With talks between the Leh Apex Body and a Ministry of Home Affairs sub-committee scheduled for 15 October, the LAB indicated that residents of Ladakh stood ready to mobilise in protest should the central government arrive at the table without a draft outlining an elected governance structure and constitutional protections for the region under Article 371.
Chering Dorjay Lakrook, co-convenor of the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and a former minister, said the next round of dialogue between the central government's sub-committee and the two civil society groups — the LAB and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) — is scheduled for 4 pm on 15 October in Leh, marking what would be the fifth such meeting in an ongoing process through which both bodies have been pressing for an elected governance framework in Ladakh along with constitutional protections under Article 371. He added that the LAB anticipates receiving a draft proposal at that session that would outline what concessions or arrangements might be extended to them, and that the body intends to present its own demands in written form once those details are made available.
Negotiations are unfolding against a backdrop of unresolved grievances tied to events on 24 September of the prior year, when violence left four people dead — among them a former soldier — and put more than 80 others in hospital. Over the past several months, charges against a number of people detained in connection with violent incidents have been dropped, while financial support has been extended to the families of those who died and to those left with injuries.
A governance arrangement put forward by the Ladakh administration after the September 9 meeting would place the Himalayan territory outside both full statehood and legislature-bearing union territory status, instead establishing what officials described as a "sui generis" model — a category distinct enough to require both a constitutional amendment and a vote in Parliament.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had also directed questions to representatives of the LAB and the KDA — two bodies pressing for an elected governance structure in Ladakh — with Lakrook noting that the ministry's queries centred on what title the proposed head of governance would carry, along with a handful of other procedural points about the governance framework. Repeating his earlier position, he stressed that the Centre needed to bring its proposal to the table at the meeting, and that any continued postponement risked undermining confidence among the public.
A draft proposal — covering constitutional safeguards under Article 371K — is scheduled for presentation by the MHA's sub-committee when members convene on 15 October.
Lakrook also drew attention to other demands put forward by residents of Ladakh, among them a call for accountability over four deaths attributed to police gunfire, while noting that although the administration has been dropping certain cases in stages, it appears to be doing so selectively — with cases involving Congress and LBA political activists reportedly left untouched. He noted that while a number of political activists had been released on bail, conditions remained attached to that freedom and their legal proceedings had yet to be dropped.
He also drew attention to the fact that the kin of the four men killed by police fire had yet to accept the ₹15 lakh compensation offered by the administration, and put forward the question of why a ₹1 crore threshold — one applied elsewhere in the country in matters such as student deaths connected to the NEET paper leak — could not be extended equally to bereaved families in Ladakh, where the deaths arose from police action.
On 5 August 2019, the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir into two separate territories placed Ladakh under direct central administration, with no elected legislature attached to its new status. Calls for statehood and constitutional protections have continued to come from those in positions of leadership. A panel carrying considerable authority was assembled by the Ministry of Home Affairs that year, operating under Minister of State Nityanand Rai, with a remit spanning the area's cultural identity, linguistic concerns, and matters tied to strategic positioning.
