At least four people were killed and dozens injured in India’s Himalayan region of Ladakh on Wednesday as protesters demanding statehood for the federal territory and job quotas for local residents clashed with police, two sources said.
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The Buddhist-Muslim enclave lost its autonomy in 2019 when it was carved out of Jammu and Kashmir state by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and placed under the direct administration of New Delhi. Protesters, led by activist Sonam Wangchuk, also want Ladakh to be given special status that would allow the creation of elected local bodies to protect its tribal areas.
“During this violence, 2-3 of our youth have died for our cause … I want to reassure the people of Ladakh that we will not let the sacrifices of these youth go to waste … We will keep trying to get our demands fulfilled,” said Thupstan Tswang, Chairman of Leh Apex Body.
The office of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in the main city of Leh was among the buildings vandalised and set on fire, according to the ANI news agency. ANI visuals showed black smoke emanating from behind the office complex’s boundary wall and elsewhere, hundreds of people chanted slogans.
Indian TV channels showed an abandoned police vehicle with flames emanating from its front. Local media reports said some young protesters pelted stones at police and tear gas was used to disperse them.
More than 50 people, including 20 police personnel, were injured, a police source said. “It was the frustration of the youth … that brought them to the streets … I appeal to the youth … do not walk on this path of violence,” said Wangchuk, who called off his fortnight-long hunger strike after the violence.
“This is not a solution to Ladakh’s problem … If our youth have sorrow and pain that we are on hunger strike, then we are breaking our hunger strike from today.”