evidence: Ladakh, India's northern-most region, is a desert inhabited by 300,000 people from the Muslim and Buddhist communities. The Leh region is dominated by Buddhists while the Kargil region is inhabited by Shia Muslims. [...] Ladakh holds significant geostrategic importance for India as it shares borders with both China and Pakistan, the two countries which strongly condemned India's decision to revoke Article 370. [...] Beijing didn't recognise the creation of Ladakh as a federally-governed territory in 2019. The region lies along the disputed 3,440km (2,100 mile)-long de facto border along the Himalayas - called the Line of Actual Control, or LAC - which is poorly demarcated.