As the Ministry of Home Affairs braces for a fresh round of dialogue with the Ladakhi leadership towards the end of this months, the Voice of Buddhists of Ladakh (VBL) has once again reiterated its demand for due attention to the Union Territory’s majority community.
In a 22-point memorandum sent to the Home Minister Amit Shah, the VBL has thoroughly critiqued the dialogue process, the current representation pattern and the draft proposal submitted by the Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance.
The new organisation that seeks centrality of the Buddhist community in future of Ladakh, said that it has nothing against the leadership of the Apex or KDA as it only wants fair representation and a pragmatic solution.
“We note that the present composition of the HPC does not!provide balanced and adequate representation to the different Buddhist sects, especially
when compared with the manner in which diverse Muslim groups have been represented. We therefore call for a critical review of the composition and working methods of the HPC, to ensure that all major Buddhist sects, as well as other key stakeholders, are given fair
and meaningful representation and space in deliberations relating to Ladakh’s future”, says the VBL memorandum.
The VBL further alleged that the Buddhist leaders and institutions in Leh are being unfairly targeted while similar demands are not made in Kargil. In this context, the memorandum said, “The leaders and institutions in Leh, who are Buddhist or representing the Buddhist community, are being systematically and unfairly targeted and obliterated. In the past, the
APEX and KDA constantly questioned and targeted Buddhist leaders on various occasions, however, now the leaders such as current MP are not subjected to same measure, pressure and accountability.
The LAHDC Leh has faced demands for dissolution, special resolutions, request to dissolve, and request to join formal protests as LAHDC. However, similar pressures are not applied to the Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC Kargil). Leh today stand with no LAHDC.”
The memorandum further said, “recently, political parties based in Leh have been asked to dissolve, yet there has been no
call for the dissolution of Kargil-based parties. While APEX leaders have raised objections against the Ladakh Buddhist Voice formation, there have been no objections to Kargil or other communities that have multiple voices. The Buddhist community in Leh are today voiceless in terms of its leader and institutions.
We support APEX in utilizing various strategies and pressure tactics to secure safeguards for Ladakh, but the selective targeting of Leh and Buddhist voices is completely unacceptable”.
The VBL asserted that they respect and trust the leadership of Thupstan Chhewang. It said in the memorandum: “we wish to clearly state that we do not doubt the personal integrity of Shri Thupstan Chewang. Our critique is institutional in nature and directed at the functioning of the APEX as an
institution, not at any individual. We therefore believe that Shri Thupstan Chewang should be given a free hand to take decisions, in the larger interest of Ladakh and its people.”
