Aim to resolve employment issue before Sixth Schedule talks
New Delhi, May 25: With the next meeting of the groups from Ladakh with a home ministry panel set to be held on May 27, representatives from Leh and Kargil hoped that they will arrive at some conclusion over the issue of employment, so that the demand for the Sixth Schedule can be taken up for discussion.
The representatives of Leh Apex Body (LAB), and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) will meet the home ministry panel under Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai on May 27.
Chering Dorjay Lakruk, president of Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA), hoped the talks will be taken forward from where they were left in the last meeting, and the issue of employment would be settled.
“We are expecting that we will carry forward the talks from where we left it last time, and some agreement will be reached on the issue of employment,” he told.
“Once the issue of employment is settled, we can move on to talks on the Sixth Schedule status for Ladkah,” said Lakruk, who is also the co-chairman of LAB.
He also said they had suggested for the meeting to be extended to two days, as it is set to take place after a long gap. “A lot of time has been lost, we hope the talks move at a faster pace from here,” he said.
KDA member Sajjad Kargili said the groups had joined the talks with high hopes, but it has been dragging on. “We have been struggling over our four key issues for a long time. However, nothing has changed on the ground yet. Whether it is the demand for statehood, Sixth Schedule, the issue of public service commission and employment for youths, or the issue of representation…” he said.
“These are the issues people of Ladakh have been agitating for over last five years.
“I would like to appeal to the government that we have had a lot of talks, discussion and dialogue… This time, we are trying to reach a decision, and this is the position of our senior leaders,” he said.
“I hope that at least this time there is a practical solution so we can move forward,” he said.
