The detention of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk under the National Security Act and the volley of allegations hurled at him by the BJP and the government mark a further deterioration of the situation in Ladakh, a sensitive border region. Mr. Wangchuk had been spearheading a movement on behalf of civil society groups demanding statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, which turned violent on September 24. To pin the blame on him for the violence, as the government and the police appear to be doing, is unwise and flies in the face of facts. This is no way to address the issues that have led to the unrest. Mr. Wangchuk has been a supporter of the Centre’s decision, in 2019, to bifurcate the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territories

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