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| Opposition in Kashmir to University of Ladakh in Leh will further alienate Buddhists | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Dec 20: It was on November 1, 2018 that the Ladakhi students held demonstrations in Leh and Jammu to persuade the government to set up a separate full-fledged University in Ladakh. Days later on November 5, they held protest at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, for the same purpose. The protests were a massive affair. Their upshot was that Kashmir had 7 Universities and Jammu too have a number of Universities, but Ladakh, the state's largest region, didn't have even one and as a result, the student community of the region had suffered during the past 70 years. They said that 15,000 students from Ladakh were studying in Jammu alone as their region didn't have a single institution of higher learning.
The All-Ladakh Student Association Jammu (ALSAJ) president Lobzang Norbo said: "More than 15,000 Ladakhi students are studying in Jammu due to lack of good educational facilities here in Ladakh and as a result students are facing various challenges and forced to stay away from home. There are 7 universities each in Kashmir and Jammu but Ladakh with a total area of 58 per cent of J&K's land area is left without any university".
The methodology the Ladakhi students adopted produced the desired result with the PM Narendera Modi regime sanctioning a separate university for Ladakh to be established at Leh, which would have jurisdiction over 5 colleges in the region, 3 in Kargil and 2 in Leh. It happened on December 15. 2 days later, the State Administrative Council under the chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal Malik approved the Bill for the establishment of the sanctioned university.
This step of the powers-that-be in the state and at the Centre should have been supported by one and all, but it was not to be. The people of Kargil were the first to raise a banner of revilt against the authorities. They opposed the Government's decision to set up headquarters of the University of Ladakh at Leh and demanded that the headquarters of the university should be established at Kargil and the Vice-Chancellor should stay at Kargil for 6 months and at Leh for 6 months.
As if all this was not enough to outrage the Buddhists of Leh district, Mehbooba Mufti's PDP and Farooq Abdullah's NC also took the plunge and joined hands against Leh to support the people of Kargil. None other than former CM Omar Abdullah and former PDP ministers Naeem Akhtar and Altaf Bukhari trained their guns at the administration and described its decision to set up University of Ladakh at Leh as divisive. "The administration is sowing seeds of discord and creating new faultlines in J&K," said the PDP. It also said that it was the prerogative of the democratically-elected government".
As for Omar Abdullah, he said: "I wholeheartedly support the demand of the people of Kargil. It's very important for the regime to balance the demands and requirements of Leh and Kargil. Failure to address the concerns…leads to alienation and anger. Kargil deserves justice".
The opposition in Kashmir to the decision to set up University of Ladakh at Leh has all the potential of further alienating the Ladakhi Buddhists, who have already been demanding separation from Kashmir since 1947 itself. |
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