India imposes curfew in Ladakh after violent statehood protests

LADAKH, Sept 25 (Reuters): Indian security forces have imposed a curfew in Leh, the capital of the Himalayan region of Ladakh, after at least four people were killed in violent clashes between police and protesters demanding statehood for the federal territory.

Dozens were also injured and an office of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) set on fire in the unrest on Wednesday.

The government blamed activist Sonam Wangchuk, who's been leading protests, of fomenting violence, a claim he denies.

A mountainous desert with a Muslim-Buddhist population, Ladakh lost its semi-autonomy in 2019 when the BJP government split it from the former Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir, imposing direct rule on both.

Ladakh has a population of about 300,000 people and borders China and Pakistan. The Leh region - where the violence broke out - is dominated by the Buddhist community, who for decades have demanded a separate region for its people. Meanwhile, the Muslim-majority Kargil district had historically wanted to be integrated with Indian-administered Kashmir.

But since 2019, both communities have joined together in demanding the restoration of statehood for Ladakh, along with greater autonomy which would give them job and land quotas.

Television images showed troop patrols amid shops and businesses shuttered amid the curfew and a protest call against the deaths from the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), which represents political, social and trade groups in the region.

"I demand a fair, impartial and time-bound investigation into the deaths of our students," Mohmad Haneefa, the member of parliament from Ladakh, said on X.

He also called for relief to the bereaved families and for those responsible for the deaths to be held to account. Damaged cars with shattered windows were still parked by the sides of roads in Leh on Thursday.

The Buddhist-Muslim enclave, bordering China, lost its autonomy in 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government carved it out of the state of Jammu and Kashmir to be placed under the direct administration of New Delhi.

Leh and Muslim-majority Kargil, the site of military conflict between India and Pakistan in 1999, are the region's two most populous districts.

Protesters led by an activist, Sonam Wangchuk, also seek special status for Ladakh to allow the setting-up of elected local bodies to protect its tribal areas.

Police had to resort to firing, leading to reports of casualties, India's home (interior) ministry said on Wednesday, after a mob attacked the office of a political party and set ablaze a police vehicle and the office of the Leh chief executive councillor.

KDA legal adviser Haji Ghulam Mustafa condemned Wednesday's violence, saying protests in Ladakh over the last five years had always been peaceful.

"I do not understand who gave the orders to shoot," he told the ANI news agency, in which Reuters has a minority stake.

Six among the 80 injured in clashes were in critical condition and police arrested more than 50 over the violence, said a police official who sought anonymity in the absence of authorisation to speak to the media.

In its statement, the interior ministry said the protests, which injured more than 30 police officers, were triggered by "provocative" speeches by Wangchuk.