After the Indian government stripped away statehood from disputed Kashmir, new tensions are brewing in Ladakh, a remote and picturesque part of that territory that borders China. There are fears of land grabs by outsiders and widespread anxiety.
n this Sept. 12, 2019, photo, cars are parked in Leh, a town in India’s Ladakh district, which is part of the Himalayan region of Kashmir. Nearly two months after the Indian government stripped away statehood from Kashmir, new tensions are brewing in Ladakh, a remote and picturesque area that borders China.
Tensions also have existed for years in the Ladakh region in northeastern Kashmir, which is further divided administratively into the Leh district, which is predominantly Buddhist, and the Kargil district, which is mostly Muslim. There also have been occasional border skirmishes between India and China.
For decades, Buddhist leaders complained that Muslims controlled funds and jobs allotted by the central government. Those demands gathered momentum in the late 1980s when an insurgency against Indian rule broke out in Kashmir. Their concerns spread beyond political and religious issues. About 370,000 foreign and domestic tourists visited Leh last year. By the end of this year’s peak season in August, however, the region recorded fewer than 200,000 tourists.
The region is also home to world’s highest battlefield: the icy expanse of the Siachen Glacier, where thousands of troops from India and Pakistan are stationed at elevations of up to 6,700 meters . More soldiers have died there from the harsh weather than combat. Wangchuk, who is influential among local civil society and policy circles, said his group sent five teams to parts of India that already enjoy protected status to study successful administrative models.
About a dozen people interviewed by The Associated Press said officials had threatened local politicians, religious leaders and activists with being charged under the Public Safety Act that could mean imprisonment for up to two years without trial.
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