‘Deprived of democracy’: Wangchuk says cancelled home ministry meeting has broken Ladakh’s trust

Sonam Wangchuk accuses the Centre of denying Ladakh democracy after a home ministry meeting was cancelled, saying leaders may take their demand for safeguards to the UN.

Activist Sonam Wangchuk on Thursday accused the Centre of keeping Ladakh “deprived of democracy” and treating it as a “controversial area” by keeping it a Union Territory without a legislature.

The statements came after a Union home ministry meeting scheduled for Thursday with Ladakh leaders in the national capital did not take place. Wangchuk said the cancellation, with no reason given, had prompted the region’s leadership to consider taking its case to the United Nations.

“We were told with complete determination that we will meet in Delhi on the 22nd of October,” Wangchuk told the media in New Delhi. “We made our plans and bought our tickets. Today I am here, and the meeting is not happening. The country should know how the hopes of Ladakh have been ruined again and again.”

The stalemate is the latest turn in a long dispute over Ladakh’s political future. The region has been a UT without an elected assembly since 2019, governed by a lieutenant governor. Talks with the home ministry resumed after violence and arrests in Leh on September 24, 2025, and Wangchuk said he spent six months in jail in Jodhpur. The Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) have since pressed for statehood or, failing that, a UT with a legislature and constitutional safeguards.

The government has not publicly explained why the October 22 meeting was called off, and its version was not available at the time of publication.

The talks between the government and leaders of the UT have gone through three rounds this year.