Raids in Ladakh, 1948


It is rather strange that when most narratives talk about the 1947-48 war, Poonch, Uri, Jammu Baramulla, Srinagar, all are remembered but seldom is Ladakh mentioned. It is almost as if people have forgotten the scale of the war.

Kashmir Lama Murdered
Raiders killed the Lama of Ganskar Padam Monastery, one of the biggest in the Ladakh valley in Kashmir after carrying him off to their headquarters at Kargil, according to a report from Leh.
The Ladakh district lies in South Eastern Kashmir. Leh, chief city of the valley, stands near the upper waters of the Indus, some seventy-five miles west of the Tibetan border.
According to Kashmir Government estimates, raiders have put to the sword about 100 Buddhists in the Ladakh valley, desecrated and sacked Ringdon Gompha, the second biggest monastery in the district, and looted and destroyed several other monasteries. 

The Press and Journal

August 23, 1948


Came across it while scavenging though British Newspaper Archives.

One Reply to “Raids in Ladakh, 1948”

  1. I suspect it didn't gain much news attention, because most of the fighting took place in the Jammu region and the Kashmir valley. I believe Ladakh didn't have much incursions, because of the isolated region and the near impossibility for hostile Pakistani trained Pathan tribes to regularly attack the region. I think they gave up on Ladakh at some time during the war, when they were facing tougher resistance from the Indian Army in Jammu and the Kashmir valley.

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