Despite feelers from Centre, Ladakhi groups to hold protest at Jantar Mantar today [details]

Even as some envoys of the Union Government have contacted enraged groups to start a dialogue, the agitating leaders of two frontline organizations—Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) and Leh Apex Body (LAB)—have decided to hold a strong protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on February 15 as part of their scheduled "Delhi Chalo" call.

The KDA and the LAB have been spearheading the agitation in support of their four major demands including full-fledged statehood for Ladakh, implementation of the Sixth Schedule to protect the interest of the tribal people of Ladakh, separate Lok Sabha seats for Kargil and Leh, and establishment of Ladakh Public Service Commission with the Ladakh Resident Certificate (LRC) as a mandatory requirement for all Gazetted Posts in Ladakh.

"Our protest will be held at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday as per the already announced schedule. There is no change in our programme", Tsering Dhorjey, former minister and one of the members of the Leh Apex Body told The International Bussiness Times.

"We are mobilizing support for Wednesday's protest by involving students and social activists of Ladakh residing in Delhi", he said.
"We have already lodged our protest to the Centre against the decision of constituting the High Powered Committee (HPC), unilaterally", he said.

Govt sent feelers to warring groups to start a dialogue process

Tsering Dhorjey, who was a minister from BJP quota in the PDP-BJP regime in the erstwhile state of J&K, disclosed that the Centre has sent some feelers to start a dialogue.

"We are not averse to holding talks. Dialogue is the only and ultimate means to solve all issues. We will hold dialogue with the government but the final decision in this regard will be taken only after Wednesday's protest", he said.

Sources said that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), in order to avoid any confrontation with the groups from Ladakh, has been exploring all options to keep dialogue channels open.

"The Centre is contemplating to fulfill two major demands of the protesting groups comprising alternation in the list of members of HPC besides bringing a change in agenda for the dialogue as demanded by KDA and LAB. Both groups want inclusion of all their four major demands in their agenda for talks," sources said, adding "the MHA is likely to come out with revised HPC in next few days".