Security forces patrol India’s Ladakh during curfew after deadly protests
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A vehicle is set on fire during a protest by locals in Leh, in India's Ladakh region, on Sept 24.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SRINAGAR, India - Security forces patrolled the streets on Sept 25 in India’s Himalayan region of Ladakh, where a curfew was enforced in some areas a day after four people were killed in violent protests demanding statehood for the federal territory and job quotas for local residents.
Television images showed troop patrols and shuttered shops and businesses amid the curfew and a protest call against the deaths by the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), which represents political, social and trade groups in the region.
“I demand a fair, impartial and time-bound investigation into the deaths of our students,” Mr Mohmad Haneefa, the MP for Ladakh, said on social media platform X.
He also called for relief to the bereaved families and for those responsible for the deaths to be held to account.
Damaged cars with shattered windows were still parked by the sides of roads in Leh on Sept 25.
The Buddhist-Muslim enclave, bordering China, lost its autonomy in 2019 when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government carved it out of the state of Jammu and Kashmir to be placed under the direct administration of New Delhi.
Leh and Muslim-majority Kargil, the site of military conflict between India and Pakistan in 1999, are the region’s two most populous districts.
Protesters led by activist Sonam Wangchuk also seek special status for Ladakh to allow the setting up of elected local bodies to protect its tribal areas.
Police had to resort to firing, leading to reports of casualties, said India’s Home Ministry on Sept 24, after a mob attacked the office of a political party and set ablaze a police vehicle and the office of the Leh chief executive councillor.
KDA’s legal adviser Haji Ghulam Mustafa on Sept 24 condemned the violence, saying that protests in Ladakh over the last five years had always been peaceful.
“I do not understand who gave the orders to shoot,” he told the ANI news agency, in which Reuters has a minority stake.
Six people among the 80 injured in clashes were in critical condition, and police arrested more than 50 over the violence, said a police official who was not authorised to speak to the media.
In its statement, the Home Ministry said the protests, which injured more than 30 police officers, were triggered by “provocative” speeches by Mr Wangchuk. REUTERS
