Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 3 Oct: Expressing solidarity with the people of Ladakh, especially famed Ladakhi environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk, for their demand for granting 6th Schedule status to Ladakh and constitutional protection of their environment, the North East Human Rights (NEHR) on Thursday organized a candlelight march in Itanagar.
Led by NEHR chairperson and activist, advocate Ebo Mili, a sizeable number of youths, especially students of Rajiv Gandhi University, joined the march, demanding immediate and unconditional release of Wangchuk, who has been booked under the National Security Act (NSA).
The protesters marched from Akashdeep to Indira Gandhi Park, holding placards of Sonam Wangchuk and demanding his immediate release.
“Sonam Wangchuk is a scientist and an intellectual person; he made India proud on many international fora. But today what did the Government of India do to him? Gave him a terrorist tag, called him a Pakistan and Chinese agent and unjustly booked him under the NSA for peacefully demanding 6th Schedule in Ladakh” said Mili.
“Don’t be surprised if even I were to be arrested tomorrow under the NSA for protesting against the Siang dam,” he said.
“Today we gathered here to stand in solidarity with the people of Ladakh. We came here not as fans of Sonam Wangchuk but as fellow tribal people, as tomorrow it may affect us also,” Mili added.
He said Arunachal’s situation is similar to that of Ladakh. “Under Article 371(h), the indigenous people of Arunachal are not given constitutional rights over the state’s land, water and natural resources, unlike fellow Northeast states like Nagaland and Mizoram,” he said.
“We keep boasting about inner line permit (ILP), whereas it is not an Act but rather a regulation which can be scrapped anytime at the whims and fancy of the central government. We may face similar situation tomorrow, like other Himalayan states are facing. So, we must stand united for the people of Ladakh,” he said.
Wangchuk was arrested under the NSA on 26 September, days after violence during a protest in Leh, demanding statehood for Ladakh, left four people dead.
