Srinagar: Questioning the government’s intentions, Ladakh’s civil society has demanded the inclusion of a local representative in the judicial panel which has been set up to probe the September 24 violence in Leh in which four civilian protesters were killed in firing by security forces.In an order, the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Friday (October 17) announced a three-member judicial panel led by retired Supreme Court judge B.S. Chauhan with retired district and sessions judge Mohan Singh Parihar and Indian Administrative Service officer Tushar Anand as other two members to probe the violence.The controversial SC judge gave clean chit to Uttar Pradesh police in 2021 under the Yogi Adityanath government following a judicial inquiry into the encounter killing of Kanpur gangster Vikas Dubey. Welcoming the announcement, Chering Dorjay Lakrook, co-chairman of the Leh Apex Body (LAB) on Saturday questioned the non-inclusion of a Ladakhi representative on the inquiry panel as well as the mention of the first information report filed by Leh police in connection with violence in the MHA’s order.“The mention of FIR 144 in the order conversely implies that it is our boys who are going to be the focus of the inquiry. Out of three members in the panel, there isn’t even one Ladakhi. It is quite a strange matter. Our people won’t have confidence (in the inquiry). We want a transparent probe,” Lakrook said, while demanding modification of the MHA order. The MHA statement had mentioned that the Leh police filed an FIR (144/2025) under sections 189, 191(2), 191(3), 190, 115(2), 118(1), 118(2), 326, 324, 326(c), 326(f), 326(g), 309, 109, 117(2), 125, 121(1), 61(2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in connection with the violence. More than four dozen civilian protesters were picked up by Ladakh police in connection with this FIR and most of them have been bailed out by court. “If the government wants us to trust the judicial inquiry, it is important to have a representative from Ladakh in the panel,” Lakrook, who is also the president of Ladakh Buddhist Association, said during a press conference in Leh on Saturday.Reflecting on the ongoing crisis, Lakrook who was flanked by the heads of different religious bodies said that the local administration was trying to suggest that normalcy has returned to Ladakh while curbs have been imposed on public gatherings and mobile internet.The LAB co-chairman was put under house arrest on Saturday to prevent him from participating in the peace march which was planned by the civil society leaders in protest against the September 24 violence and the denial of constitutional safeguards for Ladakh and democratic rights of its people after the region was separated from J&K in 2019. Lakrook referred to the security built up in Leh on Saturday where prohibitory orders under section 163 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 were clamped while mobile internet was also banned, purportedly to prevent the civil society leaders from attending the march which was scheduled from 10 am to 12 noon. “It (curbs) is an admission by the administration that the situation is not good. If the administration is afraid of the same people whom it is meant to serve, then the situation is not normal,” he said. Responding to a question on the future course of the ongoing agitation in Ladakh, Lakrook said that the administration should “come out of the illusion” that it could end the “public movement” by using pressure tactics. “Neither the people of Ladakh nor the leaders of the apex body are going to be cowed down. We will talk with the government not under the shadow of fear but in an open atmosphere. If the government thinks it can convince us by using pressure tactics on some issues and if these are not going to be in the interest of people, we will not agree,” he said. According to sources, the MHA is likely to make an announcement on the resumption of the high-powered committee-led talks with Ladakh’s civil society after the culmination of Diwali celebrations. The talks have been going on between the two sides since 2023. Another round of talks was scheduled to take place on October 6 but the civil society leaders boycotted it after four protesters were killed and dozens were wounded in violent clashes last month. The LAB co-chairman also criticised the administration for defaming the people of Ladakh by accusing them of playing in the hands of “external forces”.