As the Centre is groping for ways to solve the vexed Kashmir problem, the demand for union Territory status to Ladakh region of the state is gaining momentum with a frontline organisation of the province writing to Members of Parliament justifying the demand. Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA), which has been fighting for separation of the province from the rest of Jammu and Kashmir and making it a Union Territory since 1949, has cited the historical background of the mountain-locked region and instances of discrimination meted out by the Kashmiri rulers over the years. From the very outset, Ladakh's political merger with Jammu and Kashmir did not form any natural cohesion and proved to be a folly throughout, LBA said, adding the region is fundamentally different from Kashmir in all respects -culturally, ethnically and linguistically.
Over the years, the successive governments of the state (J&K) have adopted a policy of discrimination and subversion towards the (Ladakh) region with the sole objective of stifling its people and marginalising its historical, religious and cultural identity, The LBA alleges in a memorandum to the MPs. Charging that the degree of heterogeneity among the three regions - Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh - was very high not only in form but also in sharpness, LBA President Tsering Samphel has regretted that Ladakh's problems had never been analysed from a nationalistic and political perspective.
Bureau Report