Tension grips Leh

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 28. Tension gripped the Leh district of Jammu and Kashmir this afternoon following a minor scuffle between a local Buddhist and the armed police, official sources said here. Sources said the cops objected to parking of a vehicle by the Buddhist in an unauthorised place. Apparently angered by this, the Buddhist shouted at the policemen, triggering heated exchange of words.

As onlookers gathered at the place, some more cops joined and fired in the air to disperse the swelling crowd, the sources said.

Prominent Buddhist leader and a member of National Commission for Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes, Lama Lobzang, has demanded immediate withdrawal of police from the Himalayan district.

In a letter to the Union Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, he alleged that police had been ``letting loose repression'' in Leh at a time when elections to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council were round the corner.

He claimed that the State Government was ``panicking because it sees no chance for the ruling party nominees to win any seat in the council.''

Seeking immediate intervention by the Centre, he urged the Home Minister to ensure that police was not further encouraged to ``communalise the situation.''

- PTI

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