News Analysis India

Tag: National conference

  • NC seeks to expedite probe into Hyderpora encounter, rehabilitation of kin of those killed

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: The National Conference (NC) on Sunday sought to expedite the probe into the Hyderpora encounter in a transparent manner and the rehabilitation of the kin of those slain on a fast-track basis.

    An NC delegation led by its provincial president, Kashmir, Nasir Aslam Wani visited the families of deceased civilians Altaf Ahmed Dar and Mudassir Gul.

    Sharing the grief of the families, the delegation prayed for strength to them in their hour of loss and for eternal peace to the departed in the highest echelons of heaven.

    Wani also sought fast-tracking of the probe into the killings in a transparent manner and rehabilitation of the kin of the deceased on a fast-track basis.

    “The jinxed fate of our valley has snatched numerous innocents. There are several such untold stories where parents have lost their beloved children, daughters and sisters have lost their brothers, mothers their sons. Such incidents only leave a trail of suffering behind,” he said.

    The NC leader extended condolences and sympathies to the bereaved families on behalf of party president Farooq Abdullah and vice president Omar Abdullah to the bereaved.

  • Two former NC legislators among dozen leaders join BJP in Jammu

    By PTI

    JAMMU: Nearly a dozen prominent political workers, including two former National Conference legislators, joined the BJP here on Sunday, with its Jammu and Kashmir unit president Ravinder Raina exuding confidence of forming the next government on its own in the Union Territory.

    BJP national general secretary and Jammu and Kashmir in-charge Tarun Chugh and Raina welcomed the new entrants, along with hundreds of their supporters, into the party fold in presence of senior leaders, including Devender Singh Rana and S S Slathia, who recently joined the saffron party.

    Rana, the younger brother of Union Minister Jitendra Singh and provincial president of the National Conference, along with senior party colleague and former minister Slathia had quit his party on October 10 and both of them joined the BJP in Delhi next day.

    Majority of those who joined the BJP, including both the former legislators Prem Sagar Aziz and Kamal Arora, are considered close to Rana.

    Aziz, former deputy mayor Dharamvir Singh Jamwal, provincial secretary Choudhary Arshid, Samba district president Mohinder Gupta, corporator Ashok Manhas and senior workers Som Nath Khajura and Sardar Succha Singh recently resigned from the National Conference in Rana’s support.

    Arora, who had won assembly elections on the National Conference ticket in the 2014 polls, had joined Apni Party in March last year. He along with district president of Apni Party Rinku Bhardwaj joined the BJP.

    Accompanied by their supporters wearing different types of turbans representing different cultures, including the Dogras, Sikhs, Gujjars and Bakarwals, the leaders were welcomed by massive sloganeering at the BJP party headquarters where the joining function was organised.

    “The new entrants – whether from the National Conference, Congress or the PDP – are welcome with open heart and they will be given due respect and rightful position without any discrimination the injustice which was going on for decades ended when the prime minister abrogated the discriminatory Article 370 in August 2019 and bestowed Jammu and Kashmir with real freedom,” Chugh said.

    He said the gates of BJP are open for all those who want to serve the people and strive hard to strengthen the nationalist forces and the country.

    The J&K BJP chief, in his address, said his party is growing bigger with each passing day as people from all walks of life repose faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas aur sabka vishwas’.

    “The BJP is going to form the next government after the assembly elections on its own and the chief minister will be from our party,” he said, expressing satisfaction over the joining of prominent leaders from different parties.

    Former legislator Rana said, “We are all making efforts to strengthen J&K so that we all be part of India’s development and progress under the leadership of the prime minister.”

    “We are making attempts to strengthen Jammu, J&K and India. Our endeavour is that a common voice from Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians emerge from Jammu which will work to strengthen the whole Jammu and Kashmir and we all can be part of the development phase initiated by the prime minister in the country,” he said.

    Reacting to the letter of the PDP president seeking the prime minister’s intervention to save the future of some Kashmiri students who were arrested for allegedly celebrating Pakistan’s victory over India in a cricket match, Rana said no anti-national activities will be tolerated.

    “Anti-national activities cannot be tolerated by any country and so why India should tolerate such an act? If you are Indian, you have to respect and honour the country,” he said, adding that “India is a strong democracy but that does not mean we will tolerate anti-national activities”.

    He said nobody should support anti-national elements.

  • ‘Volcano building up in Valley’: Kashmir parties on actions against youth for supporting Pakistan

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Lone on Tuesday said punitive actions against the Kashmiri youth will not help as they have not helped in the past as well.

    Referring to the registration of two FIRs against the medical students in the valley for celebrating Pakistan’s victory over India in the Sunday’s T20 international cricket match at Dubai, Lone said he “does not see anti-Indianism or pro-Pakistanism as an irreversible condition”.

    “I strongly disagree. If you think that they r not patriotic enough because they cheered for another team- u should have the courage and the belief to wean them back if u think they have gone patriotically astray. Punitive actions won’t help. Have not helped in the past either,” Lone said on Twitter.

    He was reacting to a tweet calling for the suspension of the students.

    The Peoples Conference chairman said, “We live in Kashmir and have to live with those who are ideologically opposed to us”.

    “But we’re confident that it is a game of narratives of discourses. And that we will win. We will convince all about the goodness of our ideology. We will prevail. But that that is if u allow us to,” he said.

    “We don’t see anti Indianism or pro-Pakistanism as an irreversible condition. It is at best a curable disease. Let us cure it. Allow us to cure it. Trust me. Punitive actions can worsen the disease,” he added in another tweet.

    Meanwhile, CPI (M) secretary Ghulam Nabi Malik termed the FIR as “unwarranted, unnecessary” and demanded immediate rollback of the charges against the students.

    “The past experiences reveal that such punitive actions have not helped in achieving any results nor it will have any desired outcome this time. Winning and losing is part of any game and in a democratic setup everybody has a choice to cheer up for his favourite team or a player,” Malik said.

    He said there are such examples where Indian fans gave standing ovation to Pakistan cricket team after its victory and same things happened with Pakistani crowds cheering up for the India team.

    In 1999, Chennai crowd gave a standing ovation to victorious Pakistan side.

    The crowd applauded the fact that Pakistan on that day was the better of the two sides.

    The Pakistani team reciprocated in kind to the crowd’s gesture, taking a victory lap around the ground.

    Nobody become anti-national if he supports one team or the other, he said.

    Malik urged upon J-K administration to immediately revoke the charges framed against the medical college students and help them to continue their degrees.

    A volcano has been building up in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said on Tuesday and expressed fears over what shape it would take when it erupted.

    Celebrations in the Valley over Pakistan’s win against India in the T-20 cricket world cup while Home Minister Amit Shah was visiting were meant to provoke the BJP, which had taken away Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, the erstwhile state’s former chief minister added.

    “They (those who celebrated the win) don’t have anything to do with them (Pakistanis) It was done to provoke the BJP. They were children and young boys and this should serve as an eye-opener for the BJP,” Abdullah said at a public meeting in Surankote in Poonch district.

    The BJP claims a new phase has started and militancy has finished but the situation is otherwise, Abdullah said.

    He said Shah was the one who announced the state’s special status under Article 370 being revoked and also witnessed the celebrations after the Pakistan’s cricket win on Sunday.

    “They (the BJP) took away Article 370 and Article 35A from us and claim not a single bullet was fired. How could bullets have been fired when you have put a soldier outside the door of every household? A volcano is building up even as they think they have silenced (the people).”

    “This volcano will erupt one day and god knows what will be its shape and size. They have to return Article 370 to the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

    In August 2019, the government revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 and bifurcated the state into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

    Addressing the rally, Abdullah also defended his advocacy for a dialogue between India and Pakistan and asked people to pray to the almighty for good sense to prevail in both the countries and for a way out in the larger interest of peace and development in the subcontinent.

    Taking a dig at the BJP-led government, he said its policies triggered farmer unrest in the country even as it was asked to send the three farm bills to the select committee in parliament.

    Both India and Pakistan, the former chief minister said, spend a major chunk of their revenues in preparing for war, impacting their poor.

    “The people of Jammu and Kashmir are sandwiched between the animosities of the two countries. The hostility is also the main reason to spread hatred and divide people on the name of Hindus and Muslims,” he said.

    In his view, political parties in both countries are winning elections in the name of Kashmir.

    “They (Pakistan) say Kashmir is our jugular vein and we have been suffering for 75 years. This side says this is our land and we will take back the land which is under the illegal occupation of Pakistan. Nobody has asked the people of Jammu and Kashmir where we stand,” he said.

    Abdullah asked the people to be united and frustrate the designs of those bent on dividing them on communal lines.

    Mahatma Gandhi, he said, had seen a ray of hope in Kashmir.

    “We will become the beacon of that light once again and spread across the country by upholding unity and brotherhood. Any government which oppresses its people and fails to mitigate their sufferings is bound to vanish.”

    He also drew examples from the Ramayana and the Quran to make his point.

    “I don’t know whether I will live till that day but I am sure the time will come when the government indulging in atrocities will witness divine intervention,” Abdullah said.

    “The people want it to happen immediately but god has his own plans and so we have to keep patience.”

    He hit out at the Congress for their “studied silence” on the issue of the abrogation of Article 370.

    The Jammu and Kashmir Police has registered two cases against medical students under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for celebrating Pakistan’s victory over India in Sunday’s match.

    The cases have been registered against students in hostels at Srinagar’s Government Medical College in Karan Nagar and SKIMS Soura, officials said.

    PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday accused the Centre of resorting to “vindictive” action against Kashmiri youth and said such steps will “alienate them further” after cases were registered against some students here for celebrating Pakistan’s victory over India in a T20 international cricket match.

    Two cases have been registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against medical students living in hostels in Government Medical College and SKIMS Soura.

    Reacting to it, the PDP president said the Centre should instead have tried to ascertain why the educated youth choose to identify with Pakistan.

    “HMs (Union Home Minister Amit Shah) ‘Mann ki baat’ with Kashmiri youth started with slapping UAPA against medical students for celebrating Pakistan’s win. Instead of trying to ascertain why educated youth choose to identify with Pakistan, GOI resorting to vindictive actions. Such steps will alienate them further,” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said on Twitter.

    Shah was on a four-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir Youth at many places, including the students at these two hostels, celebrated Pakistan’s victory over arch-rivals India in the T20 played in Dubai on Sunday.

    Three engineering students from Kashmir were suspended by a college in Agra for allegedly posting a WhatsApp status praising Pakistan players after victory against India in a cricket match two days ago.

    Local leaders of the BJP youth wing have also lodged a complaint against them at the Jagdishpura police station.

    The students belonged to Raja Balwant Singh Engineering Technical Campus in Bichpuri.

    SP (City) Agra Vikas Kumar said police had received a complaint about it and will take action on the basis of the complaint.

    The college administration suspended the students on Monday.

    Dr Pankaj Gupta, director of administration and finance at the institute, said the students were suspended with immediate effect.

    “The students were studying under the Prime Minister Super Special Scheme. We have also apprised the PM office and AICTE of the students’ act. However, students have apologised,” Dr Gupta added.

    Meanwhile, local head of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Shailu Pandit, told reporters, “On Tuesday at 3 pm, I was informed by students of RBS Engineering College, Bichpuri, that there were three students who had raised slogans like ‘Bharat tere tukde honge’ and ‘Pakistan zindabad’. They also shared such posts on social media.”

    “After that, I along with youth BJP leader Gaurav Rajawat, reached the college campus and enquired about the activity,” said Pandit.

    Shailu said the college authorities told them that they have suspended three students.

    “Thereafter, I informed police and lodged a complaint against the students involved in the anti-national activity,” he said.

  • Many Kashmiri pandits join National Conference in Jammu

    By PTI

    JAMMU: Many Kashmiri pandits on Friday joined the National Conference here at a function presided over by party chief Farooq Abdullah who promised them to raise their issues and facilitate resolution of their demands, the party said.

    The joining of 75 Kashmiri pandit activists was facilitated by National Conference minority cell president M K Yogi, who met Abdullah at his residence here where various pertinent issues of the migrant community living in exile for last over thirty years were discussed, a release issued by the party said.

    The issues raised by Yogi with the NC chief included enhancement of monthly relief assistance for KPs from Rs 13,000 to Rs 25,000, safety and security of PM package employees working in Kashmir and their accommodation, it said.

    Abdullah assured them that their demands would be raised with the government as well as on the floor of Parliament, the release said.

  • Jolt for Farooq Abdullah’s NC as former J&K minister Prem Sagar Aziz quits party after Rana’s exit

    By PTI

    JAMMU: Former Jammu and Kashmir minister Prem Sagar Aziz quit the National Conference (NC) here on Tuesday and extended support to former party colleague Devender Singh Rana, who joined the BJP recently.

    Aziz, who was the NC’s Bani Assembly constituency in-charge, said he is resigning from the primary membership of the party, along with his supporters.

    “I was in the Congress for 45 years and joined the National Conference only because of Rana.

    As I know that he is working for the cause of Jammu, I support his cause unequivocally.

    “Now that Rana has dissociated himself from the National Conference for the sake of Jammu, I cannot continue in the party and extend my support to Rana,” he said in a statement here.

    Rana, the younger brother of Union minister Jitendra Singh, quit the NC on October 10, along with senior party colleague and former minister S S Slathia.

    Both of them joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi the next day.

    Rana was the provincial president of the NC.

    Aziz said he will “stand like a rock behind Rana” as his contribution to the cause of Jammu has been an inspiration for him to work for people.

    Rana had taken over as the NC’s provincial president in 2011 after relinquishing his office as the political advisor to the then Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah.

  • Ratan Lal Gupta elected National Conference’s provincial president for Jammu

    By PTI

    JAMMU: Former MLC Ratan Lal Gupta was elected the National Conference provincial president for Jammu on Saturday, nearly a week after being nominated to the post following the resignation of his predecessor Devender Singh Rana.

    Gupta, a lawyer, was elected to the post in a vote held under the supervision of senior NC leaders, including Sheikh Mustafa Kamaal, at the party headquarters here, a spokesperson of the outfit said.

    “National Conference is the only party which can pull J-K out of the present turmoil as it has a strong base at the grassroots level,” Gupta said after his election.

    On Rana and former minister S S Slathia quitting the party and joining the BJP in Delhi on October 11, Gupta said the NC is a movement and it has successfully fended off many challenges in the past.

    “J-K is going through a rough phase. Every section of the society, including youth, businessmen and industrialists, are suffering immensely, and nobody is happy with the present administration,” the senior NC leader said.

    Rattan Lal Gupta elected as Provincial President for Jammu Province. Election was held transparently under the supervision of AGS Dr Sheikh Mustafa Kamaal and other senior party leaders.Congratulations. Wishing you massive success! pic.twitter.com/o77zHNbpkp
    — JKNC (@JKNC_) October 16, 2021
    He said NC workers have pledged to strengthen the party further at the grassroots level to overcome this situation.

    “We will follow the guidelines of the party leadership and reach out to the masses at their doorsteps to provide assistance.

    The National Conference is like a fortress, and our activists will fight tooth and nail in the upcoming elections,” Gupta said.

    He exuded confidence that the National Conference would fight the upcoming assembly elections on every seat across the Jammu region and emerge victorious.

    “We have a strong base in Nagrota, the constituency won by Rana in the 2014 Assembly elections. All the leaders from the constituency, including corporators, DDC and BDC members and party functionaries, attended the meeting,” Gupta said.

    The NC is the only party with a strong presence in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, and it has never indulged in the politics of discrimination, he said, adding, “Our governments in the past have always ensured balanced development of all the three regions.”

    “The bifurcation of the erstwhile J-K state was not a good step. Our party has taken a stand (on the issue of revocation of Article 370), and we will continue the struggle under the leadership of party president Farooq Abdullah and vice president Omar Abdullah as we believe Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh is a single entity and are strong together,” Gupta said.

    Every NC activist is a dedicated soldier of the party and would stand up to the prevailing challenges for the betterment of the society, he added.

  • Kashmir will never become Pakistan, will remain part of India even if I am killed: Farooq Abdullah 

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: Kashmir will never become Pakistan as we are a part of India and will remain so even if I am killed, National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah said here on Wednesday.

    Speaking at a condolence meeting for Supinder Kaur, the fallen principal of a government school in Eidgah who was shot dead by militants on October 7 at a Gurdwara here, Abdullah said the people of Kashmir have to be courageous and fight the killers together.

    “We have to fight these beasts. This (Kashmir) will never become Pakistan, remember it. We are a part of India and we will remain a part of India come what may. They cannot change it even if they shoot me,” Abdullah, the Member of Lok Sabha from Srinagar, said.

    Expressing grief over Kaur’s killing, he said the Sikh community did not leave the Kashmir valley in the 1990s when others left due to fear and appealed to them to not get scared now.

    We have to keep our morale high and be courageous, he said.

    “We all have to fight them together with courage and not be afraid. You (Sikhs) were the only community that remained here when everyone left. I am proud of the fact that you did not leave here. Killing a teacher who was teaching young students does not serve Islam. They were serving the devil,” he said.

    Talking to reporters outside the gurdwara, the NC president said: “They (militants) will never succeed and will fail in their plans. But, we all — Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Christians — have to stand together to fight them”.

    Abdullah said there is a “storm of hate” across India and communities –Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs — “are being divided”.

    “This divisive politics has to be stopped, otherwise India will cease to exist. If we have to save India, then we all have to live together and only then will it move forward,” he said.

    Asked about leader Devender Rana quitting the NC and joining the BJP, Abdullah said: “People come and go. It is not a big deal”.

  • Omar Abdullah says govt should give sense of security to people cutting across religions in J&K

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Voicing concern over the recent killing of civilians, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said “everyone is feeling unsafe”, and asked the administration to give the people a sense of security cutting across religions.

    Pointing out that terror attacks in the Union Territory this year had claimed the lives of 28 civilians cutting across religious lines, Abdullah, who is the vice-president of the National Conference (NC), at the same time hoped there will not be a fresh exodus of Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs, both of whom had been targeted in the recent days.

    “All of us should try our level best to ensure that we do not see a fresh exodus of minorities from Kashmir”, he said, adding that no one community feels safer than the other.

    “Whatever can be done to stem this and to restore the sense of security to these communities must be done. Obviously, the lion’s share of this work has to be done by the administration but as the majority community, we also carry some of that responsibility. We must fulfil that responsibility”, he told PTI in an interview here.

    Castigating the administration for trying to “score propaganda and public relations victories rather than focus on the ground realities”, Abdullah asked the authorities to “take a long hard look at why we have reached where we have”.

    Abdullah, however, refrained from terming the recent attacks as an intelligence failure, saying: “…I think it’s the failure to act on intelligence. That is a failure you cannot just blame the police for because the counter-militancy operations are conducted by police, paramilitary and military. It is the collective failure of our counter-insurgency grid.”

    He reasoned that for the last few months there has been chatter about targeted attacks against minorities, particularly against Kashmiri Pandits.

    “So obviously, if somebody like me who has no association or anything like that with the government and is not privy to any intelligence reports, if I could hear this, then I am sure the intelligence agencies also picked it up and if they have picked it up, they would have passed it on to the people who matter,” he said.

    Expressing concern about locals joining various terror groups, he said this is an issue that the government and political parties should be concerned about.

    “I am not privy to statistics, I don’t know the numbers but from my own colleagues, I do understand that this trend continues and it is not a trend limited to a particular area, we hear these reports from south, central and north Kashmir,” he said.

    “It is something that should concern us and again it is for the government to create the necessary conditions that these youngsters do not get attracted to the idea of picking up a gun,” he added.

    Abdullah, however, cautioned against detaining people across the valley and said, “We need to be very careful not to get into knee-jerk reactions. Reactions for the sake of reacting, just because we have to show something, we do this.”

    “I am sure that I don’t doubt that perhaps these 400 plus people have some sort of dossier with the government, for whatever reason — whether they were involved in stone-pelting, linked to proscribed organisations. The fact is, are they directly connected to this attack or is there any linkage between them and this attack? 

    “If there is, by all means proceed and file charges and let the courts decide about the guilt but this sort of random and wanton sort of arrest, it doesn’t help the situation and in fact anything it makes the situation worse,” Abdullah said while replying to a question about the recent crackdown by police in Kashmir and detaining over 400 people.

    He said the government needs to be very careful and should not be seen to be carrying out activities with a view to take revenge. Instead, it should be seen as an organisation or as an “entity that delivers justice by all means”, he said.

    Abdullah, who was the chief minister of the erstwhile state for six years between 2009-14, had been able to clear central and north Kashmir of terrorists and their supporters.

    Asked whether he was disheartened that the place has been infested by terrorists again, he said: “Disheartened will perhaps be a strong term, disappointed and concerned yes – because we know militants are moving around in areas that have been free of militancy.

    “Srinagar city was completely cleared of militancy. Same is true for Ganderbal and Budgam districts.

    It is disappointing but again the government needs to take a long hard look at why these areas have been occupied again and then see what corrective measures the government needs to take.

    The corrective measures that are not at the cost of everybody, they know they have to be very careful how they go about their activities,” he said.

    Abdullah asserted that the situation in Afghanistan would have no impact on the security situation in Kashmir other than the distinct possibility “that it may act as a morale booster for terror groups operating in the Union Territory”.

  • Devendra Singh Rana’s joining gives traction to saffron party in Jammu

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  The BJP on Monday inducted former National Conference leader Devendra Singh Rana with an eye to gain strength in Jammu and Kashmir amid the likelihood of the re-start of the legislative process in the Union Territory in the coming months. 

    Rana joined the BJP in the presence of Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Hardeep Singh Puri and Jeetendra Singh apart from senior leaders, including general secretaries Arun Singh and Tarun Chugh. Rana said he would ensure that those carrying out the separatist agenda will never succeed in J&K.

    Former National Conference leader Surjeet Singh Salathia also joined the BJP along with Rana. Salathia had been a minister in the government in the erstwhile J&K state when the National Conference was in power.

    Pradhan said that the BJP will be stronger with Rana in the party fold. “The decision of Rana and Salathia to join the BJP demonstrates the growing popularity of the BJP in J&K. The developmental works have gained pace in the union territory after the abrogation of Article 370,” he told reporters.

    BJP’s J&K unit chief Ravindra Raina told reporters that the people of the Union Territory have distanced from the separatist politics and embraced the development agenda of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  Meanwhile, the National Conference has got yet another jolt as over three dozen party activists, including a provincial secretary, two district presidents and two Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) corporators, resigned on Monday.

  • After resigning from National Conference, Devender Rana, Surjit Singh Slathia join BJP 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A day after resigning from the National Conference, Devender Rana, the former head of its Jammu division, along with another party leader Surjit Singh Slathia joined the BJP on Monday.

    Rana and Slathia joined the BJP at its headquarters here in the presence of Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Hardeep Singh Puri and Jitendra Singh.

    Rana, who is a former MLA and the younger brother of Union minister Jitendra Singh, has also served as a political advisor to former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah.

    ALSO READ | NC suffers major jolt as Jammu-based senior leaders Devender Rana, Slathia quit

    BJP general secretary in-charge for Jammu and Kashmir Tarun Chugh and its Jammu and Kashmir unit chief Ravinder Raina welcomed them in the party.

    Rana has been advocating for the Jammu declaration – a joint declaration of several political, social and business organisations, primarily demanding restoration of statehood for the Jammu region and not for the whole Jammu and Kashmir.

    In 2019, the Centre had revoked the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and bifurcated it into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.