Congress Demands Judicial Probe After Four Youth Killed in Ladakh

In the shadow of the stark Himalayan peaks, Ladakh—a once-serene Union Territory carved from Jammu and Kashmir in 2019—has erupted into a cauldron of unrest, leaving four young lives lost and over 90 people wounded in a hail of police bullets. The tragedy unfolded on September 24, 2025, during a shutdown called by the Leh Apex Body (LAB) to press for long-pending demands: full statehood, inclusion under the Constitution's Sixth Schedule for tribal protections, job quotas for locals, and separate parliamentary seats for Leh and Kargil. What began as a peaceful demonstration against perceived betrayals by the central government spiraled into chaos near the BJP's Leh office, where protesters torched vehicles, pelted stones, and clashed with security forces in a desperate bid for dignity and autonomy.

The violence, now shrouded in accusations and counter-accusations, has ignited a fierce political storm. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh took to X (formerly Twitter) to amplify the party's outrage, highlighting a poignant letter from Ladakh Congress president and former minister Nawang Rigzin Jora to Lieutenant Governor Kavinder Gupta. "With a heavy heart and deep sorrow," Jora wrote, condemning both the protesters' turn to violence and the "harsh and repressive measures" by police, including lethal firing that he argued could have been averted with "more restraint, patience, and maturity." Demanding an immediate judicial inquiry, Jora insisted it was essential for "justice and fair play," especially as over 50 individuals, including youth and activists, remain detained amid whispers of a crackdown.

The BJP, however, has fired back with venom, pinning the blame squarely on Congress for orchestrating the mayhem. Party leaders, including IT cell head Amit Malviya, circulated photos and videos purporting to show a Congress councillor, Phuntsog Stanzin Tsepag, "leading the mob" in the frenzy—claims the opposition dismisses as fabricated smears designed to deflect from governmental failures. Ladakh's Lt Governor echoed this narrative, alleging a "conspiracy" inspired by youth-led upheavals in Nepal and Bangladesh, with climate activist Sonam Wangchuk at its epicenter. Wangchuk, who dramatically ended his 15-day hunger strike just as the clashes peaked, decried the government's "scapegoat tactic" in fingering him for provocation, insisting the outburst was a spontaneous "Gen Z revolution" born of frustration over unfulfilled promises. The Union Home Ministry, in a terse statement, defended the police action as "self-defense" against a "mob guided by provocative statements," while announcing fresh talks with LAB and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) leaders on October 6—yet another delay that protesters decry as too little, too late.

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Congress's media head Pawan Khera didn't hold back, lambasting BJP leaders, anchors, and social media influencers for peddling "defamatory" footage that misidentifies innocents and stokes social discord. "Instead of sensitively engaging with the betrayed people of Ladakh, the BJP and their minions are indulging in mudslinging to settle political scores," Khera fumed on X, vowing legal action against those fanning the flames. Jora robustly rebutted the smears, challenging the administration to prove any Congress hand in the incitement and contextualizing a September 23 press conference by a local councillor as "emotional rhetoric" amid the hospitalization of two hunger strikers from his area after a grueling 14-day fast. Even as curfews clamp down on Leh and Kargil, schools shutter for days, and an uneasy calm descends, voices like veteran Congress leader Karan Singh urge the Centre to heed the youth's "legitimate and just" cries for constitutional safeguards, warning that ignoring Ladakh's identity could fracture the fragile peace in this geopolitically sensitive borderland.

At its core, this bloodshed underscores a deeper malaise: Ladakh's transformation from a promised paradise of autonomy to a hotbed of alienation, where locals fear their land, jobs, and culture are slipping away to outsiders unchecked. The KDA has joined the chorus, calling for an impartial probe and an end to "witch-hunting," while opposition figures like Manish Tewari demand a "forensic examination" of how peaceful pleas morphed into mortal combat. As the death toll's grief grips families and the injured languish in hospitals, the judicial probe Congress champions could be the scalpel needed to dissect the truth—or just another bandage on a gaping wound. In Ladakh's frozen heights, the fight for statehood rages on, a stark reminder that unaddressed aspirations can ignite even the coldest terrains.

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