MHA To Resume Talks With Ladakh Bodies After Impasse, Stakeholders Describe It 'Too Late'

Srinagar: The Ministry of Home Affairs' (MHA) High-Powered Committee (HPC) on Ladakh has decided to resume talks with the representatives of the cold desert in the last week of this month. This will be the region's first engagement with the Centre since the unrest that saw four killings and 90 wounded in clashes in September.

An official communication from the MHA to Chief Secretary Ladakh Union Territory said the HPC meeting would be held in the “last part of January 2026”. “It is requested to consult the members of the HPC for their convenient set of dates and inform this Ministry,” said the official letter.

The HPC led by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai was set up in 2023 with a mandate to hold talks with leaders of Ladakh’s two key bodies, including the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), to discuss the key demands. The last HPC convened in May 2025, while another scheduled meeting for October could not take place after Ladakh bodies refused to engage until their demands, including a judicial inquiry into the killings, were met.

The Committee member and chairman of the Leh Apex Body, Chering Dorjey Larkuk, said that they are ready to engage with the centre but called the meeting "too late", saying, "The centre is not following its commitment."

“It should have happened earlier. During our talks with the home ministry’s subcommittee in October 2025, we were told to submit a proposal of demands so that they can call the HPC in 2-3 days. But more than two months have passed, and they are yet to fix the date for the HPC meeting,” he told ETV Bharat.

The proposal demands, according to him, include statehood for Ladakh, inclusion under the Sixth Schedule and general amnesty for those booked during the violence in the region, and the release of environmentalist and innovator Sonam Wangchuk, detained under the National Security Act in Jodhpur jail. His detention is currently being challenged in the Supreme Court.

“Eighty people have been released on bail so far. But all of them are innocent people and have been booked on flimsy grounds. They should be given general amnesty. Many were picked up on the roads and were not part of the mob. All these cases should be withdrawn,” Dorjey added.

HPC member who represents KDA, Sajjad Kargili, said that they are ready to engage with the Centre and will talk about the arrest of Sonam Wangchuk and the compensation to locals affected during the unrest.

This comes amid the emergence of a newly formed group named ‘Voice of Buddhist Ladakh’ (VOB), claiming to represent the Buddhists of Leh opposing the statehood demand. They demanded that Ladakh be governed by a territorial council that can have powers to make laws for jobs and demographics, and has sought representation in the HPC.

But Dorjey described the VOB as a ‘self-styled group’ that lacks public representation. “LBA has been elected by the people. Tomorrow, anyone can come who wants inclusion in HPC. Read the comments on their social media, and you will come to know where they have come from,” he added.

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