Leh- The curfew continued for the third day on Friday in Leh town, and the District Magistrate of Kargil also imposed restrictions to maintain law and order. Meanwhile, a team of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials met with representatives of the Leh Apex body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA). The MHA cancelled the FCRA registration certificate of the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), founded by climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, as the ministry directly blamed him for instigating youth to violence in Leh town.

Ladakh, a high-altitude cold desert region in the Himalayas that has been at the heart of recent India-China tensions, was rocked on Wednesday by violent Gen Z-led protests as youth torched the regional office of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). For the past six years, thousands of people in Ladakh, led by local civic bodies, have taken out peaceful marches and gone on hunger strikes demanding greater constitutional safeguards and statehood from India, which has governed the region federally since 2019. They want the power to elect a local government.

Acting tough on anti-social elements and miscreants, Ladakh police have lodged multiple FIRs and detained over 50 rioters as the police decided action against those who instigated the violence in Leh town, resulting in four casualties, 90 injuries and damage to many buildings and vehicles, including BJP and Hill Council offices. A team of MHA officials held a meeting with the representatives of LAB and KDA in Leh on Thursday. Officials later said it was decided that a preparatory meeting with the Home Ministry will take place in New Delhi on September 27 or 28, subject to confirmation of date by the MHA.

The meeting will be attended by three representatives, each from the LAB and KDA, besides the Ladakh MP. “The preparatory meeting shall be followed by an immediate official meeting of the Home Ministry with a High Powered Committee comprising seven members, each from LAB and KDA on a four-point agenda,” a joint statement issued late Thursday evening by LAB leaders Thupstan Chhewang and Chering Dorjay said. Meanwhile, the bodies of four civilians killed in security force firing during violence in Leh were handed over to their families. They have been identified as Tsewang Tharchin, 46, of Skurbuchan, who had retired from Ladakh Scouts Regiment, Stanzin Namgayal, 24, a resident of Igoo, Jigmet Dorjay, who hails from Kharnakling and Rinchen Dadul, 21, a resident of Hanu.

Officials said a total of 90 persons were injured, seven of them seriously and 20 suffering from major trauma. One of the critically injured persons was airlifted to New Delhi through an Air Force aircraft on Thursday, while only 18 injured people are now admitted to the hospitals, including seven who underwent major surgeries. The district administration of Leh has ordered the closure of all government/private schools, Anganwadi Centres, colleges, coaching centres and other educational institutions within Leh district for two days, with effect from September 26.

Curfew continued in Leh for the third consecutive day with ITBP, CRPF and Ladakh Police patrolling the sensitive areas. Authorities are reportedly investigating the role of outsiders in the violence, including youth from Nepal and Doda, as some of them were among those injured. “What the Nepalese and Doda youth are doing with the mob is a matter of investigation. They will be taken into custody for questioning once they are declared fit for discharge by the doctors,” the officials said, adding there is definitely a conspiracy behind the arson and violence in Leh town. It is also being investigated from where the mob secured petrol bombs, which were used to set on fire the BJP and Hill Council offices and many vehicles, including those belonging to security forces.

The MHA and the UT administration have decided to act tough with those who indulged in violence and those who provoked and instigated the violence. Some of them could be booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA). Multiple FIRs have already been registered at the Leh police station for the violence. Besides Sonam Wangchuk, who has been directly blamed by the MHA for instigating violence, two Congress councillors are also under police scanner. To prevent the escalation of unrest, strict prohibitory restrictions banning the assembly of five or more people were also placed in other major towns, including Kargil, where the KDA had called a parallel shutdown. District Magistrate Kargil has issued prohibitory orders under section 163 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, banning unauthorised processions and public statements likely to disturb peace. (IANS)