Srinagar: After years of political deadlock, civil society groups spearheading the agitation for statehood in Ladakh said they have reached an “in-principle understanding” with the Union government on Friday (May 22) for the restoration of democracy in the border region.They said this understanding was reached during a meeting of a sub-committee of the Union ministry of home affairs, comprising representatives from Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), along with ministry officials.Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk participated in the meeting for the first time as a representative of the LAB which was led by its co-chairman Chering Dorjay Lakrook and Dorjay Stanzin while the KDA was represented by Asgar Ali Karbalai, Sajjad Kargili and Ghulam Rasool. Ladakh’s lone Lok Sabha member Mohmad Haneefa Jan also attended the meeting..The talks were held in the national capital to “deliberate on the future administrative and political framework of Ladakh” which has simmered with discontent since it was separated from Jammu and Kashmir and stripped of statehood in 2019.During the meeting, the two groups conveyed to the MHA officials the “long-standing aspirations” of Ladakhis for “restoration of democracy, constitutional safeguards and the demand for statehood and Sixth Schedule protections”.In what appears to be a significant breakthrough, the LAB-KDA combine said in a statement that a “model” would be chalked out by the Union government for administering the border region under which the “legislative, executive and financial powers” would be vested with the elected representatives of Ladakh through a “Union Territory-level legislative body”.“All bureaucrats of the Union Territory, including the chief secretary, will come under the executive head of the Union Territory-level elected body (proposed to be chief minister),” the LAB-KDA statement said.The Union home ministry has not issued any statement on the meeting which took place less than a year after massive violence broke out during a peaceful pro-democracy protest in Leh, in which four protesters were killed and dozens were injured.The model understood to have been negotiated by the LAB-KDA combine with the home affairs ministry marks a decisive shift away from the political arrangement governing Jammu and Kashmir, where all senior bureaucrats remain under the Lieutenant-Governor’s control.The LAB-KDA combine have been demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh, besides two parliamentary seats for Leh and Kargil and a separate public service commission.The press note issued by the Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance on May 22, 2026, following discussions in Delhi with officials of the ministry of home affairs.The two bodies also said in the statement that they have reached an “in-principle understanding” with the ministry of home affairs for extending constitutional safeguards to Ladakh, modelled on Articles 371A, 371F and 371G which protect Nagaland, Sikkim and Mizoram from sweeping legislative and administrative overreach by the Union government.“It was explained by MHA authorities that the only reason why Ladakh cannot be made a state at the moment is that it currently lacks adequate revenue generation to meet the revenue expenditures like salaries of employees,” the LAB-KDA statement said.“However, this setup will lead Ladakh towards full statehood as when it meets the revenue criteria,” it added.The meeting on Friday appears to have provided a potential breakthrough in the long-running struggle for the restoration of democracy in the strategic region bordering China, which has been simmering in tensions following its demotion to a Union Territory without a legislature in 2019.The purported understanding reached between the two sides would now be taken up by a 17-member high powered committee headed by Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai for further deliberations.The committee was formed by the Union home ministry in 2023 to hold talks with the LAB-KDA combine in order to try and break the political deadlock prevailing in Ladakh since 2019.The last round of talks between the LAB-KDA combine and the home ministry-led committee was held on February 4.The KDA and LAB statement affirmed that both bodies would work closely to finalise the “finer operational details” with the ministry of home affairs, in consultation with legal and constitutional experts.