SRINAGAR, India (AP) 鈥 Thousands of people in the remote region of Ladakh have been protesting for over two weeks in freezing temperatures, demanding constitutional provisions from the Indian government to protect their territory's fragile ecology and to have autonomy over land and agriculture decisions.
Nestled between India, Pakistan and China, Ladakh has faced territorial disputes and suffered the effects of climate change. Shifting weather patterns in the altered people鈥檚 lives through , and .
Top is taking part in the demonstrations in the town of Leh. He has been on a fast, since the protests started on March 6, in the open in sub-zero temperatures and surviving only on salt and water.
Wangchuk, also an engineer working on solutions for sustainability at his Himalayan Institute of Alternative Ladakh, has called his protest a鈥渃limate fast.鈥
鈥淲e're already facing climate disaster and these glaciers and mountains will be destroyed if there is not a check on unbridled industrial development and military maneuvers鈥 in the region, Wangchuk told The Associated Press Sunday.
Ladakh鈥檚 thousands of glaciers, which helped dub the rugged region one of the 鈥渨ater towers of the world,鈥 are receding at an alarming rate, threatening the water supply of millions of people. The melting has been exacerbated by an increase in local pollution that has worsened due to the region鈥檚 militarization, further intensified by the deadly military standoff between India and China since 2020.
He also said Ladakh critically needs ecological protection because "it's not just a local disaster in (the) making but an international one as these mountains are part of Greater Himalayas intricately linked to over two billion people and multiple countries.鈥
Wangchuk said the Ladakh nomads were also losing prime pastureland to huge Indian industrial plans and Chinese encroachment. The region鈥檚 shepherds complain that Chinese soldiers have captured multiple pasturelands and restricted them from grazing their herds.
The shepherds and Wangchuk are planning to march to the Chinese border later this month to underscore what they say is Beijing鈥檚 land grab attempts in Ladakh to gain territory.
In August 2019, after New Delhi stripped the disputed region of its statehood and semi-autonomy.
While restive Kashmir has largely been silenced through a and slew of , demands for political rights in Ladakh have intensified with demands of statehood with local legislature to frame their own laws on land and agriculture. The region鈥檚 representatives have held several rounds of talks with Indian officials, including with the powerful Home Minister Amit Shah earlier this month, without any results.
鈥淭his government likes to call India the 鈥楳other of Democracy鈥,鈥 Wangchuk recently posted on X, formerly Twitter. 鈥淏ut if India denies democratic rights to people of Ladakh & continues to keep it under bureaucrats controlled from New Delhi then it could only be called a Stepmother of Democracy as far as Ladakh is concerned.鈥
