Why has Sonam Wangchuk suspended his Pashmina March again?

Two days after he announced “Pashmina March 2” by a “small number of people” for a “week to 10 days” beginning April 17, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk has announced that “Ladakh’s Pashmina March” has been “suspended again”.

Wangchuk, who held a protest fast for 21 days in March seeking protection for the fragile ecology and local culture of Ladakh, had first announced a Pashmina March to Changthang on the border with China on April 7, but had subsequently called it off citing the “risk of potential violence”.

Here’s the story of Sonam Wangchuk and his activism in Ladakh.

Who is Wangchuk, and why is he protesting?

Wangchuk is an environmentalist, scientist, and innovator from Leh, who has raised concerns around ecological issues in Ladakh for the last three decades. Over the years, he has been the recipient of a large number of honours in India and abroad, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2018.

On March 6, two days after talks between the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and a High Powered Committee (HPC) from Ladakh reached an impasse, Wangchuk, along with some others, began a protest fast in Leh.

For 21 days, he survived only on water and salt, and slept outdoors in below-freezing-point temperatures. The fast, Wangchuk said, was his homage to the three longest fasts undertaken by Mahatma Gandhi for 21 days each in 1924, 1933, and 1943.

Wangchuk is demanding the inclusion of Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, which provides for special provisions for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram, to help protect the fragile environment and culture of the Union Territory.

In daily video messages, Wangchuk has been repeating that protections under the Sixth Schedule were an election promise that the BJP made in 2019, and the Government of India has to keep its word. He has also included the “restoration of democracy” among the legitimate demands and aspirations of the region.

Also in Explained | Sonam Wangchuck on fast: Why the Ladakh-based engineer is protesting

What is the Pashmina March that Wangchuk wants to hold?

The Pashmina March is intended to spotlight the loss of grazing pastures for shepherds in the Leh region. According to Wangchuk, the shepherds who have traditionally reared the famed Pashmina goats for the expensive and highly sought-after wool the animals produce, have been losing pastures over the last few years.

According to Wangchuk, there are two main reasons for this. One, the loss of land to corporations (he does not name any) for setting up large industrial units or solar plants; and two, the activities of the Chinese along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Wangchuck says that over the last four years, shepherds have on several occasions run into Chinese soldiers who do not allow them to go beyond a certain point into the grounds where they have traditionally taken their goats to graze. These new boundaries that the Chinese have been enforcing are several kilometres inside the territories where the shepherds have for long taken their animals, he says.

The Indian and Chinese armies have been facing off along the Line of Control in eastern Ladakh since the deadly clash in Galwan in May 2020. In an interview given to Newsweek magazine earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India and China must “urgently address the prolonged situation” on the border to overcome “the abnormality in our bilateral interactions”.

Wangchuk had planned his Pashmina March along with leaders of shepherding communities and “at least 10,000 people” to show how much land had been lost following the standoff.

What are the other reasons for the Ladakhis’ protests in and outside the region?

Immediately after the constitutional changes of August 2019 by which the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was revoked and the erstwhile state was split into two UTs, there was happiness in Leh since the region had been demanding UT status and separation from the administrative set up of J&K. Sonam Wangchuk was among those who voiced their joy.

However, as the new set-up under the Lieutenant Governor began to take shape in Ladakh, Ladakhis began to feel the loss of significant powers of the autonomous hill development councils, and the shortage of jobs after being delinked from the J&K recruitment boards. Wangchuk’s protests have added the issues of land loss due to the Chinese aggression and apprehensions of a corporate takeover to this existing disquiet.

What is the High Powered Committee (HPC) involved in the negotiations on these issues?

In Kargil district, which has almost always aligned itself with J&K, protests began almost immediately after the changes of August 5, 2019. After the unhappiness in Leh too took root, both these regions of Ladakh came together to form two pressure groups — Apex Body Leh (ABL) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA). Both ABL and KDA are joint platforms of social, political, and religious bodies in Leh and Kargil, and enjoy a lot of support from the people of the region.

The HPC was constituted by the MHA to address the concerns of Ladakhis after their protests began to echo in Jammu and eventually in New Delhi. Spearheaded by the ABL and KDA, Ladakhis sought protections for their land, jobs, and culture, and sought to elect their own representatives as a full state.

After more than 10 months of back-channel negotiations, in November 2023, the MHA issued an order constituting the 15-member HPC, chaired by MoS for Home Nityanand Rai. The HPC was supposed to discuss measures to protect Ladakh’s “unique culture and language”, considering its geographical location and strategic importance. Its mandate included “ensuring the protection of land and employment for the people of Ladakh”.

Also in Explained | Ladakh, Article 371, and the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution

What happens now?

On March 4, the fourth round of discussions ended inconclusively. On March 26, while ending his 21-day fast, Wangchuk said that the Prime Minister and Home Minister would have to be “statesmen”, and show “some character and far-sightedness.”

To stop the April 7 Pashmina March, the Ladakh administration imposed Section 144 CrPC and put curbs on the Internet. Wangchuk alleged that some people were detained overnight, and called off the march.

On April 14, Wangchuk announced a second attempt at the Pashmina March. However, this too has been suspended, allegedly after “pressure from the administration”. Wangchuk has said that permission was given for only a single day’s march, and only as far the Indian Army allows.

“They have told us that if we make attempts to go toward the China border, they will impose section 144 for two months and that will affect tourism in the area. We have our answer. In any other country where the government was interested in clearing the confusion around the situation at the border, they would have allowed us,” he said.

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