NEW DELHI (AP) — India's surprise move to carve out the sparsely populated region of Ladakh from the state of Jammu and Kashmir and make it into a territory directly controlled by New Delhi has been met with protests in Kargil, a Muslim-majority border city in Ladakh that identifies culturally with Kashmir, suggesting that the Hindu nationalist-led government's plan to redraw the country's political map will be far from easy.

While some Ladakhi lawmakers from Leh, the main city in the heavily Buddhist region with historic ties to Tibet, hailed the move as a long-overdue response to their requests for separation from restive Kashmir, organizations in Kargil condemned the decision.