Ladakh waits while Central laws made applicable to J&K

Srinagar: While the Ladakh region, after being declared a Union Territory, is still waiting after two years for new central laws, in the same time, Union Territory Jammu and Kashmir got hundreds of central laws extended and many of the laws were modified post 5 August, 2019.
In this August itself, prior to the second anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370, for the first time, the leadership of Leh and Kargil gave a joint press conference, demanding statehood, legislature and safeguards for the region under Article 371. Both Kargil and Ladakh leaderships have decided to fight together to get the status of the state, while they repeated that they will not accept any central law being extended to them without these safeguards.
On the second anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370, the government of Jammu and Kashmir released a document to show the achievements in the UT of J&K. According to this document released by the government as a booklet titled “Jammu and Kashmir Marching To A New Era”, 890 laws have been extended to J&K, especially those laws which pertain to rights to weaker sections, rights of children and senior citizens, laws for good governance, new land laws, and domicile laws.
The leadership of Ladakh and Kargil wants Union Home Minister Amit Shah to keep his promise that the BJP government will ensure their rights on the land, jobs and their identity is safeguarded with some new law. Prominent leader of Kargil Asgar Ali Karbalai told this newspaper that now the joint leadership of Ladakh wants not only statehood but also constitutional safeguards under Article 371 to save their distinct identity. He said that in the past two years, the central government has not extended any law to UT of Ladakh, with the result that they are waiting for the BJP government to take a call on the new laws for Ladakh region.
They have also demanded from the central government that there should be two seats for the Parliament and also a seat for the Rajya Sabha from Ladakh so that the people get proper representation at the Centre. Recently, the UT administration of Ladakh had sought applications for government jobs without defining who is the permanent resident of Ladakh.
Kargil Democratic Alliance and Leh Apex Body of politicians have already said that they will not accept any domicile law extended to Jammu and Kashmir and have asked the government to treat their state subject of the erstwhile J&K state as their identity. After the recent meeting, they have said that very soon, they would meet the central government with their fresh demands.
On the second anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 the PAGD held a meeting at the residence of Farooq Abdullah who is a sitting MP from Srinagar and is heading this political amalgam. After the meeting, the PAGD said that they will knock every door including that of Parliament for the restoration of Article 370 and said that all the changes done by the Government of India on August 5, 2019, were unacceptable to them.
The PAGD claimed that the situation was worsening in Jammu and Kashmir with each passing day following abrogation of Article 370. “They promised on the floor of Parliament that statehood would be restored when the situation becomes normal. They have not restored the statehood which means the situation is worsening,” spokesman of PAGD Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami told media on Thursday after their meeting at Farooq Abdullah’s residence.