Thousands took to the streets in the main market of Kargil this week, demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government restore Ladakh’s statehood and include it in the sixth schedule in the Indian Constitution. This would give them autonomy to make laws to preserve their tribal culture, heritage, customs, environment, and way of life.

In the four years and six months since the Modi government rescinded the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir, bifurcated it from Ladakh, and turned both into union territories which the centre governs, the two religious minorities in India that live in Ladakh—Buddhists and Muslims—have come together to “fight for democracy”. They want more jobs, political representation and participation in the governance of the region with a population that is 97% tribal, bordering China on one side and Pakistan on the other.

“Ladakh is voiceless right now. We had an Assembly to express our problems, resentment, and sorrows. Today, we are in a vast area but don’t have representatives who can speak for us. Ladakhis will have no role in decisions about our identities, glaciers, and environment,” said Sajjad Kargili, a key figure behind the protest and a member of the six-member subcommittee in talks with home minister Amit Shah.

“So, Buddhists and Muslims have come together to fight for democracy in Ladakh,” he said.

In its manifesto for the Ladakh Constituency, the BJP promised the sixth schedule ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election in May.

Before the abrogation on 5 August 2019, Article 370 and Article 35 gave special rights and privileges to citizens of J&K and Ladakh. They stopped outsiders from buying land, getting government jobs, and settling in the erstwhile state, which was India’s only Muslim-majority state. These protections were seen by many as discriminatory, and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had long pledged to get rid of them.


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