4 killed and dozens injured in remote Ladakh as protesters seeking self-rule clash with India police

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — At least four people were killed and dozens injured in the remote Indian region of Ladakh on Wednesday as hundreds of people demanding federal statehood from the Indian government clashed with law enforcement, officials and residents said.

Some protesters threw stones at officers as police tried to stop them from marching in the high-altitude Leh town. Others set ablaze a paramilitary vehicle and the local office of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, police said.

Police fired bullets and tear gas, and swung batons at the demonstrators, injuring dozens of them, police and residents said. Four among some of the critically injured later died, they said. Officials said at least a dozen policemen were also injured in the clashes.

Nestled between India, Pakistan and China, Ladakh was split from Indian-controlled Kashmir after New Delhi removed the disputed region’s statehood and semiautonomy in 2019. While restive Kashmir has largely been silenced through a crackdown on any form of dissent and a slew of new laws, demands for political rights in Ladakh have intensified in recent years.

The protests are part of a larger movement in the federally-governed region that seeks statehood and constitutional provisions from the Indian government for autonomy over land and agriculture decisions.

Wednesday’s violence was the worst in decades in the Ladakh region and signals growing frustration with Indian authorities among residents over the issue of self-rule. Ladakh residents initially welcomed New Delhi’s 2019 changes, but their joy soon gave way to fears of land grabs, a loss of trade and damage to the fragile ecosystem of the region’s high-altitude deserts.

Protests on Wednesday were sparked by a local group’s call for a strike after two of over a dozen residents on a hunger strike for statehood demands collapsed the previous day.

Top climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who was leading the hunger strike, called off the action after the clashes. He said the collapsed hunger strikers were hospitalized.

Wangchuk said frustration had been building among the youths as peaceful protests were not yielding any results. “I want the government to listen to the message of peace. When they ignore peaceful protests and marches, such situations arise,” he said.

Authorities banned the assembly of more than five people in Leh district following the clashes.

Kashmir’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said Ladakhi people were feeling “betrayed” and angry, even though New Delhi never promised them a statehood. “The promise of statehood … remains unfulfilled even though we have gone about demanding it democratically, peacefully & responsibly,” he posted on social media platform X.

The region’s representatives have held several rounds of talks with Indian officials without any breakthrough. A fresh round of talks is scheduled between New Delhi and Ladakh representatives on Oct. 6.

Ladakh has faced territorial disputes and suffered the effects of climate change. Shifting weather patterns in the sparsely populated villages altered people’s lives through floods, landslides and droughts.

The rugged region’s thousands of glaciers have been 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’s militarization, further intensified by the deadly military standoff between India and China since 2020.