Sri Lankan PM welcomes Centre's move to confer UT status on Ladakh

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday welcomed the Central government's move to confer Union Territory status on Ladakh, a region with a Buddhist majority.

Taking to Twitter, Wickremesinghe said, "I understand Ladakh will finally become a Union Territory. With over 70% Buddhist it will be the first Indian state with a Buddhist majority."

The Sri Lankan PM added that Ladakh's creation as a Union Territory and its consequential restructuring is "India's internal matter".

The Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill, 2019, which strips Jammu and Kashmir's status of a state and converts it into a Union Territory with legislature and carving out Ladakh region as a UT without legislature, was passed in a division pressed by the Opposition with 125 votes in favour and 61 against, and an NCP member abstaining.