Leh: Talks between the Union Home Ministry and Ladakh leaders ended without a breakthrough in Leh, with the two sides expressing differences over a draft proposal on constitutional safeguards and a legislature for the Union territory.
The two sides will meet again in New Delhi October 22 to discuss their respective proposals, even as the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) expressed dissatisfaction with the draft proposal presented by the Centre.
The meeting between a sub-committee of the home ministry and representatives of the LAB and KDA, which have been spearheading the agitation for constitutional safeguards and democratic rights for Ladakh, lasted nearly three hours at the Secretariat here on Thursday.
The Ladakh delegation included Lok Sabha MP Haji Haneefa Jan, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, Kargil Hill Council Chief Executive Councillor Mohammad Jaffer Akhoon, Ladakh Chief Secretary Ashish Kundra and former Leh Hill Council CEC Tashi Gyalson.
KDA Co-chairman Asgar Karbalai said the Ladakh representatives submitted detailed, point-by-point replies to a questionnaire and subsequently presented an MoU, after which the home ministry shared its draft proposal.
“We are totally dissatisfied with the presentation. It does not match our demands or what the people of Ladakh want,” Karbalai said.
He said the home ministry agreed to share the draft with the leadership of the KDA and the LAB, following which their legal experts would prepare a response and submit their draft by October 18.
The proposals will now be discussed at the next meeting in Delhi on October 22, Karbalai said.
Wangchuk said the Ladakh leadership is dissatisfied with the outcome but would consider the meeting a continuation of the process rather than a failure until the revised draft is examined.
He said the gap between the two sides is much wider than anticipated, claiming that the discussions failed to preserve the progress made in the earlier rounds.
“We had expected a difference of 19-20, but the actual gap is like that between the sky and the earth,” Wangchuk said, expressing hope that the revised draft would reflect a narrowing of differences.
LAB co-chairman Chering Dorjey said both sides presented their proposals but failed to reach an agreement.
He also expressed hope for a consensus at the next round of talks while asserting that the demand for a legislature and constitutional safeguards under Article 371(K) would not be diluted.
Former Leh Hill Council chief executive councillor Tashi Gyalson said the home ministry presented its proposal, while the LAB and KDA submitted a document containing several suggestions, which were discussed at the meeting.
No decisions have been made, and the process would now continue in New Delhi, he said.
The LAB and KDA have been demanding constitutional safeguards, statehood and a legislature for Ladakh, among other measures, to protect the region’s land, identity and culture and create employment opportunities.