New Delhi: In a stark revelation that has deepened the shadow over Ladakh’s turbulent quest for statehood, Director General of Police S D Singh Jamwal on Saturday defended the security forces’ resort to lethal force during Wednesday’s deadly clashes, warning that without the Central Reserve Police Force’s (CRPF) timely intervention, “the entire city would have been reduced to ashes.”
The comments come amid ongoing investigations into alleged external influences, including links to Pakistan, fuelled by a crackdown that has seen 44 arrests, including prominent climate activist Sonam Wangchuk.
Jamwal, addressing a press conference here, recounted the harrowing events of September 24, when protests demanding full statehood and Sixth Schedule protections spiralled into chaos in Leh, the Union Territory’s capital. Four civilians lost their lives in police firing, with 15 in serious condition and 30 others nursing minor injuries, alongside 70-80 police and CRPF personnel wounded in the melee.
Demonstrators, numbering around 6,000, torched the local BJP office and pelted stones at security forces, trapping four women constables inside the burning building. “We barely managed to rescue them,” Jamwal said, his voice laced with resolve. “One CRPF jawan is still hospitalised with a spinal injury after being brutally assaulted.”
Dismissing accusations of indiscriminate firing, the DGP insisted the response was purely defensive, aimed at quelling an orchestrated bid for anarchy. “They targeted the secretariat, where most offices are housed. “Do you want our employees to burn alive?” he asked rhetorically.
Intelligence inputs had flagged attempts by “vested interests”, including Wangchuk, to disrupt peace — prompting CRPF’s preemptive deployment. “If they weren’t there that day, I say with full conviction, Leh would have been engulfed in flames,” Jamwal asserted.
The activist, arrested on Friday under the National Security Act and shifted to Jodhpur Central Jail, faces scrutiny over alleged ties to a recently detained Pakistani intelligence operative and visits to Bangladesh and Pakistan events. “He has a history of instigation, referencing the Arab Spring and Nepal’s Gen Z unrest,” Jamwal charged, adding that probes into Wangchuk’s funding for FCRA violations are underway.
Curfew lingers into its fourth day, with mobile internet suspended and patrolling intensified, as the Leh Apex Body plans a delegation to Delhi on September 29 to revive stalled talks.
Yet, amid the accusations, Jamwal struck a reconciliatory note, praising Ladakhis’ traditional support for law enforcement. “I’ve served here twice; the people are embarrassed by this violence,” he said, highlighting police sacrifices — including three officers lost this year to duty-related incidents and heroic rescues during recent floods and snowstorms.
With 1,800 government jobs advertised and police recruitment drives planned, he appealed to youth: “Join us; we’re with you for peace.”
However, the fragile Himalayan calm is in jeopardy due to the looming shadows of foreign hands. Will dialogue prevail, or will distrust ignite another blaze?