Rahul Gandhi says PM 'betrayed' people of Ladakh, demands judicial probe into police firing fatalities

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "betrayed" the people of Ladakh and demanded an impartial judicial probe into the death of four protesters in police firing in the union territory.

Among those killed in Ladakh on Wednesday was Kargil war veteran Tsewang Tharchin.

The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, who is on a four-nation tour of South America, posted on X a video of Tharchin's father and said, "Father in the army, son in the army - patriotism runs in their blood. Yet the BJP government shot and killed this brave son of the nation, simply because he stood up for Ladakh and his rights."


The father's pain-filled eyes ask one question, is this the reward for serving the nation today, Gandhi said in his post in Hindi.

"We demand that an impartial judicial inquiry be conducted into these killings in Ladakh, and the culprits be given the harshest punishment...

"(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji, you have betrayed the people of Ladakh. They are demanding their rights. Communicate with them - stop the politics of violence and fear," the former Congress president said.

The Congress on Monday had said it was outrageous that ex-serviceman Tharchin was among those killed in firing by the security forces in Ladakh. In a post on X, Congress general secretary, in-charge, communications, Jairam Ramesh said Tharchin served at the Siachen Glacier and fought valiantly in the 1999 Kargil War.

His father, too, served in the Indian Army, he said.

"Tsewang Tharchin was protesting peacefully for Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh. It should be a matter of the deepest anguish and outrage that he was killed along with three others in the firing on the agitationists five days back," Ramesh said.

On Wednesday, September 24, four people were killed in police firing and scores of others were injured when a protest for statehood for Ladakh turned violent. Protesters set a local BJP office on fire and allegedly pelted police and CRPF with stones.

On September 26, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk was detained under the National Security Act on Friday and subsequently lodged in Jodhpur jail in Rajasthan.