In 1948, as the newly independent India reeled from multi-front violence across Jammu and Kashmir, one remote mountain town stood as the last barrier to total collapse in Baltistan.

Skardu, perched high above the Indus and cradled by steep ridges, was under threat. Its garrison was lean — just over a hundred men, tasked with defending the town, the fort, and a fragile link to Leh. Into this crucible came Sher Jung Thapa, then lieutenant-colonel of the 6th Jammu & Kashmir Infantry. Within weeks, the enemy would envelop him; for the next six months, he himself, his troops, and hundreds of civilians would endure perhaps the most harrowing siege in the 1947-48 war.

Thapa’s stand holds a tragic grandeur: a small band determined not just to fight, but to hold hope alive for a land drifting int

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