"Nation Will Awaken": Sonam Wangchuk Claims He May Be Killed In Encounter

Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk on Thursday said that he may be killed in an encounter, blaming the Centre for mistreating people of Ladakh. His comments come on the first anniversary of violence and civilian killings in Leh, with Wangchuk alleging that even China is not treating Tibetans the way New Delhi is treating Ladakhis.

Wangchuk claimed that the violence on September 24 last year was orchestrated and there were attempts to cause communal riots in Ladakh. Wangchuk, who recently led the Cockroach protests in Delhi, demanded the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah and asked him to take responsibility for the violence and civilian killings in Ladakh.

"I know after speaking today, they (government) will suppress me, they have done it before. I was sent to jail. Now, only an encounter is left. It's my wish that they kill me in an encounter. Experts tell me your encounter will happen. Let it happen so that the nation awakens,'' said Wangchuk.

Hundreds gathered in Ladakh today to pay homage to four persons including a former war hero who were killed in security forces firing during protests in Leh last year. After the violence, police arrested dozens of protesters on charges of rioting, attacking security forces and burning government property. On the eve of first anniversary, Ladakh Lt Governor has withdrawn cases against all the accused.

Wangchuk said that the violence was a conspiracy and blamed the government for unrest and attempts to cause communal riots in Ladakh. He demanded that the probe ordered into the violence should be made public so that people know who was behind the violence on September 24.

"There have been attempts to cause communal riots between Muslims and Buddhists in Ladakh. As part of such attempts, three Muslim officers were deployed as magistrates (on September 24) so that they could issue the firing orders and Buddhists would blame Muslims for killing them. But see greatness of those officers, they refused to issue firing orders,'' Wangchuk said.

Wangchuk alleged that after the opening of fire without orders of magistrate athat killed civilians, the officials were "pressurised to give post-facto firing orders."

"But they again refused to sign on such an order. They told them (senior officers) that they will die or leave their service but not sign the orders''.

Wangchuk demanded that inquiry report should be made public so that people know the truth.

The activist alleges that the root cause of problem in Ladakh is that the Centre and Shah backtracked from the promises made with the people of Ladakh.

"Delhi is directly responsible for the situation in Ladakh. They promised the 6th Schedule and even statehood to our leadership. But then, Amit Shah categorically refused to grant the 6th Schedule to Ladakh,'' said Wangchuk.