The home ministry on Friday authorized a judicial probe into the "serious law and order" situation produced in Leh town on Sept. 24, 2025, which led to police action that killed four lives, granting a major demand of the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) and Ladakh Apex Body (LAB).
In a notice released on Friday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) stated that former Supreme Court judge B S Chauhan would lead the judicial investigation. Former IAS officer Tushar Anand, who will be the administrative secretary, and retired district and sessions judge Mohan Singh Parihar, who will be the judicial secretary, will support him.
The Central government's high powered committee may be able to resume discussions with the two Ladakh outfits sooner rather than later after the announcement of the "impartial" judicial probe was made on the eve of their scheduled silent march and blackout.
However, their leaders had not canceled their protests until it was time to address the media, even though the MHA had agreed to LAB and KDA's main demand that a retired SC judge investigate the events of September 24.
Prior to the violence on September 24, LAB and KDA had agreed to meet with home ministry representatives on October 6 to revive the HPC parleys after a four-month break.
Actually, a few MHA representatives were in Leh when the violence broke out, setting up the groundwork for the parleys in New Delhi.
But these preparations were derailed by the violence, which occurred during activist Sonam Wangchuk's protest fast to demand statehood and Sixth Schedule status, and the deaths of four people due to police gunfire.
LAB and KDA agreed to postpone a meeting with the Central government until their demand for an investigation into the violence on September 24 headed by a retired SC judge was met.
On September 29, the government declared that it has always been willing to speak with LAB and KDA about Ladakh issues at any time and on any platform.
According to the statement, the dialogue process has already produced some positive outcomes, including the preservation of indigenous languages, a 33% female quota in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), and an 85% reservation for Scheduled Tribes of Ladakh.
