JAMMU/ New Delhi, Oct. 23 -- Activist Sonam Wangchuk on Thursday accused the Centre of keeping Ladakh "deprived of democracy" and treating it as a "controversial area" by retaining its status as a Union Territory without a legislature. The remarks came after a Union home ministry meeting with Ladakh leaders, scheduled for Thursday in New Delhi, did not take place. Wangchuk said the cancellation, without an explanation, had prompted the region's leadership to consider taking its case to the United Nations. "We were told with complete determination that we will meet in Delhi on the 22nd of October," Wangchuk told the media in New Delhi. "We made our plans and bought our tickets. Today I am here, and the meeting is not happening. The country should know how the hopes of Ladakh have been ruined again and again." This was supposed to be the seventh round of talks between the Centre and the leaders of Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA). At the last meeting in Leh on October 15, the ministry of home affairs had reportedly fixed October 22 as the next date for holding talks in Delhi. The October 15 meeting had remained inconclusive and was dubbed "disappointing" by the LAB and KDA leaders. He said that the progress made at the May 22 had been squandered away at the October 15 meeting. "The hopes of the people of Ladakh are being shattered repeatedly. At the October 15 meeting, the sub-committee of the MHA backtracked on its words and had suggested an agency, much lower than the existing hill development councils," he said. Wangchuk said the LAB and KDA were mulling approaching the United Nations over the declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, to which India was a signatory in 2007....