Amid Ladakh Protests… Wangchuk's NGO foreign funding licence cancelled

New Delhi: The Union government on Thursday cancelled the FCRA registration of Ladakh activist Sonam Wangchuk's nonprofit - the Students Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh - over 'repeat' violations of the law governing foreign funding for non-governmental organisations.

The cancellation comes 24 hours after violent protests over statehood demands for Ladakh. Only a few hours earlier sources said the government is planning to act against Wangchuk, who has emerged as the face of Ladakh's statehood push, and who has been blamed for the violence and the deaths of four people.

The Union Home Ministry said his 'provocative speeches' had incited a mob to attack a local BJP office and that of the Ladakh election officer. Sources also said investigations had flagged 'serious financial irregularities' in the functioning of his nonprofit, including repeat violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. Sonam Wangchuk is widely seen as the face of the Ladakhi statehood movement and was on a hunger strike to press home the demand.

And, anticipating government action against him, he told newsmen that he is ready to be arrested under the stringent Public Safety Act. "I see they are building up a case to bring me under the Public Safety Act and throw me in jail for two years," he said.