Asked about his next step, Wangchuk said he would travel to Ladakh and consult the leaders of the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KAD), which have been at the forefront of the agitation for the past five years for statehood and the extension of the Sixth Schedule to Ladakh.
If he were to return to agitation, he said: “I have always said I don’t want to sit on hunger strike, I am forced to do it. Now that the government is reaching out, we hope a good example will be set.”
Wangchuk, 59, was arrested on September 26 last year under the strict NSA, two days after violent protests during the agitation left four people dead.
He was released from the Jodhpur Central Jail on Saturday after the Union government revoked his detention with immediate effect.
LAB and KDA have remained engaged in talks with the Ministry of Home Affairs over their main demands for citizenship and inclusion of the Sixth Schedule, issues that have faded since the region was separated from Jammu and Kashmir as a Union Territory in 2019.
The outfits held rallies and shut down on Monday to demand the next round of talks as promised during the high-powered committee meeting.
The last meeting of the high-powered committee chaired by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai took place on February 4, where both bodies demanded the release of Wangchuk and 70 other detainees.
