India released Ladakh activist Sonam Wangchuk from Jodhpur Central Jail on March 14, 2026, after revoking with “immediate effect” his 170-day detention under the National Security Act (NSA) under the rarely used Section 14, with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) saying the release is to further the objective of fostering peaceful atmosphere for constructive dialogue. But Wangchuk’s release just ahead of the Supreme Court hearing of the case speaks volumes.

Earlier, Wangchuk’s request for appearing virtually in court hearings was rejected. Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali J Angmo, wife was fighting a legal battle against Wangchuk’s arrest, but government ensured the case kept dragging on (https://x.com/GitanjaliAngmo/status/1992945310566584556?s=03) in order to allegedly push corporate interests in the remote Ladakh region. False propaganda on social media called Gitanjali a  foreigner, while she was teaching Upanishads and Bhagvad Gita. https://x.com/GitanjaliAngmo/status/199585224566184771?s=03).

Background of Arrest

In 2020, Sonam Wangchuk peeved the government by wanting to lead the Pashmina March to the China border in Ladakh to highlight traditional grazing grounds of Ladakhis occupied by the Chinese PLA, but the march was blocked. BJP MP Tapir Gao from Arunachal Pradesh told Parliament on November 19, 2019, that China had occupied 50-60 km of Indian territory, to which the government response was due to undemarcated boundary movements that were often perceived as intrusions. 

The ‘Silent March’ called by Ladakhis on October 18, 2025, to express solidarity with protesters killed in police firing at Leh on September 24, 2025 was also blocked.

On October 22, 2025, Ladakhi leaders, led by Lok Sabha MP from Ladakh, Mohammed Haneefa Jan, met MHA officials  reiterating demands for statehood and protection under Sixth Schedule of the Constitution (which was promised by the BJP), and demanded release of detained protestors, including Sonam Wangchuk arrested under the NSA. But there was no positive response from the MHA.

Destruction of Ladakh Ecology

Subsequently, Ladakh’s Lt. Governor, Kavinder Gupta cleared 16 major projects spanning the Army, Power Development Department (PDD) and Border Roads Organisation (BRO), all located within the ecologically sensitive Karakoram and Changthang Wildlife Sanctuaries.

Both the Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuary and the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary increased from their original sizes, which were approximately 5,000 sq km and 4,000 sq km, respectively, according to a 1987 notification. The combined proposed area of these sanctuaries is 26,245 sq km. But do these projects include the pasture lands of locals which were allotted earlier to the corporates for power projects. What about mining disregarding the fragile ecology?

In addition to the Pashmina March, Wangchuk was voicing Ladakhis demands for political and administrative participation, as well as protecting the fragile ecology and their livelihood. With 97%  tribal population in Ladakh, they can’t be declared illegal immigrants and pushed into Tibet, but they are apparently  considered a political nonentity, as corporates drive the government’s Ladakh policy (https://southasiamonitor.org/perspective/are-corporates-driving-indias-ladakh-policy#google_vignette).  

In December 2025, Ashish Kundra, Chief Secretary–designate, of UT Ladakh, called on Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi in an unprecedented first. A three-star Army veteran wrote that this was to ensure the army toes their line and asked, “Why is the Army not opposing the arrest of Sonam Wangchuk with no apparent justification, which is affecting the equation with the locals, after all it is the Army which has to bear the brunt?” A former Army vice chief said this was to ensure that the Army remained mum when “strategic roads are used for mining”! 

Wangchuk was arrested - he has since been released -  obviously to allow allotment of land to corporates without engaging with the locals. Under the circumstances, how much trust of the Ladakhis the government can regain, remains questionable.

(The author is an Indian Army veteran. Views expressed are personal.)