Leh- Leh Apex Body (LAB) on Saturday welcomed the centre's decision to conduct a judicial probe into the September 14 violence but demanded inclusion of a representative from Ladakh in the team.

The group criticized the Lt Governor-led administration for foiling the silent march earlier during the day and said“such actions can never prove fruitful or convince us to resume talks with the centre”.

The Centre on Friday moved to address a key demand of the protesting Ladakh groups by announcing a judicial inquiry headed by a retired Supreme Court judge into the violent clashes of September 24 in Leh, which claimed the lives of four people, including a 1999 Kargil war veteran.

According to a notification issued by the Union Home Ministry, the judicial probe, to be headed by Justice B S Chauhan, a former judge of the Supreme Court, is mandated to investigate the circumstances leading to the serious law and order situation, the police action and the resultant unfortunate deaths of four people.

Retired district and sessions judge Mohan Singh Parihar will function as judicial secretary, while IAS officer Tushar Anand will be the administrative secretary of the inquiry commission.

“We welcome the MHA's notification for a judicial inquiry. But we saw some shortcomings like the reference which is FIR No:144. It looks that the inquiry is against our boys and secondly, none of the threeis from Ladakh.

“We want this inquiry to be completely transparent and no attempt should be made to hide anything. We want someone from Ladakh to be made part of the team,” LAB Co-chairman and Ladakh Buddhist Association chief Chering Dorje Lakruk told reporters here.

He replied in affirmative when asked whether he would like MHA to change the composition of the team and said“it is necessary to include a Ladakhi in the team so that the people have confidence in this commission.”

He said the restrictions placed on the people to scuttle the silent march were“very sad thing for all of us” and“we consider such measures as undemocratic and unlawful”.

“This shows that the administration is very scared. And I think that when the administration is scared of its own people, there must be something wrong...we could only manage a symbolic march without participation of the people,” Lakruk said.

MENAFN19102025000215011059ID1110215817