SRINAGAR: After the government in Ladakh decided to prevent the protest march, Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Sonman Wangchul have decided to call off the Sunday Pashmina March. It was supposed to go to the Sino-Indian borders in the Chnagthang belt.
In a post on X, Wangchuk said the people of Ladakh have been fasting in protest for the last 32 days using the most peaceful ways of prayers and fasts.
“The purpose of the Pashmina March was to highlight the plight of the Changpa nomadic tribes who are losing thousands of sq kms of their land due to Chinese incursion in the north and our own corporates in the south,” he said. “This purpose seems already fulfilled even before the March began due to the suppression attempts & overreaction of the Government with the imposition of Section 144, curtailment of internet and restrictions on movement by turning Leh into a war-like zone with armed barricades on all roads leading to Leh city.”
Under these circumstances, Wangchuk said the chances of violence are very high, which could then be used to lable this peaceful movement anti-national. “In view of these developments and the fact that the whole nation now knows about the reality of our pasturelands at the borders, the leaders of the Apex Body today decided to call off the Pashmina March on 7th April.” However, the ongoing peaceful fast will continue.
In a bid to prevent the march, the Ladakh administration had announced prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in Leh to disallow any assembly without permission, curtailed internet speed and rounded up supporters of Wangchuk.
Santosh Sukhdeva, the District Magistrate Leh, citing reliable inputs of apprehension of a breach of peace and public tranquillity in the district, ordered that any breach of peace, disturbance to public tranquillity and danger to human life should be immediately prevented.
