Jammu, May 23 -- In a clear indication of a thaw between Ladakhi people and the Centre, Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), on Friday, 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). The Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) had invited the representatives from LAB and KDA for a sub-committee meeting at New Delhi on Friday. "The sub-committee comprising top representatives from LAB and KDA, and also from the Union ministry of home affairs met on Friday to deliberate on the future administrative and political framework of Ladakh," said co chairman of the KDA, Sajjad Hussain Kargili. "During the meeting, both LAB and KDA reiterated the long-standing aspirations of the people of Ladakh regarding the restoration of democracy, constitutional safeguards, and the demand for statehood and Sixth Schedule protections reflecting the shared commitment of all stakeholders towards an inclusive and sustainable governance framework for the region," stated a statement issued jointly by the KDA and the LAB. Following detailed and constructive deliberations, both sides have arrived at an in-principle understanding on several critical points, read the statement. "In this model the legislative, executive and financial powers will rest with elected representatives through a union territory (UT) level legislative body. All bureaucrats of the UT including the chief secretary will come under the executive head of the UT level elected body (proposed to be chief minister)," said Sajjad Hussain Kargili. It was explained by the MHA authorities that the only reason why Ladakh cannot be made a state at the moment is that it currently lacks adequate revenue generation to meet the revenue expenditures like salaries of employees, he said. "However, this setup will lead Ladakh towards full statehood as when it meets the revenue criteria," he added. The KDA and LAB stated that they look forward to closely working out the finer operational details with the MHA in consultation with legal and constitutional experts. The co-chairman of the LAB and former minister, Chering Dorjay Lakrook said that the meeting lasted nearly two hours and it was attended by representatives from KDA and LAB that included Chering Dorjay Lakrook, Thupstan Chhewang, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, Ladakh MP Hanifa Jan, and Sajjad Hussain Kargili. Ladakh's chief secretary Ashish Kundra chaired the meeting. Two special directors of the IB including joint secretary home, Ladakh and J&K in-charge Prashant Lokhande also attended the meeting. When contacted, the chief secretary of Ladakh, Ashish Kundra, said, "The meeting was held in a constructive environment, and the history of negotiations over the past two years was brought out. The fact of the matter is that the government of India placed a few options before the representatives, and amongst them, one of the options was Article 371. The participants were receptive to the broad contours of the options, and everybody appreciated the contours of the negotiations. I would say there is positive forward movement." It may be stated here that on April 30, the Union home minister Amit Shah on his two day visit to Ladakh had met leaders from LAB & KDA for a meeting. It was Shah's maiden visit ever since Ladakh was made a UT in 2019....