Leh turns into a fortress for funeral of ex-serviceman who fought in Kargil but fell to police bullets

King Singay Namgyal Chowk, which leads to the funeral ground, was covered with barbed wire barricades and security personnel, some of them in riot gear, lining the road.

Funeral procession of ex-serviceman Tsewang Tharchin moves through the heavily guarded streets of Leh | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Leh: A photograph of him in uniform, adorned with garlands, sat next to a fluttering tricolour front and centre, and the chanting of prayers rent the air. As a cavalry of cars that made up the funeral procession of ex-serviceman Tsewang Tharchin moved through the heavily guarded streets of Leh, the spectacle was starkly different from the muted funerals of the three other men killed in firing by security personnel when a pro-statehood protest turned violent on 24 September.

The sound of engines filled the cold mountain air as one vehicle after another whizzed through the heart of a city still under curfew. When 25-year-old Stanzin Namgail and 24-year-old Jigmet Dorjee’s last rites took place the previous day, things were quieter. Even when Rinchen Dorjay’s funeral was held on the same funeral ground just hours before Tharchin’s, the scene was very different.

Tsewang Tharchin, a 46-year-old retired serviceman, had fought in Kargil and was part of the Ladakh Scouts | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Ahead of Tharchin’s last rites, King Singay Namgyal Chowk, which leads to the funeral ground, was covered in a thick blanket of security, with barbed wire barricades and security personnel, some of them in riot gear, lining the road. 

King Singay Namgyal Chowk | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Media personnel were strictly not allowed anywhere near the funeral ground.

Twenty minutes before the funeral procession reached the spot, there was a sudden sense of urgency as security vehicles increased in the area, coming, leaving, and circling. 

Security forces wait for Tharchin’s funeral procession | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Unlike in Tharchin’s funeral, at the other three men’s last rites, the administration managed to limit the number of people to 30-40 apart from 20-25 Lamas. The 46-year-old retired serviceman had fought in Kargil and was part of the Ladakh Scouts—also known as the ‘Snow Warriors’ or ‘Snow Leopards’—who guard India’s borders at high altitudes.

He was not the only ex-serviceman to join the protests, which have been ongoing for a few years now since the abrogation of Article 370 when Ladakh became a UT. Many others, who have served in the Army, had joined the protests and have been taken into police custody in connection with the violence.

(Edited by Gitanjali Das)