Ladakhi activist Sonam Wangchuk has threatened a fresh round of protests from 19 to 24 September unless the government provides assurances within a week on outstanding issues concerning the Himalayan region, hours after voicing disappointment at the pace of talks between Ladakh’s leaders and a federal panel, according to Hindustan Times.
The educationalist and social activist made the threat after talks between key Ladakh groups and a Home Ministry sub-committee were held in New Delhi on Thursday, which he said had produced little progress.
Wangchuk spent six months in Jodhpur jail after being booked under the stringent National Security Act in September last year, following unrest in Ladakh.
He was detained on 26 September, two days after protests demanding greater autonomy for the region turned violent, leaving four people dead and dozens injured. The federal government accused Wangchuk, a 2018 Magsaysay Award winner and a prominent figure in the movement for Ladakh statehood, of having provoked the clashes.
Following his release in March 2026, Wangchuk went on to back students protesting alleged irregularities in the NEET medical entrance examination, staging a 26-day indefinite hunger strike from 28 June.
Earlier on Thursday, Wangchuk had expressed frustration at the outcome of the latest round of talks between Ladakh’s senior leaders and the Home Ministry sub-committee in New Delhi, sharing an old clip from comedian Jaspal Bhatti’s television show in an apparent dig at officials, and remarking that little of substance had emerged from the discussions.
In a post on X on Thursday, Wangchuk said leaders of the Apex Body of Leh and the Kargil Democratic Alliance would hold a press conference at 4pm at Ladakh Bhavan in New Delhi, adding that the two groups were “rather disappointed” with the sub-committee-level meeting held in the capital on 9 September.
