Sonam Wangchuk | Pakistan

India on Saturday ended the preventive detention of prominent activist Sonam Wangchuk, freeing him six months after he was arrested over protests in India-held Ladakh. The Buddhist-Muslim enclave was deprived of its autonomy in 2019 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government carved it out of occupied Kashmir, placing the region under New Delhi’s direct control. Wangchuk, 59, an environmental advocate who became a key figure in Ladakh’s movement for greater autonomy, was held in September and later charged under India’s National Security Act (NSA) following protests that left four people dead and dozens wounded. New Delhi had blamed the violence on “provocative speeches” by Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike demanding either full federal statehood for India-held Ladakh or constitutional protections for its tribal communities, land and fragile environment. Authorities in the sparsely populated, high-altitude region bordering China and Pakistan at the time said the order, issued by the district magist...