Trouble brews over bifurcation of Ladakh into Leh and Kargil districts

Temperatures in Ladakh have been falling for some time now - and after a long while, the same can also be said of tempers. Last fortnight, the two-month-old agitation in this backward, mountainous region was suspended following talks between three ministers of the state government of Jammu and Kashmir and the all-party action committee which had been managing the stir.Though the people of Ladakh have since long harboured a deep resentment over the alleged discrimination against this region, the demonstration of discontent so far had been more or less sporadic and unobtrusive. But, the formation of the action committee changed that.The genesis of the recent trouble, however, was not allocation of funds but another matter altogether. It was the bifurcation of the composite district of Ladakh into Leh and Kargil districts. According to the last census, the population of Leh is 51,000 and that of Kargil, 53,000. Buddhists form 86 per cent of the Leh population and Muslims, 80 per cent of the Kargil population. Zanskar tehsil, which is part of Kargil, is predominantly Buddhist. The motive of creating Kargil district is suspect in the eyes of the Leh people. They say that this has been done to cause communal and regional rivalries so that the ruling National Conference can spread its wings in Ladakh where Congress(I) supporters are in a majority.Violence: With the creation of Kargil district, the demand for a separate division for Ladakh, currently part of Kashmir division, is being strongly pressed. It is odd that the state Government found incongruity in keeping Kargil as part of Ladakh district but none in keeping Ladakh as part of Kashmir division. Other demands of the all-party action committee include a judicial probe into firing in Zanskar in September, end of discrimination against Ladakhis in employment and education, a say in policy making at the highest level, and the declaration of Ladakh as a Scheduled Tribe area.With the formation of the committee there were continuous, and at times violent, demonstrations. All 14 members of the Leh District Development Board resigned. There was a series of demonstrations in Leh in December, some marked by clashes with the police. But it was the action on December 28 that really jolted the state Government out of its complacency.There was large-scale violence and arson in Leh and some other areas. The police made lathi charges, burst tear-gas shells and fired in the air to disperse Congress (I)-led demonstrators. About 200 people were reported injured, some government buildings were set afire and a large number of people were arrested.Kushak Bakula, a father-figure of the Ladakhis for nearly three decades, and chairman of the committee, immediately sent an emissary to New Delhi to ask Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to halt the "repression". It was pointed out that the state Government's "hostile" attitude sprang from the fact that the Ladakhis had voted against Chief Minister Sheikh Abdullah's party in the last parliamentary elections.In Jammu, as a new year gesture, the Sheikh announced the setting up of a subcommittee of three ministers to hold talks in Leh. He was reported to have said that he was ready to follow Mrs Gandhi's advice on the demands. He also remarked that the region's backwardness had always been recognised and that the per capita allocation of funds was twice as much as for the rest of the state.Allocations: In the matter of allocations, state Government officials cite the Sikri Commission report which absolved it of the charge of regional discrimination. But agitation leaders hold that the state gets funds on the basis of area and backwardness, but disburses them on the basis of population. Even on the basis of population, they complain, no account is taken of the 1,300 people of the area liberated from Pakistan in the 1971 war, and of 4,000 Tibetan refugees. This certainly makes sense considering Ladakh has a density of less than two people per sq km.Bakula: Call for an end to 'repression'In the first two five-year plans, there was no separate allocation for Ladakh. In the Third Plan, the allocation was Rs 1.43 crore, and in the Fourth, Rs 6 crore. In the Fifth Plan the allocation was Rs 18 crore but only Rs 13.55 crore was spent. Now in the Sixth Plan, Rs 44 crore has been set aside. But Ladakhi leaders have pointed out that in the Fifth Plan Rs 12.50 crore was meant for the completion of the Stakna hydel project, leaving very little for other developmental work. "And even these meagre funds are being left unutilised," asserted one of them. The Stakna project, which was undertaken in the Fourth Plan, was estimated to cost Rs 2.8 crore but the cost of the still incomplete project has now shot up to Rs 22 crore. Ironically, the project is to produce just 4 MW of electricity.Backward: The state is also feeling its way around uncertainly with the Rs 10-crore desert development programme for Ladakh started during the Fifth Plan. And from the look of things now, the prospects of quick and effective results look doubtful.Today, the region appears to be some lost kingdom which has been bypassed by progress. Electricity is available only in the towns of Leh and Kargil and in 18 of 238 villages. This is possible because of diesel generators - and only for about three hours in the evening. Because of the altitude, terrain and climate, though 78 per cent of Ladakhis are cultivators, only 0.6 per cent of the total area is cultivated.Medical facilities are negligible. There are just three medical centres, six sub-centres and 32 dispensaries in the entire region - and even these are poorly staffed. Industry is almost non-existent. There are less than a dozen small-scale industrial units as compared to over 5,200 in the rest of the state.Moreover, in spite of much talk over the years, Ladakh is yet to get a college for general education.The resentment at neglect is perhaps understandable, and it is even more disturbing because of the sensitivity of the region. lying as it does adjacent to China and Pakistan. The point to remember while considering the Ladakh question is perhaps not only of party politics and development, but also of national defence.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 28, 2013 09:40 IST--- ENDS ---

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Trouble brews over bifurcation of Ladakh into Leh and Kargil districts

With the creation of Kargil district, the demand for a separate division for Ladakh, currently part of Kashmir division, is being strongly pressed.

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