Muslim Precedence Politics - How it operates in Ladakh

By Special Correspondent

In a polity, where promotion of religion-based identity is the chief aspiration for the ruling class, communal governance is a natural corollary. Its impact is disturbing more so in an area where the locals have to combat historical deprivations with geographical backwardness.

Ladakh, the northern frontier of India is a strategically crucial region for India. A Central government should have normally been more alert to see that Ladakhis not only receive their due but also have a feeling that the nation values their patriotism. This is not how myopic and self-serving political leadership of the country looks at nation-building. Spread of terrorism to Jammu and Ladakh could have been pre-empted had central leadership acted to consolidate the nationalist groups in Jammu and Ladakh.

Ladakh constitutes 69.6% of the total land area of J&K State (1,38,942 sq. km.) Politically it is the most marginalised region. A number of strategies have been used by the Kashmir-based political leadership to marginalise Ladakhis. Kashmir leadership blatantly discriminates between Buddhist Ladakh and Shiite Kargil. Rise of communalism in Ladakh in the last two decades is the fallout of this.

Numerous instruments used to perpetuate discrimination against Ladakhis can be enumerated as:

A. Political Manipulation:

Inflating the voters lists in Kargil:

It is aimed to deprive Ladakhis of electing a representative of their choice. In the 1981 census population of Leh district was 68,380, while that of Kargil was 65,992. But the number of voters has been higher in Kargil.

No. of Voters            1985            1987            1989

Leh District            39,485            43,455            46,432

Kargil District            48,503            51,646            52,934

This is the most vulnerable evidence of political manipulation. Ladakhis allege that the authorities indulge in malpractices in the preparation of electoral list in Kargil district. They have demanded a sample survey by the Central Election Commission to expose this manipulation.

Delimitation of Zanskar Constituency:

Another glaring and serious instance of political manipulation to harm the interests of the Buddhist community was the delimitation of the Zanskar Assembly Constituency. Zanskar, a desolate sub-division of Kargil is demographically and culturally a Buddhist area. For eight months in the year it remains cut off from the world. Its peculiar problems of development could be taken care of by a representative of Zanskar only.

To deprive Zanskari Buddhists of their representation, three Patwar circles of Kargil Sub-Division, viz., Panikher (170 kms away from Padam), Lankarchi and Barsoo (both 200 kms. away from Padum) were included in the Zanskar constituency. These are thickly populated by Muslims. Thus, the objective of this step was clearly to prevent a Buddhist from getting elected to the state assembly. It has been a persistent Zanskari demand to exclude these three Patwar circles from this constituency.

B. Discrimination in Services:

Indian Administrative Services:

So far only four Ladakhi officers have been inducted into the IAS cadre by the State government. Intriguingly all of them have been Muslims and not a single Buddhist.

KAS/KPS:

After a gap of 15 years, examination for recruitment to KAS/KPS was conducted during 1997-98 by the State Public Service Commission. Extreme discrimination against Buddhists by the State government is obvious from the following figures relating to Ladakh region:

50 State Employees have been inducted into KAS under technical quota and not a single Buddhist included in the share on 30.8.2000.

Community            No. of qualifying            No. of selected

                         the written exam.  for KAS/KPS

Buddhists                   23                                       1

Muslims                     3                                        3

Christians                   1                                        1

State Secretariat:

The State Secretariat cadre has a strength of about 3,500 employees. Not a single Buddhist employee even in class IV position has been recruited during the past 52 years.

Assembly Secretariat:

Not a single Buddhist employee recruited since 1947.

Recruitment:

Number of State Government Employees before 1996 when Dr Abdullah took over was 2.54 lakhs. The number rose to 3.58 lakhs in 2000 (26-1-2000) out of 1.04 lakh employees recruited during this brief period, only 319 employees (0.31%) were from Ladakh. Its share should have been at least 2% and even more if legitimate weightage were given to this extremely backward area.

Public Sector:

There are 21,286 employees in the State Public Sector. Except for 2 or 3 Buddhists in J&K SRTC, the remaining  8 PSUs have not employed a single Buddhist.

Recruitment in Police:

3 Battalions of J&K Police were created in September 2000. There was no share to Buddhist community. In the backdoor entry recruitment to Excise and Taxation Department from Leh and Kargil all the four posts-Inspector  2 (August 99) and Sub-Inspector 2 (March  99) went to Muslims. The appointment of Assistants in State Cadre Accounts service in August 2000, statistics are revealing:

District             Muslim            Buddhist            Christian        Total

Kargil                    3                            --                             --                          3

Leh                       2                            1                             2                          5

Total                     5                            1                             2                          8

C: Discrimination in Education

Engineering Course:

During 1997-98 and 1998-99 selection each year was 8 out which 7 seats went to Muslims and only 1 to Buddhists.

MBBS Course:

During the same years the number of seats reserved for Ladakh was 8 out of which 6 went to Muslims and only 2 to Buddhists.

Polytechnic Institutions:

In April 2000 the total number of students admitted from Ladakh was 25 out of which 23 were Muslims.

Neglect of facilities in Schools:

An instance of utter neglect of facilities and administration in Govt. Schools in Leh district is that noumber of students appearing in the examination has dropped from 1683 (1997) to 709 (1999) and pass percentage even dropped to 4.90 (1998). In 1999 it was 7.33. During the Governors’ rule the position in schools was somewhat better. In 1994 the pass percentage even rose to 17.97%. At no point of time the number of students appearing in Class-X examination was less than 1150.

Many middle class Ladakhi families are now forced to send their children to schools outside Ladakh for better schooling.

D. Misuse of Liberal Assistance:

Though the per capita central assistance for J&K has been nearly ten times (Rs 3,010) what other states get, yet Ladakh has remained a victim of neglect and discrimination by the State government. Leh district is thrice bigger in area than Kargil district, yet the two districts get equal funds for the District Plan: Rs 42-crores each during 2000-2001

The Wazir Commission constituted to make recommendations to the State government for delimitation of new Blocks in the 14 districts of the State recommended two new Blocks each for Leh and Kargil districts. Whereas the State government promptly created two new Blocks in Kargil District, the recommendation of the Wazir Commission has not been implemented in Leh District so far. Consequently, Leh District is deprived of legitimate Central Assistance to the tune of Rs 2 crores per year. Leh District has at present only 5 Blocks while Kargil District has 7 Blocks.

The State Plan’s major share (65%) goes to the State Sector and the rest is allocated to the districts. All major roads and bridges in the other districts are funded from the State Sector, but not a single road or bridge has been funded from the state sector in Leh District.

Conversions of Buddhists and other grievances:

Ladakhis allege that conversions of Buddhists is being practised as a policy to change the social demography of this frontier region. With the intervention of Ministry of Home Affairs an agreement was reached in 1992 between Ladakh Buddhist Association and the Ladakh Muslim Association. This agreement stipulated that all the recently converted persons would be restored to their old faith by the respective organisation. This agreement has been consistently violated. During the period 1992-98, 28 Buddhist girls of Leh District were converted to Islam and majority of them were allured to Kargil. Twelve villages/hamlets populated by Buddhist majority comprising 651 families (population about 5000) and located at 40 to 60 kms from Kargil town are the worst hit Buddhist population where so far 72 boys and girls have been converted to Islam as per survey conducted by LBA.

There are other religious grievances also. A Gompa comprising three rooms in Kargil town constructed 40 years back is lying in shambles as Muslims of Kargil never allow LBA to repair. Cremation of a dead Buddhist is not allowed at Kargil and the dead body has to be moved to a Buddhist area. There is not a single room by way of a Sarai for Buddhists at Kargil town despite a demand for the same for the last 35 years. Six new mosques have been constructed at Leh town during 1989-99 around Buddhist habitations and more than 540 Muslim families settled at Leh, majority of whom were brought from Kargil.

Buddhists in Kargil, who constitute 20% of population in the district face grim prospect. A few glaring examples of discrimination are:

1997 - 24 Patwaris appointed, with only one Buddhist and the rest all are Muslims.

1998 - 40 Class-IV employees were appointed in Education department with only one Buddhist on his conversion to Islam, while all the rest were Muslims.

(The facts and figures are based on surveys conducted by LBA and published from time to time.)              --Editor

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