Ladakh statehood row | Sonam Wangchuk's 'provocative statements' instigated violence: Centre

New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday put the blame on climate activist Sonam Wangchuk for the violence in Ladakh, claiming that he was misleading people through “provocative mention” of Arab Spring-style protest and “references to Gen Z protests in Nepal”.

It said the mob was incited by his statements while on a hunger strike demanding statehood and constitutional safeguards for the union territory.

The statement came after four people were killed in police firing and 60 others were injured in protests.

"The demands on which Wangchuk was on hunger strike are an integral part of the discussion in HPC. In spite of many leaders urging to call off the hunger strike he continued with the hunger strike and misleading the people through provocative mention of Arab Spring-style protest and references to Gen Z protests in Nepal," said a late night statement by the MHA.

It also added that the government stands committed to the aspiration of people of Ladakh by providing adequate constitutional safeguards while requesting people not to circulate the old and provocative videos in the media and social media.

The MHA also said the next meeting of the High-Powered Committee has been scheduled on October 6 while meetings are also planned on September 25-26 with the leaders from Ladakh.

The MHA said that following Wangchuk's "provocative" speeches a mob left the protest venue at 11:30 AM and attacked a political party office as well as Government office of the CEC Leh.

"They also put these offices on fire, attacked the security personnel, and torched a police vehicle. The unruly mob attacked the police personnel in which more than 30 police/CRPF personnel were injured. The mob continued to destroy the public property and attack the police personnel. In self-defence, police had to resort to firing in which unfortunately some casualties are reported," it said.

"Barring unfortunate incidents that happened early in the day, the situation is brought under control by 4PM. It is clear that the mob was incited by Shri Sonam Wangchuk through his provocative statements. Incidentally, amidst these violent developments, he broke his fast and left for his village in an ambulance without making serious efforts to control the situation," it said.

The MHA said Wangchuk started his hunger strike on September 10 demanding inclusion of Ladakh in Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and granting it statehood.

It said it is well known that the union government has been actively engaged with Apex Body Leh and Kargil Democratic Alliance on the same issues. A series of meetings were held with them through the formal channel of the High-Powered Committee as well as sub-committee and multiple informal meetings with leaders, the statement said.

"The process of dialogue through this mechanism has yielded phenomenal results by increasing reservations for Ladakh scheduled tribes from 45% to 84%, providing 1/3rd women reservations in the councils and declaring Bhoti and Purgi as official languages. With this, a process for recruitment of 1800 posts was also commenced. However, certain politically motivated individuals who were not happy with the progress made under HPC have been trying to sabotage the dialogue process," it said.