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New Delhi : The Congress on Thursday demanded that the government should make public findings of the judicial inquiry into violence that erupted in Leh on September 24 last year, extend the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to Ladakh and establish full democratic institutions in the Union Territory.
Congress general secretary in-charge of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh Naseer Hussain said the Union government must engage with Ladakh sincerely and in good faith, instead of repeating the empty promise of “an appropriate time”.
“Ladakh has already waited seven years. We stand, without reservation, with the people of Ladakh in their continued, peaceful pursuit of justice and of their rightful place within our democracy,” Hussain said in a statement.
When Article 370 was abrogated and Ladakh was constituted as a Union Territory, its people were given clear and solemn assurances that remedial measures would follow to protect their interests, he said.
“Nearly seven years later, those assurances remain unfulfilled. A commitment repeatedly deferred, without a date, a bill, or a parliamentary session ever attached to it, is, in every practical sense, a commitment broken,” Hussain said.
“They have asked for inclusion under the Sixth Schedule, so that their land, livelihoods, fragile environment and distinct identity may enjoy genuine legal protection; for the restoration of full democratic institutions, including a legislature of their own; and for sincere dialogue with the Union Government, free of preconditions and further delay. Each of these demands has been met, in turn, with delay, deflection or force, and each remains as legitimate today as it was a year ago,” he said.
The government now cites the extension of Autonomous Hill Development Councils across all seven districts as evidence of democratic decentralisation, the Congress leader said.
The people of Ladakh are right to ask whether this measure genuinely empowers them, or merely fragments authority while the essential question of representation goes unanswered, he said.
The limited provisions of Article 371 and the expansion of Hill Councils are no substitute for the comprehensive protection of the Sixth Schedule, and they ought not to be presented to the people of Ladakh as such, he said.
“The continued denial of that protection represents a failure to honour the principles of federalism, a failure to uphold the rights of citizens in a strategically vital border region, and a failure to live up to the democratic ethos this nation rightly professes in every other context,” he said.
Listing the Congress’ demands, Hussain said publish the status and findings of the judicial inquiry into the killings; extend the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to Ladakh; to protect its land, jobs, fragile environment, culture and identity; and establish full democratic institutions in Ladakh, including a legislature chosen by its own people and answerable to them. (Agencies)
