Jammu, July 4 -- The Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), the two civil society organisations spearheading Ladakh's agitation for statehood with legislature and constitutional guarantees under the Sixth Schedule, signed off on the minutes of the May 22 sub-committee meeting on Friday, following a three-hour meeting in Leh chaired by Ladakh chief secretary Ashish Kundra, after weeks of disagreement over a clause on officers' performance appraisals. LAB had refused to sign the May 22 minutes after a clause on control over officers' Annual Performance Appraisal Reports (APARs) was left out. The dispute is part of a broader negotiation that has been strained since September 24, when a Leh protest turned violent, four people were killed in police firing, and talks were suspended for weeks. A two-member panel comprising additional secretary Prashant Lokhande and Anurag Kumar, special director, IB, in-charge of J&K and Ladakh affairs, along with LAB and KDA held talks for three hours on Friday. Ladakh chief secretary Ashish Kundra said on X: "Today's meeting in Leh with political leaders of ABL and KDA along with senior officers of MHA was held in a positive and constructive spirit. It ended on a note of optimism, with a consensus on the broad framework as agreed in the last meeting of 22nd May in New Delhi." Chering Dorjay Lakrook, former minister and co-convenor of LAB, said all attendees - representatives of LAB, KDA, and government officials - signed the May 22 minutes. "It appears that things are moving in the right direction but we don't know what happens next," Lakrook said, adding that home ministry officials had not yet given a date for the next official meeting. "Today, we had a marathon meeting and had detailed discussion on sticking points, especially on minutes of the last meeting (May 22). Eventually a consensus evolved and finally we signed on the copy of the minutes of meeting," he said. Lakrook said the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and "almost turned up as per their hopes." "From government side, it tried to accommodate most of our sentiments and finally we evolved a consensus. On safeguards under Article 371, it has clauses A to J but the government added one more thing to it and stated that there can be even better option. It's there in the minutes," he said. The controversy over Annual Peformance Appraisal Reports (APAR) has "almost been cleared," Lakrook said, adding that LAB and KDA were satisfied with the now-signed minutes. A fresh controversy had emerged in Ladakh's ongoing negotiations with the Union government after the LAB refused to sign the official minutes of a recent meeting with ministry of home affairs (MHA) after a crucial clause related to the APARs of officers was "left out". Lakrook, however, informed that the LAB and KDA delegation stressed upon early official talks. "We insisted upon early official talks so that we can reach on a logical conclusion," hesaid. Asked whether MHA officials produced the government's draft proposal, Lakrook said theministry had not yet completed it. "However, our draft proposal prepared by the LAB is complete and is with us but we need to sit with KDA, seek opinion of experts and make requisite rectifications. Then only we will submit it to the government," he said. Lakrook said the government officials have conveyed that MHA is "very positive" to the issues of Ladakh region and home minister wants to take the talks to a logical conclusion at the earliest. The representatives from Ladakh had reiterated the demand for statehood and Sixth Schedule along with thedemand regarding Ladakh administrative and police Service and regarding withdrawal of cases of September 24, 2025, incident. The Ladakh leaders proposed that the bureaucracy may be made accountable to the elected government. The issue of control and supervision over bureaucracy was also raised. It was agreed that in terms of functions and civil servants for the subjects under the purview of the UT-level elected body, the control and supervision, including APAR, will be exercised by the elected executive body. After detailed deliberations, it was unanimously decided that while statehood would remain the long-term aspiration, in the present situation, as a first step, an appropriate customised model of governance by establishing a UT-level elected body with executive, financial and legislative powers would be made. During the meeting, the model of Constitutional safeguards with Article 371 was also discussed. It was for the first time that the home ministry panelvisited Ladakh to hold talks since the start of the process. On May 23, following a meeting with the MHA, the LAB and the KDA, had claimed they reached an in-principle understanding with the government of India on restoring democracy in Ladakh and providing constitutional safeguards on the lines of Article 371 A, F, and G (as applied to Nagaland, Sikkim and Mizoram)....