Kargil unites against ‘step motherly’ treatment

Despite the J&K governor-led administration constituting a committee to look into the demands of people of Kargil to establish headquarters for the newly established Ladakh division on rotation basis, shut down in frontier district entered the fifth day on Wednesday.

The people in Kargil demand that the government relook at its decision of establishing divisional headquarters at Leh otherwise they will launch an agitation over this ‘step-motherly’ treatment.

J&K Legislative Council chairman, Haji Inayat Ali and Congress leader and former MLA, Kargil, Asgar Ali Karbalaie said that declaring Ladakh a separate division had been their long pending demand as the region was being ignored on various fronts, including education, economy and health.

“We welcome the decision that Ladakh has been declared the third division of Jammu and Kashmir but the government has completely neglected Kargil and has established the division headquarters at Leh only," they said.

The leaders added that stationing offices of the divisional commissioner and inspector general police at Leh permanently has not been in their demand and they had time and again urged the government that the headquarter be based on a rotational basis at Leh and Kargil.

On Wednesday, National Conference (NC) president and Member of Parliament, Farooq Abdullah slammed New Delhi and the governor-led administration for “denying people of Kargil their rightful share” in the newly constituted Ladakh division.

“People of Kargil are being punished only to pursue the agenda of divisive politics. All along it was decided that the division headquarter will be positioned on a rotational basis between Leh and Kargil and all the departments to be divided equally between the two districts. But the incumbent government issuing an SRO in favour of only one district has severely dented the genuine aspirations of people in Kargil and adjoining areas,” he said in a statement.

Supporting the demand of having a rotational division headquarters between Leh and Kargil, he said, “It’s imperative for the governor administration to concede to the rightful demands of Kargil and adjoining areas. I am therefore hopeful that the governor will issue a fresh SRO in this regard that will satisfy the genuine demands of the whole region.”

“The measure is a mere delaying tactic. The governor’s administration didn’t feel need to consult anybody in granting divisional status and why a committee now?,” PDP MLA Naeem Akhtar said about the constitution of a committee by the governor’s administration.

“The committee of secretaries (formed by the governor) doesn't have a laboratory where they can find a solution to provide justice to the people of Kargil. The only solution for this is to make the divisional office rotational like it is for Jammu and Kashmir regions. The government should take the cue from history and resolve this dispute and provide justice to the people of Kargil,” he said.