As youth reportedly tore up the regional office of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Ladakh, a high-altitude cold desert region in the Himalayas, on Wednesday, sparking violent Gen Z-led protests.
As protesters, including students, clashed with the police in Leh, the regional capital, at least four of them were killed and dozens were injured, protest coordinators told Al Jazeera, following additional deployment of the armed forces. According to authorities, the clashes also left dozens of security personnel dead.
In Ladakh, thousands of people have marched peacefully and staged hunger strikes in protest of India’s continued federal government’s authority over the region for the past six years. They want the power to elect a local government.
However, Sonam Wangchuk, an educator who has been organizing a number of hunger strikes, claimed that groups of disenchanted youths broke away from those peaceful protests on Wednesday.
In a video statement, Wangchuk referred to recent uprisings in South Asian nations, including those that occurred in Nepal earlier this month, which led to the overthrow of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s government. “It was an outburst of youth, a kind of Gen-Z revolution, that brought them on streets,” Wangchuk said.
So, what’s happening in Ladakh? What do they demand? How did this area of the Himalayas arrive? And why does the crisis in Ladakh matter so much?
What triggered clashes in Ladakh?
The Ladakh Apex Body, a group of socio-religious and political organizations, launched its 15th day of a hunger strike led by local Ladakhi activists on Wednesday morning.
Following two weeks of a hunger strike, two activists, 62 and 71, received a call from the organizers for a local shutdown. The protesters were also angry with the Modi government for delaying talks with them.
In a virtual press conference on Wednesday evening, Wangchuk said, “peace is not working, because of these issues, which gave the youth a false impression.
The youth-led organizations then departed from the Martyrs’ Memorial Park protest site and moved toward the local government buildings and a BJP office, where they were chanting slogans, which caused altercations with the police. Four were killed and another remains critical, while dozens were injured.
The bloodiest day in Ladakh’s history is “this.” The general public who was out supporting the demands of the strike was sacrificed by them, according to Jigmat Paljor, the organizer of the apex body that organized the hunger strikes.
“The people were tired of fake promises for five years by the government, and people were filled with anger”, Paljor told Al Jazeera. He claimed that his organization withdrew the hunger strike and demanded peace amid the hostility.
More than 30 forces personnel were injured in clashes with an “unruly mob,” according to the home ministry of India in a statement, and “police had to resort to firing” in self-defense, leading to “some casualties.”
The government said that “it was clear that the mob was incited by]Wangchuk]”, adding that the educator was “misleading the people through his provocative mention of Arab Spring-style protest and references to Gen Z protests in Nepal”. Wangchuk insists he has never advocated violence himself, but has warned that if the government ignores the demands of peaceful protesters, youth sentiments could turn to violence.
What are protesters’ goals?
In 2019, the Modi government unilaterally stripped the semi-autonomous status and statehood that Indian-administered Kashmir had previously enjoyed under the Indian constitution.
The state’s three regions, Ladakh, Jammu, and Kashmir, where there are about 40% of the population, are made up of Muslims and Buddhists.
The former state was then divided into Jammu and Kashmir, which had a legislature, and Ladakh, which had not. While both are federally governed and neither has the powers of other states in India, Jammu and Kashmir’s legislature at least allows its population to elect local leaders who can represent their concerns and voice them to New Delhi. Locals contend that Ladakh lacks that.
India, Pakistan, and China are disputing Kashmir, where each of their three nuclear-armed neighbors has a claim to control a portion. India claims all of it, and Pakistan claims all except the part held by China, its ally. Pakistan is bordered by India’s Kashmir in the west, and Ladakh and China share a 1,600-mile (994-mile) border there.
Ladakhis have been living under bureaucratic rule since the statehood ended. More than 90 percent of the region’s population is listed as Scheduled Tribes. In response to this situation, Ladakh should be included in the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which provides autonomous administrative and governance to areas with recognized indigenous populations as the majority of the population. In the northeastern states of India are currently referred to as “10 regions” by the schedule.
However, the Modi government has so far resisted both statehood and the protections of the Sixth Schedule for Ladakh.
Ladakhis are more difficult to find employment in Jammu and Kashmir, where the majority of jobs were held in the region before it was united, because of Jammu and Kashmir’s separation from Ladakh. Residents have also alleged that the Indian government hasn’t implemented clear hiring guidelines for employees in the public sector since 2019.
“]The young protesters] are unemployed for five years, and Ladakh is not being granted]constitutional] protections”, Wangchuk said on Wednesday. The formula for social unrest in society is to keep youth unemployed before denying them their democratic rights.
Ladakh’s literacy rate is 97 percent, which is significantly higher than India’s average of about 80% on the national scale. But a 2023 survey found that 26.5 percent of Ladakh’s graduates are unemployed – double the national average.
The anger escalated on Wednesday.
Siddiq Wahid, a Leh academic and political analyst, called “what’s happening in Ladakh horrifying.” “It is scary to see Ladakh sort of pushed to this edge”.
Ladakhis have come to terms with the dangers their identity faces, he said, adding that the people have been “adamant about the need to reclaim their rights since they were taken away six years ago.”
“The youth anger is a particularly worrying angle because they’re impatient,” the author writes. They’ve been waiting for a resolution for years”, said Wahid. They are now frustrated because they don’t see a future for themselves.
Have there been protests earlier in Ladakh?
Yes . Numerous local civic organizations have staged protest marches and occasionally taken out hunger strikes in response to the region’s semi-autonomous status and the removal of statehood.
Wangchuk, the educator, has led five hunger strikes in the last three years, demanding constitutional protections for Ladakh. He is also the most well-known participant in the Ladakh protests, which are also influenced by his earlier initiatives to promote sustainability. A Bollywood blockbuster film that has a lot of fans in China has also been inspired by Wangchuk’s life.
The site of the hunger strike, the Martyrs ‘ Memorial Park, is also dedicated to three Ladakhis who were killed in August 1989 in a firing incident during protests. The protests at the time were motivated by anger over the state’s perceived Kashmiri supremacy, which Ladakh, Jammu, and Kashmir were all a part of.
The site also pays tribute to two more than one protester who died in a January 1981 riot against Ladakhis demanding Scheduled Tribe status.
But Wednesday’s protest marked the deadliest day in Ladakh’s political history.
Sajad Kargili, a civil member of a committee set up by the Modi government to address activists protesting in Ladakh, cited the “frustration of our youth” as evidence.
According to Kargili, “the government needs to understand that there are young people here who are upset and not choosing to participate in a hunger strike.” “The Modi government should not turn its back on these calls”.
Why is Ladakh such a significant place?
Ladakh sits at India’s Himalayan frontier, bordering China.
In the event of a conflict with China, India’s military will need access to important mountain passes, airfields, and supply routes. Following a Chinese incursion in eastern Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Indian and Chinese forces clashed in 2020.
At least 20 Indian forces personnel were killed alongside four Chinese. Tens of thousands of troops were mobilized on both sides as a result of the conflict, and high-altitude posts were quickly deployed with heavy weapons and infrastructure.
Ladakh has remained the focal point of India-China border tensions ever since. Multiple rounds of military and diplomatic talks have led to a thaw since late last year.
Source: Aljazeera
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