Ladakh leadership to attend HPC meet in Delhi on May 20

Kargil, Apr 17: On the call of Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ladakh leadership  will  attend a High Powered Committee (HPC) meeting  in  New Delhi on May 20.

The meeting , to be chaired by MoS Home Nityanand Rai, will take place after months of the stalled dialogue between MHA and the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), an amalgam of social, political, trade, students and religious groups from Ladakh. HPC  headed by  Nityanand Rai was constituted by the government in past.

The LAB and KDA leaders held series of rounds of meetings with Union Home Ministry during past more than two years on four-point agenda including Statehood, Sixth Schedule, Public Services Commission and two Parliamentary seats for Ladakh.

“The next meeting of the High-Powered Committee (HPC) on Ladakh under the chairmanship of Shri Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Gol will be held on 20.05.2025 at 1100 AM in room number 119, First Floor, MHA, North Block, New Delhi,” reads the letter by the MHA.  The meeting will be chaired by the Union MoS Home, Nityanand Rai, who is also the chairman of the High Powered Committee (HPC) constituted by the MHA.  Three members each from Leh and Kargil districts are expected to attend the talks.

They include Thupstan Chhewang, a two-time MP from Ladakh, Chering Dorjay Lakruk and Nawang Rigzin Jora (all from Leh); Qamar Ali Akhoon, Asgar Karbalaie and Sajjad Kargili (all from Kargil). Chhewang and Lakruk are chairman and co-chairman Leh Apex Body (LAB) while Jora is Congress chief for the Union Territory. Akhoon representing National Conference and Karbalaie hailing from the Congress are co-chairpersons of Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA). Sajjad Kargili is a prominent political leader and activist. CECs-cum Chairpersons of Leh and Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Councils including Tashi Gyalson and Dr Mohd Jaffar Akhoon, Ladakh MP Haji Hanifa Jan and Chief Secretary of Ladakh Dr Pawan Kotwal are also being called to the meeting, the sources said, adding that top officials of the MHA including the Home Secretary, the Joint Secretary Incharge Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and others will also join.