‘I apologise to Indian Army’: Woman in viral ‘We are Gen Z’ Ladakh video speaks out

Speaking to NDTV for the first time since the video spread across social media, the woman said she had reacted out of frustration after waiting for several hours without being told when the road would reopen.

She said she had never intended to insult the armed forces or gain popularity through the incident.

“I respect the Indian army so much. I could never dream that they would feel bad because of something I said,” she told NDTV.

The woman said she had been travelling from Ladakh to Delhi when the road was closed because of a VIP movement.

“We didn't know there was going to be a VIP movement. We waited for three to four hours in the morning, and when we asked a soldier how much longer it would be, he said another hour,” she said.

According to her account, that additional hour passed but the road remained closed.

Road closure near Minimarg check post

Ladakh Police said the video dates to around Kargil Vijay Diwas on July 26, when the road was temporarily closed for security reasons.

The incident took place near the Minimarg check post in the Dras area, where movement along the Minimarg-Zoji La-Sonamarg road had been restricted.

As the wait continued, a group of travellers gathered at the location and tensions rose.

In the viral video, the woman can be seen confronting security personnel and questioning why some people, including a minister, appeared to have been allowed to leave while other travellers remained stranded.

“How did the minister leave from here... We are Gen Z. We will not tolerate this nonsense! We will not tolerate this nonsense!” she says in the video.

She then urges those around her to join a protest, asking: “You all tell me, will you sit here [in protest] or not? Let's go! How will they stop us?”

‘It has been five hours’

The woman also expressed anger over the length of the wait.

“It has been five hours... they are not letting us go. Do we pay money to come here to travel, or do we come to tolerate all this?” she said.

“They have locked the gate. They do this to Kashmiris, and now they are doing it to tourists from outside as well! They locked it, didn't even state their name, and walked away. There is no one sitting here to take any accountability,” she added.

The footage showed several tourists cheering her as she confronted the security personnel.

However, speaking to NDTV, the woman said the short clip did not capture the full circumstances that led to the confrontation.

Photo: Screen grab from X

'Confrontation followed 6-hour wait'

She said the group had waited for another hour, taking their total waiting time to around six hours.

According to her, the travellers then heard shouting from further ahead and learnt that an altercation had apparently broken out between members of the public and security personnel.

“After waiting another hour, bringing our total wait time to six hours, we heard shouting from the front. It seemed like a fight had broken out between the army, the local police, and the public,” she said.

The woman said she moved towards the area to see what was happening and became caught in the middle of the confrontation.

“I got caught in the middle of it and said, ‘I am a patient, and I'm having a lot of problems. We've been stuck for six hours, unable to use the washroom or do anything because of your VIP movement. We are getting very frustrated. We pay taxes, we do everything. So why is this happening to us?’” she told NDTV.

She acknowledged that some of the language she used during the confrontation was inappropriate.

“Whatever I said in frustration was not right at all. It was very wrong,” she said.

‘I am very ashamed’

The woman said the widespread circulation of the video had caused her considerable distress.

She said she had not anticipated that the footage would spread so widely or attract intense criticism.

“But that thing was shown in such a negative way that I went into depression,” she said.

“I am a normal girl. I am a 25-year-old girl. I had no idea that this thing would increase so much,” she added.

She then issued an apology to the security forces and others she believed had been hurt by her remarks.

“Now, through you, I am again apologising to all the people of the country, to the Indian army, to the J&K police, to the Ladakh police and especially to Omar Abdullah. I am very ashamed that so many people were hurt because of me,” she said.

Why she said ‘We are Gen Z’

The phrase “We are Gen Z” became one of the most widely circulated parts of the video.

Asked why she had used the expression, particularly amid wider public discussion around Gen-Z protests, the woman said it was not intended as a political statement.

“I don't know where that phrase came from,” she said.

She claimed that people around her had been provoking her while the travellers waited.

“A lot of people behind me were provoking me, saying things like, ‘This happens to us all the time. You're a tourist, so this is your first time facing it. We deal with this every day,’” she said.

“At that moment, I didn't realise what I was saying would become such a problem. It just came out by mistake. I didn't mean to make a statement by mentioning Gen Z,” she added.