DefinePK

Abstract

When Medina Tenour Whiteman was writing her book entitled “The Invisible Muslim: Journeys Through Whiteness and Islam”, she could never imagine that Ladakh would gain strategic importance in global politics one day. The majority of social sciences students across the globe came to know about Ladakh in 2019 when Chinese troops started invasion of almost 100-kilometer area by pushing back the Indian troops from the region. At that time, the demographic structure of Ladakh comprised of pro-Pakistani, pro-Indian and pro-Chinese communities. As the region largely consists of a Buddhist population following Tibetan Buddhism, this study investigates the role of the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA) in between the described three communities. Similarly, the study also examines how LBA’s pro-Indian stance is not only creating a huge religious rift between Ladakhi Buddhists and Ladakhi Muslims but coercing the majority of the non-LBA Buddhist population to seek its future with either China or Pakistan.