Indian authorities have imposed a curfew in Leh, the capital of the Himalayan region of Ladakh, after at least four people were killed in violent clashes between police and demonstrators calling for statehood.
The unrest on Wednesday left dozens injured, and protesters set fire to the local office of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Officials blamed climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been leading the statehood movement, accusing him of inciting the violence – a claim he strongly denies.
Ladakh, a mountainous desert region with both Muslim and Buddhist populations, lost its semi-autonomous status in 2019 when the BJP government revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and carved Ladakh into a separate federally administered territory.
The latest violence erupted in the Leh district, a predominantly Buddhist region sandwiched between India, China and Pakistan. For decades, local Buddhists have sought their own region, while the Muslim-majority Kargil district has pushed to be re-integrated with Indian-administered Kashmir.
Since 2019, the two communities have united in demanding the restoration of statehood and greater autonomy, including job reservations for locals.
It remains unclear what triggered Wednesday’s escalation. Protests have flared intermittently across the region for months.
In a late-night statement, India’s federal home ministry accused Wangchuk of provoking the unrest, alleging he had “misled people” with references to Arab Spring-style protests and demonstrations in Nepal.
Authorities said protesters attacked and torched the BJP office and set fire to a police vehicle, injuring at least 30 officers.
“In self-defence, police had to resort to firing in which unfortunately some casualties are reported,” the statement said.
Following the violence, Wangchuk ended a hunger strike he had been observing since 12 September and called for calm, warning that violence “only damages our cause.”
He denied any involvement in the clashes, saying the frustration of unemployed youth had boiled over into the streets.
Wangchuk, a prominent engineer and climate activist celebrated for his work in education and sustainability, has been the face of the movement for statehood in Ladakh. He and other activists argue that the 2019 changes have failed to deliver on promises of empowering locals politically and economically.
Many residents fear that the loss of special status has left the region vulnerable to outside business interests, undermining local control over culture, land, and resources.
The federal government rejects this criticism, insisting that since 2023 it has held productive talks with local leaders and achieved “phenomenal results.”
It said discussions with Wangchuk and other activists were ongoing but claimed that “politically motivated individuals” were dissatisfied with the pace of progress.
Ladakh’s Lieutenant Governor Kavinder Gupta announced an investigation into the violence, accusing some groups of trying to incite unrest by comparing the protests to those in Bangladesh and Nepal.
Fresh rounds of talks between protesters and government officials are scheduled for Thursday and Friday, with a federal committee due to meet Ladakh’s leaders on 6 October.
Source: BBC
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