LEH

Gitanjali Angmo, wife of Ladakh's climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been taken into preventive custody under the stringent National Security Act for his alleged "Pakistani links" and inciting violence during his protests, has trashed allegations of “Pakistan link” and financial irregularities against him.

Terming the charge that Wangchuk incited the violence in Leh as “misplaced”, she claimed that he has been protesting in the “most Gandhian way possible” and the “situation escalated” on September 24 due to the actions of the CRPF.

Police detained climate activist Wangchuk on Friday under the stringent National Security Act (NSA), two days after protests demanding Sixth Schedule status and statehood for Ladakh turned violent in Leh last Wednesday, claiming four lives and injuring 90 others.

Talking to PTI over the phone, Angmo, the co-founder of Himalayan Institute of Alternative Learning (HIAL), said she has not been able to communicate with her husband since his detention and dismissed all allegations against the climate activist and their institutions.

Claiming that they have not been handed over a copy of the detention order, Angmo said, They promised to send it on Friday. We will take legal recourse.”

Angmo, however, clarified that their recent visit to the neighbouring country was purely professional and climate-focused.

Denouncing the allegations of Pakistan links involving her husband, she said all of Wangchuk’s overseas visits were made on the invitation of reputed universities and institutions.

“We attended a conference organised by the United Nations, and it was on climate change. The glacier on the top of the Himalayas is not going to see whether I’m flowing into Pakistan or India,” she said.

She said the ‘Breathe Pakistan’ conference held in February was organised by the United Nations Pakistan and Dawn Media, and involved multinational cooperation.
“There are organisations like the ICIMOD, which bring together all the eight Hindu Kush countries and work on different issues. We are part of the ICIMOD’s Himalayan University Consortium,” Angmo said.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is a Nepal-based organisation founded in 1983 comprising eight regional member countries of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region – India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.

“I was also there to present a paper on women’s role in climate change… In fact, he (Wangchuk) praised Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi on stage at the event.
“The Nepal and Bangladesh reference being bandied around is actually an example Sonam gave, i.e., ‘when governments are not responsive, it leads to a revolution’. We should avoid the interpretations,” she said.

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Angmo also challenged the slapping of the stringent NSA on Wangchuk, which allows detention without a trial for up to 12 months, citing his long record of peaceful protests.
“I think it is a very wrong charge. Sonam certainly is not a threat to any public order,” Angmo said.