Ladakh Buddhist Association


Ladakh Buddhist Association is an organization in Ladakh, India concerned with interests of Buddhists in Ladakh. It was founded in 1933 by King Jigmet Dadul Namgyal, Kalon Tsewang Rigzin, Kalon Bankapa Morup Gyaltsan and Munshi Sonam Tsewang. with the aim of looking after the Buddhist interests, bringing social reforms in Ladakhi society and to preserve its art, culture, language and tradition.
The LBA consists of the Parent Department, the Youth Wing and the Women's Wing and units located in villages that are meant to address local issues. LBA has its unit branch offices in the outreach representing a cluster of villages. These units facilitate and work closely with the community heads and their own village representatives as well as their women and youth groups.
In 1989, there were violent riots between Buddhists and Muslims, provoking the Ladakh Buddhist Association to call for a social and economic boycott of Muslims, which was lifted in 1992. In early 2000, representatives of the LBA claimed that many Buddhist women were taken forcibly from their home villages and forced to convert to Islam, and accused the state government in Jammu and Kashmir of allowing this to happen.

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