SRINAGAR: Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA) has written to Union home minister Amit Shah seeking a “strict” anti-conversion law in the Union territory forthwith, flagging potential threats of communal violence in the strategically sensitive border region.While the letter didn’t specify the immediate reason for the demand, it came amid reports that a Buddhist girl from Zanskar allegedly eloped with a youth from Kargil, triggering protests and complaints that marriage was being misused as a tool for conversion of women from the community. Zanskar is a Buddhist-majority pocket. In Kargil, Muslims outnumber others.Sent by LBA president Chering Dorjay Lakrook on Thursday, the letter stressed Ladakh’s “distinctive religious demography with delicate balance between Buddhist, Muslim and Christian communities, along with other minorities”. “The conversion issue poses a serious threat to Ladakh’s peace…with potential for undermining development initiatives due to social tensions, impact on tourism and economic activities due to perceived instability,” the letter states.Founded in 1932, LBA is an influential organisation in the region and part of Leh Apex Body (LAB), an amalgam of political and religious groups that seeks Sixth Schedule status and statehood for Ladakh. Lakrook is also LAB’s chairman.The letter cited concerns about increasing conversion activities. “These activities allegedly involved organised conversion campaigns in remote areas, use of inducement, allurement and misrepresentation, targeting economically vulnerable sections, conversion through marriage without full disclosure…”On Thursday, Zanskar Buddhist Association (ZBA) submitted a complaint to local authorities alleging the girl had been abducted wrongfully confined, warning it could be part of a “wider pattern” in which marriage is misused for conversions.Lakrook’s letter says an anti-conversion law in Ladakh would help prevent communal tension, deter “provocative” conversions and provide an institutional mechanism for addressing grievances.To buttress his demand, Lakrook cited examples of some states that have enacted anti-conversion laws over the years, with Odisha being the first in 1967, followed by Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Karnataka.
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