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The remarks by the leaders of the LAB, which is spearheading the agitation along with the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), came a day after Ladakh’s lieutenant governor and BJP leader Kavinder Gupta claimed that normalcy had returned to the region, even as the restrictions on mobile internet and public gatherings remain in place in Leh. In a meeting on Sunday, Gupta, who also served as speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, appreciated the people of Ladakh for their "exemplary cooperation with the administration and security forces … which has contributed significantly to restoring and sustaining normalcy in the region". "Ladakh is not normal," LAB co-chairman Chering Dorjay Lakrook said during a press conference in Leh on Monday. "On the surface, there is an illusion of normalcy but it is all fake. Mobile internet remains shut and there are restrictions on public gatherings while harassment of people continues unabated". Lakrook, who also heads the Ladakh Buddhist Association, said that if the local administration was serious about defusing the situation, all restrictions on public gatherings and mobile internet should be lifted, which he said would restore public confidence. "All these measures are important to restore normalcy in Ladakh," he said. Restrictions on public gatherings under section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita were imposed in the Leh and Kargil districts of Ladakh on September 25, a day after four civilian protesters, including a Kargil War veteran, were killed in firing by security forces as the capital city erupted in violent protests. While section 163 has been lifted and mobile internet services have been restored in Kargil district, Leh continues to reel under curbs. Without taking the names of the concerned villages, Lakrook alleged that the administration was resorting to questioning their numberdars (village headmen) in connection with the September 24 protests "without any justification". He asserted that numberdars are an "important part of our community and culture". "Nothing happens in the villages without their consent. When the fast was being held [at the Martyrs Memorial Park in Leh], the apex body had requested people to participate and it was their [the numberdars’] duty to spread the word in every village, because of which they are being called here [to Leh] without any justification and questioned [by the police]," Lakrook said. On September 23, when the hunger strike by more than a dozen Ladakhi activists led by the incarcerated educator and environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk entered its 14th day, two elderly activists including a woman were admitted to the Sonam Narboo Memorial Hospital in Leh after their health deteriorated and they refused to end their fast. The hospitalisation of the two activists is believed to have sowed the seeds for widespread violence in Leh on September 24 as it had led to a flare up of tensions across Ladakh. The LAB had also called for a general strike in Leh on September 24 in protest against the deteriorating condition of the fasting activists. Condemning the administration’s actions against the village headmen, Lakrook said: "We believe it is a direct attack on our culture." Urging the administration to release all suspects who have been held for their alleged involvement in the September 24 violence, Lakrook said that the continuing police questioning and detentions were not going to restore peace in Ladakh. "Normalcy won't return through intimidation. The questioning of gobas [numberdars] is unjust. They did not instigate protests but only performed their duty of communicating with villagers," a statement by the LAB said. Referring to Wangchuk, who remains incarcerated in the central jail of Rajasthan’s Jodhpur under the National Security Act, the apex body said that his brother and his legal counsel met him recently and confirmed that he was in good health. "Wangchuk has conveyed that he will continue to stay in jail until an independent judicial probe into the killings is initiated. The Apex Body reaffirmed its commitment to the ongoing peaceful struggle for Sixth Schedule status and Statehood for Ladakh and called on the government to take sincere steps toward restoring stability and trust in the region," the LAB statement said.