Exploring life in Fertile Land torn between two hostile neighbours

Lives shattered by the war of 1971, separated from most of their tribe and many family members, and deprived of their economic and educational ties, the people of Turtuk managed to embrace the future and build better lives.

Rahima Begum was a young bride and new mother when she awoke one morning in December 1971 to find that her dreams were shattered and her new family divided as India had captured her village of Turtuk and the three neighboring villages of Chalunka, Thang and Tyakshi. Overnight the border shifted. For India it was a tactical victory that offered the Indian forces new vantage points. For the villagers in these four villages, the victory led to narratives of separation, heartbreak and hardship.

With a lush green landscape and endless blue skies, Turtuk is an oasis amid the stark, stony peaks of the Pamir and Hindukush mountains. Sprawling fields of flowering buckwheat are interspersed with beautifully entangled tree trunks giving rise to orange canopies, an abundance of the world’s sweetest apricots. The calming sound of gurgling water plays along the beautiful cobble stone or cement pathways as fresh glacier water winds through the entire village until it eventually joins as a mere stream into it’s bigger cousin, the Shyok. In summer, the sound of laughter echoes across the fields as children splash about in the natural pool in the center of the village.

Rahima Begum was one of the children growing up in the village in the 1960’s. She was a bright, free spirited child full of dreams of her life ahead. Her parents, Mohammed Abdullah and Fathima, were educated and had dreams and ambitions for their young daughter. Her great-grandfather was Mohammed, a famous Balti poet and they were determined to educate all their children. She attended the local school which opened its doors in 1960. Rahima was the eldest of the sisters, and she was the first girl to graduate from the school at fourteen.

Her life as a young girl was peaceful and free. After school in the summers, all the children jump into the town pond to bathe. They jump in fully clothed, and thus, launder their school clothes at the same time. After their bath they stand stretched out in the sun to dry, looking for all the world like clothes strung out on a line to dry. They are free to run and play while the women attend to the fields, animals and house. The men attend prayer four times a day and provide guide and transport services.

As was the custom, as soon as Rahima finished sixth standard and graduated from school, her family found a husband for her. She felt herself very fortunate that her parents chose her cousin, Sher Ali.  He was widely known as the most handsome man in the area, and indeed in all of Pakistan. He was well employed as a member of the Pakistan army. Marriage to him promised travel to other parts of Pakistan and a good income. Rahima foresaw a happy future.

In Turtruk, as a married woman, she put behind her the carefree days of childhood and took on the household and agricultural duties of a woman. After rising early and completing her morning prayers, she would prepare breakfast of kisir and grangthur, buckwheat pancakes and curd with local herbs.  Soon she would leave to work in the fields or the orchards. Sometimes she would return to her home by three. Other days she toiled on until sunset. At home she had donkeys and chickens to see to and her domestic chores to complete.

Early in 1971, she was pleased to find that she was pregnant. She prepared for her baby’s arrival and her initiation into motherhood. On November third, she was thrilled to deliver a healthy baby girl, whom they named Aisha Sudiqa. Life promised to be good.

The beautiful, fertile valley in which Turtuk lies is found at the northernmost extreme tip of the Indian subcontinent, very deep into the north-western Himalayas, at the very edge of India. Enclosed by the Pamir mountains to the north and the Hindu Kush to the west. This land is nestled in between the stark, towering, jagged rocks which rise to the highest mountain peaks in the Karakoram mountain range. The raging Shyok river runs beside the rich land. This is home — home to a small number of people who are Balti.

This area has long been a borderland with local princes forming and breaking alliances with powerful neighbours as opportunities arose. As kingdoms rose nearby, the land fell under Tibetan, Kashmiri and Dogra rule. In the sixteenth century, Ali Sher Khan Achan, with the help of Ashoka the Great, briefly conquered and ruled the Balti land as Baltistan.

It, also, lay astride forks of the silk route. Balti caravans shepherded Central Asian and European traders through their steep, mountainous land. They were known as good riders and efficient porters. Today they still love to display their riding skills in polo matches and provide transport to the high isolated posts of the Indian army.

In the sixteenth century, Muslim scholars arrived in Turtuk and converted the population to Islam. Turtuk remains devoutly Muslim, a small town with four mosques. Although this area has fallen under various kingdoms, through the centuries its remote location has helped secure the survival of a distinct local culture. For months at a time in winter it was cut off from all outside contact. The villages necessarily developed strong self-sufficiency.

In December 1971, a military confrontation flared between India and Pakistan during the liberation war in East Pakistan. In a single quick incursion, the Indian army managed to capture the land around Turtuk and the other villages. The villagers of Calungka all took what possessions they could and fled across the new border into Pakistan. The people in the other three villages chose to stay. They knew they could support themselves and waited to see what joining India would bring.

For Rahima life went on in its familiar routines but spiced by the thrill of motherhood. She was very excited about being a new mother and embraced motherhood and all the experiences that came with it. She was discovering new things about herself and her daughter and it was a completely new and beautiful experience. Aisha was a very intelligent, beautiful baby girl curious about the world around her and smiling all the time. She would accompany her mother to the apricot orchards, play in the pond on summer evenings and run round with the other children. Months and eventually years passed by. Aisha was learning each day and sought to try new things at a very young age. She brought happiness to everyone she encountered.

Life was pleasant, but one thing was missing. Rahima missed Sher Ali very much. She did not foresee being a single mother and raising her daughter on her own. She wanted her husband back and a father figure for Aicha. She stayed strong and waited hopefully for the news of his return. Three years passed and still nothing.

One fine day, three years later, Rahima finally received a letter in the post. She had been waiting for so long. The letter aroused all her memories of him by her side. She had been waiting for for so long. It was a letter from Sher Ali to her. Her hands trembled as she opened it. He wrote that he missed her very much and asked about Aisha. He hoped that they would be reunited soon and bid her to take care of herself and the child.

After reading the letter she was more determined to live with him and Aisha wherever they could be together, Even if it meant going over the border into Pakistan. The same day she packed some clothes for Aisha and herself, and their documents and started the long journey to the Wagah border. The only official border one can cross from India to Pakistan. After of a long struggle through the barren, unforgiving landscape she managed to reach the Wagah border. As she gazed out of the window she saw all the people dressed in khaki and green and army trucks going by every few seconds. Suddenly the brakes were slammed on, and she was ordered to get down with everyone else. She walked to the border control. She was scared herself but had to be strong for her and her daughter.

The officials looked at her documents and checked the records from a big book to make sure there was no past history of failed attempts to crossover the border. After a short wait an officer walked towards her. She knew that her and her daughter’s fate was in the hands of the border officials. It was not in her control. She begged and pleaded with the official to let her through, but was denied again and again. Heartbroken, she finally left with her daughter back to Turtuk. She wondered to herself if she would ever see Sher Ali again.

She was beginning to loose hope. She hoped there would come a day when she was reunited with Sher Ali again. But in the back of her mind something told her that this would be last. With no further calls, messages, or postal letters.

Two years later, when Aisha was 6 years old in March of 1976, Rahima got another letter in the post. The letter said “As-Salaam-Alaikum”. I hope you and Aisha are well. I am upset to bring the news to you that I do not think we have the hope to ever meet again. I tried multiple times to cross the border and was rejected. I think it is time to say goodbye. I need to marry another woman. Kudha Hāfiz.

Rahima continued to live at her parents house with Aisha. In May of 1982, Sher Ali wrote another letter; a total of 12 years after their village has been taken into India. This time it was a letter stating his want for divorce. This letter was much more definite than the one that had arrived six years earlier. Rahima’s eyes welled up with tears, and her hands shook as she read the letter. She almost did not want to read the entire letter it hurt so much. She felt lost and hurt. Take care of Aisha and I wish you the luck in life. Kudha Hāfiz.

One year later, in October of 1983, Rahima’s parents and Sher Ali’s parents told Rahima to marry Mr. Abdul Kareem (the younger brother of Sher Ali.) Aisha was very happy as she would get to live with her father’s family. After the wedding she moved to her new house. Aisha was happy to have a father, and Mr Abdul Kareem loved Aisha beyond words. Rahima and Abdul had a baby girl on August 8th of 1984 and named her Farida Khanum. Two brothers and another two sisters arrived in the next ten years.

Rahima was busy with the six children and her husband at home, but as she recovered from the shock of her divorce, she was determined to make something of herself and her life. When she was first married she was excited to be wedded to an army man. She had dreams of following him to postings throughout Pakistan, and perhaps even seeing some more of the world. That dream had shattered, but she set out to improve her life and that of her fellow villagers. She had succeeded in educating herself enough that she was able to qualify for a government post in Turtuk as an Urdu teacher.

Rahima sent all of her children, both boys and girls, to school, and encouraged others to educate all their children. She also lead by her example, she had stuck to school when no other girls attended, and she became the first local woman to qualify to a government post.

Rahima also encouraged her children to study well and make a place for themselves in the world. Aisha Sudiqa, Rahima’s first daughter, excelled in, school. She finished 9th grade in Turtuk and was the first girl to leave the village and go to Hunder to high school. She passed her tenth grade matriculation exams and wanted to pursue further education in Srinagar. She was accepted into Moulana Azad womens university pre-university science course in Kashmir and graduated. She got admitted to medical college and enrolled in the MBBS program.

She was very excited. Everything was very new to her. No one from her village had ever done this before. Aisha was the first woman from Turtuk to study outside Ladakh. It was a major accomplishment. She got a two year training at the same university. She completed her training and returned to Turtuk to stay with her family for a while to figure out her next steps and future plans. Aisha was the first women doctor in Turtuk.

On Aisha’s return, she became the most sought after woman. She returned as a highly educated, intelligent, strong woman who everyone looked up to

and respected. She also became the role model for the girls of Turtuk and the future generations of women. Aisha utilized her homecoming time to the maximum. She visited her neighbors houses, friends and relatives and even the local schools in her village and neighboring villages during her break.

She introduced them to the world full of dreams, careers, money, advancement, knowledge and the importance of education for the women.

After about two to three years the villagers slowly opened their minds to a whole new era. They wanted their girls to be like Aisha and go to school and get educated. They wanted them to work and get exposed to the outside world. It was a major leap for them and their culture.

Aisha came back home from talking to one of her best friends families about sending their daughters to school. She was visiting during the time of Ramadan. Aisha started walking home to break her fast with her family and suddenly she started feeling extremely weak and tired. Something was not right. She went home and lay down to rest. Aisha woke up at the time of Sehri, but was still feeling very ill and weak. She ate something light, said her prayers and lay back down to sleep hoping she would feel better in the morning.

The next morning, dawn swept over the land transforming the cold night into patches of warmth from the rising sun. At  6:00 AM, she did not rise, her mother came and checked on her, saw that she was sleeping and decided to leave her. The time turned to 9.  She still hadn’t woken. Rahima went and checked to see if she was still sleeping. This time she knew something was not right. She saw Aisha lying under the blanket. She looked closer and saw that there was no movement. Rahima’s heart started pounding hard. Her daughter did not show signs of breathing. She frantically checked for a pulse or a sign that she was breathing. She screamed and everyone came running to Aisha’s room. They all checked her pulse but it was gone. Rahima cried her heart out. Aisha has passed away during the early hours of the morning. She was suffering from anemia and it had gotten worse which had caused her death. Rahima mourned the loss of her first daughter and the rest of the family and village mourned the loss of a beautiful strong, independent, educated woman. In her memory they vowed to do their utmost to follow her advice and improve their education and lives.

Thanks to these two strong, determined women, life in Turtuk is gradually changing. Now all the girls in the village attend school. Some of the girls and boys continue their education in Kashmir or Delhi. Some of the young men seek jobs outside Turtuk and Ladakh.

Another force for change in the village came eight years ago, when Turtuk opened its doors to tourists. Now, during the summer, tourists arrive almost every day to stay with a local family and experience life in such a remote location. The villagers present cultural programs highlighting their unique heritage. The tourists enjoy the exposure to their cultural heritage, and the locals feel pride in their ancestry. Through tourists other small changes seep in. Some tourists introduce new menu items from their home cuisines. Others introduce new ideas. Now some of the women in town make jam from the marvelous local fruits to sell to the tourists.

To the tourist arriving from a modern European city it may appear that the villagers are still living in an earlier century. However, the locals know that their lives have altered. Most think for the better. Many thank Rahima and Aisha for being the brave pioneers who sought better lives and showed their relatives and neighbours that change was possible.