director-general of police waded into political territory by claiming Delhi was engaging Ladakhi leaders in productive talks and that Wangchuk had attempted to sabotage it.

His remarks suggested the government was extending the Kashmir experiment to Ladakh, alleging foreign links to undercut local dissent much like Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last year claimed that Pakistan was doing “balle balle” over (celebrating) the National Conference-Congress alliance.

Wangchuk, arrested under the National Security Act that allows detention without bail for up to a year, is lodged in a jail in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. A tenuous peace held in Ladakh on Saturday amid stringent restrictions.

Jamwal cited last month’s arrest of an alleged Pakistani intelligence operative (PIO), who had reportedly sent videos of Wangchuk’s protests across the border, as the reason for the activist being probed for Pakistan links.

“We have a PIO with us who was reporting across the border, sending videos of the protests led by Wangchuk,” he said.

Jamwal described as suspicious Wangchuk’s visits to foreign countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan, where he said the activist had attended an event organised by the newspaper Dawn.

Wangchuk, a climate activist and Magsaysay-winning education reformist, had attended an international climate change conference in Islamabad early this year. “There is a big question mark on him,” Jamwal said.

He alleged that Wangchuk was the key man behind Wednesday’s violence that killed four people and left scores injured. He said he couldn’t reveal details of the investigation.

“But if you look at his profile and history — it’s all available on YouTube — his speech worked as an instigation as he spoke about the Arab Spring and the recent unrests in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka,” the DGP said.

The DGP also referred to a foreign funding probe against an NGO founded by Wangchuk.

Jamwal backed lieutenant governor Kavinder Gupta’s remarks about a foreign conspiracy behind Wednesday’s violence, saying three Nepal citizens had been admitted to hospital with bullet injuries. He said the involvement of a few other foreigners, too, had come to light.

He claimed Delhi had initiated several steps to address Ladakhis’ concerns, including an 85 per cent job reservation for local people, but Wangchuk had tried to disrupt the dialogue.

Days before the violence, the Union home ministry had invited Ladakhi leaders for another round of talks on October 6, which the local leadership saw as another ploy to tire down the fasting Wangchuk and his supporters.

Jamwal said Wangchuk had continued his hunger strike despite being aware that an informal meeting between the two sides was to be held on September 25.

“A day before the informal meeting, a deliberate attempt was made to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere through provocative videos and statements that culminated (in) violence on Wednesday and (led to) unfortunate deaths,” he said.

The police chief said the violence was bigger than reported. He claimed a mob of 5,000 to 6,000 had attacked installations, burning the offices of a political party (the BJP) and the hill development council.

He said the mob attacked a building housing CRPF men and badly beat them up, leaving one of them with a critical spinal injury.

“In the same building, four female cops of Ladakh got trapped and it was set ablaze. You can understand how massive the attack was,” he said.

Jamwal said there was an attack on him as well that damaged his car, and that he had been lucky to escape with minor injuries. He said 70 to 80 security force personnel and a similar number of civilians were injured.

He claimed the forces had fired on the protesters in self-defence, leading to four “unfortunate deaths”. He alleged that there had been a danger to the lives of the “entire bureaucracy” that operates from the hill development council building, which was torched.

Jamwal said 50 people had been taken into custody in connection with the violence, and that half-a-dozen among them were suspected to be the ringleaders.