Prominent campaigner Sonam Wangchuk was arrested by Indian authorities on Friday in connection with violent protests in the Himalayan region of occupied Ladakh that resulted in the deaths of at least five people, according to a lawyer.
Security forces opened fire on Wednesday during protests calling for more political autonomy for the high-altitude, thinly populated area that borders Pakistan and China.
Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike calling for either full federal sovereignty for occupied Ladakh or constitutional protections for its ethnic populations, land, and delicate ecology, was accused by New Delhi of making “provocative speeches” that caused the unrests.
