Ladakh Admn asks Sonam Wangchuk to sign bond to remain silent, curtails his movements

‘I’m worse than house arrest; admin failed in 3 yrs’: Ladakhi innovator

Jammu, January 28: In a surprising move, the UT administration of Ladakh has asked Sonam Wangchuk, the Magsaysay Award recipient observing five-day fast demanding Ladakh’s inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the India Constitution, to sign a bond promising that he would not make any statements or participate in any public gatherings over recent happenings in Leh for at-least a month.
Wangchuk, an engineer-turned-educational reformer on the third of his “climate fast” amid minus 20 degree Celsius bone-chilling cold at Phyang in Leh, has been asked by authorities to provide an undertaking promising that he would not make any statements/comments or participate in gatherings over recent happenings in Leh.
He claimed that “he was under house arrest and his movement has been curtailed” because he has highlighted that the UT administration has “miserably failed on all fronts during the last three years”.
The bond document provided by the administration and shared by Wangchuk on his Twitter handle, said these activities have the potential to endanger peace and tranquility in the district. “That I undertake that I will not make any comment(s) or issue statements(s) or make public speech(s)hold or participate in any public assembly(s)/any activity related to recent events in Leh district, at the present times, since it has the potential of endangering the peace and tranquility and law and order in the district or any part thereof for a period of one month (sic),” reads the bond.
The bond document further stated that he would not incite anti-government sloganeering/activity that would breach public peace and would carry out his fast in the area in which he has been given permission. “Any violation will attract legal action and he would be liable to pay a cash of Rs 1, 00,000 in cash of default or breach of this bond,” it said.
“They came to me yesterday and today and asked me to sign the bond, but I told them that I will consult my lawyers first. It is like a banana republic tactic to suppress our voices. Initially, the administration restricted my movement to prevent me from going to Khardung La pass, where I was planning to observe my climate fast. Now, I am under de-facto house arrest. It is worse than house arrest,” he said in a video on his twitter handle.

The Ladakhi innovator, whose life inspired Bollywood star Aamir Khan’s character in the film 3 Idiots in 2009, also minced no words to take on UT administration, saying “They promised Ladakhi people 12,000 jobs but only 800 jobs, that too, in the Police department have been filled. The police jobs have been filled to suppress the voice of Ladakhi people”.

“No policy has been framed in the last three years. Budget has gone up to Rs 6,000 crore but funds have been lapsing because these have been kept at the disposal of only one person, Lieutenant Governor. The UT administration is quite slow in utilizing these funds,” he said, adding that the demand for inclusion of Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule of Constitution is genuine and all political parties, despite ideological differences, are in favour of it.

Wangchuk has started his fast at a time when two frontline organizations—Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance from Ladakh have refused to participate in proceedings of a high-level panel constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs to discuss job and land safeguards for the region.

The bodies have said their demands of statehood Ladakh and constitutional safeguards under the Sixth Schedule have not been included in the panel’s agenda.

Pertinently, Wangchuk had made a video appeal from Khardung La pass to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider safeguards for Ladakh’s mountains and its people under the Sixth Schedule. He had said that the government should fulfil the promises and commitments made to Ladakhis who are now demanding full-fledged statehood for the region.

Updated On 1/29/2023 1:51:44 AM