Leh: The political crisis in Ladakh seems to have deepened on Monday, September 29, after the Leh Apex Body (LAB) pulled out of the ongoing dialogue with the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA), saying that “talks can’t be held on gunpoint”.The apex body which has been meeting with the MHA’s high powered committee on Ladakh since 2023, along with the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), also demanded an impartial judicial probe led by a retired Supreme Court judge into the violence last week.Four protesters including a Kargil war veteran were killed in firing by security forces and several dozens were injured as chaos broke out in Leh city on September 24 amid a peaceful protest led by the incarcerated climate activist Sonam Wangchuk. Around 50 protesters have been arrested in connection with the violence.The LAB leaders demanded that the Ladakh police withdraw all the “false cases” against the protesters and set them free without conditions, adding that some arrested protesters were students who have to appear in exams.The talks between the LAB-KDA combine and the MHA were scheduled to be held in New Delhi on October 6 even as Ladakh’s capital city reeled under curfew and mobile internet ban for the sixth consecutive day on Monday.The funeral of Rinchen Dadul, one of the four protesters killed in firing by security forces in Leh on September 24, was held at Devachand cremation ground on Monday amid tight restrictions. Photo: The WireStanzin Namgyal and Jigmet Dorjay, two civilian protesters killed on September 24, were cremated on Sunday while the final rites of the other two protesters – army veteran Tsewang Tharchin and Rinchen Dadul – took place on Monday amid tight restrictions in Leh.The KDA leaders have also decided to stay away from the MHA talks, the LAB leaders said.Hitting out at the BJP-led Union government during a press conference in Leh, the LAB co-chairman Chering Dorjay Lakrook said that Ladakh lieutenant governor and senior BJP leader Kavinder Gupta has levelled “serious charges” that Wangchuk was “playing in the hands of foreign players”.Lakrook said that the Union government was trying “to create a toolkit with the help of Godi media” to defame the peaceful agitation in Ladakh.“If Sonam Wangchuk was indulging in anti-national activities, why did you wait for September 24 to happen? What were the government agencies doing? He was targeted and baseless allegations were levelled against him only after he raised our issue. How can we hold talks when we are being held under gunpoint?” he said.He added, “We have been accused of treason. Is this how we are being repaid for our loyalty to the nation? Unless this black mark is not erased, we will not participate in talks”.Lakrook said that the injuries caused during protests to some workers from Doda and Nepal were used as the basis to paint the agitation in Ladakh with ‘foreign conspiracy’ colours.Photo: The Wire.“DGP Ladakh (SD Jamwal) claimed that Pakistan’s hand was suspected and Sonam Wanchuk was involved in anti-national activities. This has hurt us,” Lakrook said, squarely blaming the BJP-led Union government for the crisis.Putting the onus of restoring peace in Ladakh on the Union government, LAB chairman Tsering Dorjay said that the Ladakhi leaders were ready to meet the MHA committee as per the schedule before the violence erupted in Leh. He said that a unanimous decision was taken to call off the talks during a meeting on Sunday.“The government used disproportionate force against a peaceful agitation and killed our four youth. We are upset. After this tragedy, we have decided that unless calm and peace is not restored and a conducive atmosphere is not created, we will not participate in talks,” he said.Dorjay called on the MHA and the Ladakh administration to take “immediate steps” to defuse the situation. “We expect some steps to address the pain in Ladakh,” he said, claiming that the LAB was in possession of “proof” that the CRPF personnel opened fire at protesters on September 24 in Leh “without warning or order of magistrate”.“We want the government to come clean on this,” he said.Dorjay said that the reading down of Article 370 in 2019 had ignited hopes that the issues for which the people struggled for 70 years would be resolved and Ladakh would “finally get justice”.“But we soon realised that the safeguards granted under Article 370 and 35-A when Ladakh was part of Jammu and Kashmir were gone because of which we had to adopt the path of peaceful agitation,” he said.“The government of India assured us that our demands of sixth schedule, statehood, two Lok Sabha constituencies for Ladakh and job reservation for locals would be fulfilled but it didn’t happen. Their intention doesn’t seem to be not good. The CRPF personnel who were in action on September 24 were brought to Ladakh recently. It seems they want to suppress us,” Lakrook said.