Leh Apex Body, KDA to stay away from proposed meeting of Centre’s High Powered Panel

Bodies say points advocated by them excluded in HPC agenda; reiterate 4-point demands; announce protest march in Jammu on Jan 15, dharna at Jantar Mantar in 3rd week of Feb

LADAKH, Jan 07 : In a significant development, the Leh Apex body and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) Saturday decided not to participate in the proposed meeting of High Power Committee constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) stating the agenda for the meeting excludes the points being advocated by the two bodies of Leh and Kargil.

That a meeting of the Leh Apex Body and the Kargil Democratic Alliance was held at Jammu in the light of the High-Powered Committee constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

“In the meeting, which was attended by all the members of the LAB and KDA it was decided that they will not participate in the proposed meeting as the agenda set out for discussion excludes the issues which both bodies have been advocating,” he said, adding that the meeting further clarified that both the bodies were ready to participate in any meeting which includes four-point agenda set out by them for discussion.”

He said that the four-point agenda proposed for the discussion by them included full fledged statehood for Ladakh, constitutional safeguard under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India, recruitment and job Reservation for the youth of Ladakh and creation of two separate Parliamentary Constituencies for Leh and Kargil.

He further said both the bodies strongly objected to the composition of the members of the High-Powered Committee stating that the Home Ministry has arbitrarily excluded and included members in the above committee.

The meeting, as per the member, proposed that the formation of the committee for which the Home Ministry had sought panel of names in the year 2021 should be included.

“It was further resolved in the meeting that the agitation for the resolution of the above four issues shall continue till our demands are fulfilled. In this connection, both the bodies propose to have a protest rally at Jammu on January 15 followed by Dharna Protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi in 3rd week of February. It may also be clarified that both the bodies have decided to intensify the agitation during 2023,” the member said.

He said the members of both the bodies who attended the meeting include Thupstan Tsewang, Qamar Ali Akhoon, Tsering Dorjey Lakruk and Asgar Ali Karbalai—(KNO)