Turtuk villagers piece together their broken pasts

Nestled amid the Karakoram and the Himalaya ranges, Turtuk valley is situated close to the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan, about 200 km from Leh town in the Union Territory of Ladakh. On 16 December 1971, Turtuk became a part of India after the Indian Army captured it during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Until then it was part of Baltistan in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. Almost every household here has relatives on the other side of the LoC. People closely hold on to the various households from the past, which narrate the personal tales of longing.

Nating or Ettu (Balti cap) is considered an ancient and auspicious item of clothing by the Turtuk villagers. This cap, seen worn here by Abdul Karim, was brought from Skardu (a city located in Gilgit−Baltistan, Pakistan) by his sister when she visited him in Turtuk in 2016 for three months. “Those were the joyful moments of my life, seeing her after 45 years,” Karim, 74, a resident of Youl village, said. She got separated from her maternal family as she was accompanying her husband who was studying in Pakistan during the 1971 war.

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Abdul Rehman, 60, is a blacksmith from Youl village who makes cutlery and other items using brass. He was a young boy when Turtuk became a part of India. His father was a well-known craftsman who mostly worked in bigger Balti cities. He stayed back in that city and got remarried. Rehman and his brother were left under the care of their uncle who taught them the skill of blacksmithing. The two are now determined to preserve the cultural legacy of their father on brass.

A photograph of a family reunion in the ’80s when Yabgo Mohamad Khan Kacho (extreme left at the back) met his siblings in Delhi. Khan is a descendant of the Yabgo dynasty of Chorbat-Khaplu which is currently located in a city called Khaplu in the province of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.

“I was very young and have vague memories of 1971. My granddad decided to stay here with his two grandsons while my mother remained on the other side. My father went to bring my mother back but he was labelled a spy and could never return. It was my granddad who raised me and my brother,” recalled Goba Ali, who owns a heritage museum at Thang village (just 2.2km from the LoC). He treats these rust-encrusted objects with reverence as they keep alive the tales of the family’s suffering.

Turtuk, known for the distinct ethnic identity of its people, is home to many heritage museums. One such museum is run by the Turtuk Women Welfare Society. The women of Youl village take turns narrating their ancestral stories through these household products.

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Most villagers here have carefully preserved objects from the past, many of which are displayed at the Turtuk Women’s Museum. Mohammed Hassan, 58, a resident of Tyakshi village, got separated from his parents when the Indian Army captured Turtuk. “My parent’s had sensed something in the air and went to drop my uncle to Khaplu where his family still resides. They were returning to Tyakshi but they got late in reaching home. Our family got split overnight, my parents remained on the other and the children on this side,” Hassan recalled. 

Memories hide in the folds of a shirt. Abdul Rashid, 65, a resident of Youl village, got separated from his brother and father in 1971. He keeps this shirt gifted to him by his father as a souvenir of his memories of them. Nary a day goes by when he doesn’t recall the reunion he had with them in Pakistan, a land seemingly foreign yet familiar.

Stories of families torn apart are common in Turtuk households. Tyakshi resident Abdul Qadir keeps this lak-phis (scarf) of his brother close to him. “We slept as Pakistanis and woke up the next morning as Indians on 16 December 1971,” said the 70-year-old who met his sibling after almost three decades in Mecca. “I met my brother in a foreign country during the Haj pilgrimage. His whereabouts were unknown to me for almost 30 years. It was in the late ’90s that I found my brother and met him once before he passed away,” Qadir added.

The unique identity of Turtuk valley has also remained preserved through the buildings of the region. Seen here is a stone-and-logs house built in the traditional way, with windows made of walnut wood.

The valley opened to tourists in 2010, drawing a huge influx of tourists every day in the summer months. The natural beauty is enough to mesmerise everybody, and the longing felt by the residents is deep enough to touch their hearts.

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