Climate Activist Sonam Wangchuk was on Friday detained by Ladakh police under the National Security Act (NSA). His wife Gitanjali Angmo spoke to Deeptiman Tiwary on the development.

Sonam Wangchuk has been detained by police. Could you share what happened?

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He was at his residence in his village when police reached there around 12.30 pm and started searching the house. His phone and other electronic devices were taken away. He was later informed that he was being detained under the National Security Act. I was at our institute at that time and I received a call from an inspector that he was being taken to Jodhpur jail on a flight and that he would speak to me once he landed there. I am still waiting.

What do you have to say about him being booked under the stringent NSA?

In no way is Wangchuk a threat to public order. For the last four years, he has been protesting in the peaceful Gandhian way. The very premise on which the detention has been done is not right.

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All along he has been demanding what the government had already promised. Blaming him for the violence is very wrong. He was not even aware of the whole thing. He even appealed for peace and broke his fast to ensure peace prevailed. I don’t know what is the national threat his poses. He has been working for the Indian Army and soldiers building heated shelters for them. He has been working in the field of innovative education and climate. It does not make any sense. It (NSA) has been invoked because it gives absolute power to the government.

Why do you think the government has taken this step?

It is very evident why this has been done. It is to harass him from every angle. Even before the violence erupted, the government had ordered cancellation of allotment of land to his institute. There is a CBI inquiry going on. I-T summons have been issued. Most likely it is because elections were round the corner in October and they did not want the public to be reminded of the key issues concerning Ladakh. This is how they lost the Parliamentary elections here.

He is being called an anti-national with references to his visit to Pakistan.

The whole national machinery has been unleashed to tarnish his image. The Pakistan trip was a UN conference, I had accompanied him on the trip. Climate change does not care about borders. Everything is connected. Mr (Narendra) Modi himself goes to China. What has to be seen is the intent. We are with India and the truth and whoever allies with it.

There have been allegations against HIAL (Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh) and its land allotment has been withdrawn.

I have clearly mentioned earlier it was a case of witch hunting. Many institutions, including government ones, do not have signed lease and they have been allowed construction even as things go through the process. I have been consistently following up with the Education Ministry. The last I wrote (to them) was in 2023. After the UT (Ladakh) was formed, no lease policy was formulated. Anybody can see in black and white that we haven’t done anything wrong. We are funded by PSUs, who wouldn’t put their penny without checking all the papers. And these papers have been approved by the Deputy Commissioner, who is now issuing orders for withdrawal of the land allotment.