DIVISIONAL STATUS FOR LADAKH; Headquarters row: Anger spills on to streets in Kargil

The public anger against setting up of divisional headquarters of Ladakh at Leh spilled onto the streets in Kargil on Sunday, with thousands of people protesting against the decision and demanding rotation of the headquarters between Leh and Kargil.

The protests took place a day after political parties in the mountainous Kargil district joined hands to fight what they called the “biased decision” of the governor’s administration.

   

The state administration Friday carved out a separate division for Ladakh by separating twin districts of Leh and Kargil from the Kashmir division. The decision is seen as the BJP-led central government’s move to placate the voices seeking a union territory status for Ladakh. According to a report, thousands of people from different parts of Kargil assembled at Islamia school chowk to take part in a protest demonstration, which was supported by all political, social and religious groups in the district.

Chanting slogans “nahichalegi, nahichalegi, nainsaafinahichalegi (won’t allow injustice to happen)”, the protesters marched towards the deputy commissioner’s office to seek review of the decision.

On the occasion, the protesting leaders said the representatives of Kargil—from chairman legislative council to sarpanchs—will resign en-mass if the decision to have divisional headquarters only at Leh is not revisited forthwith.

“We will prefer to remain with Kashmir division if the divisional headquarters will remain in Leh,” the protesting leaders said, adding that distance between Srinagar and Kargil is just 120 kilometers while the distance between Leh and Kargil is 230 kilometers.

Speaking on the occasion, executive councilor Nasir Hussain said they will launch a civil disobedience movement against the decision.

“The Kargil hill council will pass a resolution against the decision,” he said.

President, MadarsaAsnayaAsharya, Sheikh Nazir-Ul-Mehdi Mohmadee, said they will force deputy commissioner and senior superintendent of police Kargil to leave the district if the decision is not reversed.

“We will ourselves run the government because we have lost faith in the state apparatus,” he said.

On Saturday, leaders of all political parties from Kargil met at Jammu and decided to launch a sustained agitation against the decision, which they said, has hurt the sentiments of the people in the district. 

Interestingly, representatives of BJP from Kargil also participated in the meeting.

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