Ladakh MP presses for statehood, job recruitment agency for UT
Hanifa emphasised that Ladakh, the largest parliamentary constituency in India by area, is strategically important as it borders both Pakistan and China.
Independent Ladakh MP Mohammad Hanifa on Wednesday listed out three demands for the Union Territory during the zero hour in the ongoing Budget session in Parliament – statehood, 6th Schedule protections, and a recruitment agency for government jobs.
He highlighted the protests in Ladakh over the past four years, and said, “In the last four years, all of Ladakh has been protesting for four demands: full-fledged statehood, 6th Schedule, Ladakh’s own recruitment agency like JKPSC, and a constitutional government.”
Hanifa emphasised that Ladakh, the largest parliamentary constituency in India by area, is strategically important as it borders both Pakistan and China.
Despite Ladakh’s unwavering patriotism and sacrifices, he said, the region was made a UT in 2019 “against the will of 50% of its population”. “Even initial supporters of the UT status now oppose it as the demand was always for a UT with a legislature,” he claimed.
