The Ladakh BJP has expelled the party’s Muslim face in the region after his son eloped with a Buddhist girl, with the party claiming the marriage has “jeopardised” the region’s communal harmony.

A circular issued by the BJP’s Ladakh general secretary, Skalzang Dorjey, said Sheikh Nazir Ahmad, the party’s Ladakh vice-president, had been provided “ample time to clarify his involvement in a sensitive issue of the elopement of a Buddhist girl by his son, Manzoor Ahmed”.

“A decision has been reached to promptly relieve Sh. Nazir Ahmed of his responsibilities as State Vice President and revoke his primary membership within the BJP with immediate effect,” the note says.

Nazir Ahmad, 74, who counts himself as the BJP’s founding member in Ladakh and the party’s seniormost Muslim leader in the region, told The Telegraph that he was shocked by the party’s decision as he and his ailing wife had been looking for their son in the hope of convincing him to return the girl to her family.

“My son married the girl last month against our wishes. I was busy with the Haj. After I returned, I found my son was missing,” Nazir Ahmad said.

“I started looking for him. The BJP also served me a notice to find him. Five days ago, my wife and I left Ladakh to look for him in Srinagar after we learnt he was here. We are camping in Srinagar now, but he is untraceable. We were planning to go to Delhi to bring him back but in the meantime, I find that my party has fired me,” he said.

Nazir Ahmad said he had been punished for something his son had done.

“I joined the BJP when there was almost nobody with them in Ladakh. I was part of the LUTF (Ladakh Union Territory Front), which was merged with the BJP in 2010. After that, the BJP won the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat twice. Is this what they do with a senior leader?” he asked.

Nazir Ahmad said the marriage had not only been opposed by the Ladakh Buddhist Association but by the Leh-based (Muslim) Anjuman as well.

“Even our family and relatives are opposed to it because we do not want to disturb communal harmony. I think they punished me so that their voters are not angry with them,” he said.

The expelled BJP leader said inter-religious marriages or conversions were not uncommon in Ladakh.

“I know Muslims who have converted to Buddhism or vice-versa. There are dozens of inter-religion marriages. Ladakh’s erstwhile Raja had a Muslim wife who never converted to Buddhism. My grandfather was a Buddhist who converted to Islam,” he said.

The BJP circular issued on Wednesday said the decision to sack Nazir Ahmad was taken at a meeting chaired by state unit president Phunchok Stanzin and involving executive members.

“Given ample time Sh. Nazir Ahmed, State Vice President of BJP Ladakh, was provided an opportunity to clarify his involvement in a sensitive issue of the elopement of a Buddhist girl by his son, Manzoor Ahmed,” it says.

“The incident is deemed unacceptable by all religious communities in Ladakh, as it jeopardises communal harmony and unity among the people of this region.”

Dorjey said Nazir Ahmed was supposed to bring the girl back but had failed to do so. “He was asked to clarify his stand but he didn’t,” Dorjey told this newspaper.

Asked whether Nazir Ahmed played any role in the marriage, Dorjey said he might or might not have, “but he definitely is in touch with” his son.

Muslims enjoy a slender majority in Ladakh. Buddhists and Muslims were bitter rivals but have been campaigning together for the region’s special status after it was carved out of Jammu and Kashmir as a Union Territory in 2019, fearing an onslaught of outsiders.