Ladakh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) — the two key bodies from Ladakh engaged with the Centre — have urged the Chairperson, High-Powered Committee (HPC) for Ladakh, that no unilateral inclusion of external persons or organisations be undertaken in the HPC or sub-committee process.
They have also urged that the representative framework established under the 2023 Ministry of Home Affairs order be “strictly adhered to”.
The letter written by the two bodies on Friday to Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs, also the Chairperson of HPC, comes amidst the Union Home Ministry extending an invite to former Chairman/ Chief Executive Councillor, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh, and BJP leader Tashi Gyalson for the Friday’s sub-committee-level talks in New Delhi.
Former founding chairman of LAB Thupstan Chhewang, whose resignation was accepted by the apex body recently, was also invited on Friday even though his name wasn’t mentioned in the apex body representatives’ list shared with the Centre by the LAB for Friday’s meeting.
The letter stated that in 2023, the composition of the HPC was specifically designed to ensure structured dialogue between constitutionally and politically recognised stakeholders representing the Union Government, the Union Territory Administration, the Leh Apex Body (LAB), the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) and the democratically elected Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs) of Leh and Kargil.
It said, “There exists no provision in the 2023 MHA order authorising the unilateral inclusion of external persons, organisations or additional representatives outside the framework expressly notified by the ministry.”
“The representative balance embedded in the order constitutes the foundation of the legitimacy of the HPC process. Any alteration to such structure can only arise through prior consultation and mutual consent amongst all participating stakeholders. A unilateral expansion or restructuring of participation would fundamentally alter the representative character of the committee originally envisaged by the Ministry of Home Affairs,” it said.
The letter said with the term of LAHDC Leh expiring last year in October, the “participation in the HPC by persons claiming to represent expired democratic mandates would raise serious questions concerning representational legitimacy and democratic accountability.”
The continued absence of elections to the LAHDC “has therefore materially altered the representative basis upon which the original HPC structure rested.”
