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Buddhists seek more seats in Kargil council

By Our Staff Reporter

Jammu May 25. The Buddhists in Ladakh have stepped up their demand for increased representation in the proposed autonomous hill council for Kargil district to be set up in a month.

It is being constituted on the pattern of the Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC). The LAHDC was set up in 1995 during the Prime Ministership of P.V.Narasimha Rao and was recently empowered by the Mufti Government, giving more powers to the councils and the status of Cabinet Minister for its chairman, Thupsthan Chewang. The Mufti Government had to relent when its chairman resigned from his post as a mark of protest at not devolving powers to the council.

Kargil and Leh were created different districts of the Ladakh region by Sheikh Abdullah during his second innings in 1979. Kargil, which is dominated by Shia Muslims, also has pockets of Buddhist majority areas. For instance, Zanskar sub-division is inhabited by Buddhists. It presently has three seats in the council on the strength of its population. The Zanskar Association has been lobbying for increasing the seats to 10, on the ground that population should not be the only criterion for allocating seats. The principle should be similar to the one adopted while creating Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies. Consideration has to be given for backwardness, topography and similar other factors. Zanskar is virtually inaccessible, many areas being completely cut off for nearly seven months. It is socially, economically, educationally and politically backward because of its isolation and lack of political representation, the association said at a press conference recently.

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