Arteev Sharma
Jammu: Leaders from Ladakh have reached New Delhi to attend a crucial meeting with the Ministry of Home Affairs scheduled for tomorrow, with the hope that at least one key demand from their four-point agenda—focused on recruitment and the establishment of a Public Service Commission (PSC) for the region—will be addressed.
The meeting is scheduled for 11.30 am in North Block, New Delhi and will be chaired by Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai. The meeting is expected to be attended by MHA’s top officials, including Home Secretary, Govind Mohan and Joint Secretary In-charge Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
“The last meeting of the High Powered Committee (HPC) was held on December 3, 2024 which remained inconclusive. The key area of discussions, inter-alia, will be recruitment, PSC and other related issues. We are hopeful that this demand (regarding jobs in gazetted and non-gazetted posts) is to be fulfilled after tomorrow’s meeting,” Chering Dorjay Lakrook, senior leader of Leh Apex Body (LAB) told The News Now from Delhi.
The veteran Buddhist leader said the LAB leaders had no meeting with the representatives from the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) today. “The agenda of the meeting is to be decided by the MHA. The leaders of LAB and KDA, who are part of the sub-committee (three each from LAB and (KDA), are meeting the MHA representatives, led by Nityanand Rai. We expect other major demands apart from recruitment and PSC will also come under discussions,” he said.
During the last meeting of HPC, it was decided that the local people of Ladakh would get 95 percent quota in all gazetted cadre posts of Ladakh.
The Sub-Committee members include Thupstan Chhewang, Chering Dorjay Lakrook and Nawang Rigzin Jora, all from LAB, and Qamar Ali Akhoon, Asgar Ali Karbalai, and Sajjad Kargili from KDA. Besides, Lok Sabha member from Ladakh Haji Haneefa Jan, CECs of Hill Councils for Leh and Kargil, and Advisor to Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Pawan Kotwal are also expected to attend the meeting.
Four point-agenda of LAB and KDA on which they have been agitating for quite a long time include Statehood and Sixth Schedule for Ladakh, exclusive Public Services Commission (PSC) and two separate Parliamentary seats for Ladakh.
Haji Haneefa Jan said, “The sub-committee meeting is in continuation to the HPC’s last meeting where all the issues taken up for discussions will be further deliberated to clear all technicalities and we are hopeful of positive outcome on at least one point related to recruitment and PSC for early start of recruitment process”.
“We are hoping that the meeting will be held in a cordial atmosphere so that all discussions will reach a positive outcome. The government has been quite positive concerning the aspirations of Ladakhi people, particularly youths,” Jan said.
Pertinently, the last HPC meeting was the tenth round of talks between Ladakhi leaders and the Centre since the region became a Union Territory in August 2019. Before that, the meeting was held in March 2023 which ended in a stalemate. Talks resumed following an MHA invitation on October 21, following a 16-day hunger strike by climate activist-cum education reformer, Sonam Wangchuk, demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule protections for Ladakh.
