Kargil Residents Brave Bone-Chilling Cold To Protest Centre's Ladakh Division Move
SRINAGAR: Creating a separate administrative division for Ladakh with its headquarters at Leh is backfiring on the centre. Two days after the government issued the controversial order, thousands of Kargil residents marched in the bone-chilling cold to demand that the decision be reviewed immediately. They have refused to be part of the newly created division unless there is six-month rotation of offices between Leh and Kargil.
According to the order, the administration has sanctioned the creation of a separate administrative and revenue division comprising Leh and Kargil districts with its headquarters at Leh. Ladakh was part of Kashmir division until now.
"Give it to Leh district if you want to, but then let Kargil remain part of Kashmir division. This is absolute injustice, and we will not accept this. The decision must be reviewed, and the headquarters should be on six-month rotation," said Feroz Ahmad Khan, Chief Executive Councillor of the Ladakh Area Hill Development Council, Kargil.
All elected leaders from Kargil, including Mr Khan, have threatened to resign if the order is not withdrawn. They claim that the demand for a separate Ladakh division had actually been made by the people of Kargil, and the government's decision to install the divisional headquarters at Leh was done with the aim of creating political strife in the region.
Meanwhile, largescale agitations are being taken out in Kargil, and temperatures as low as minus 21 degrees Celsius are doing little to deter them. All political, social and religious organisations in the region have called for a shutdown tomorrow, and threatened to launch an agitation if the decision is not reviewed.