01Zorawar Singh in Baltistan
Kharpocho, the king of forts, sits on a rock ridge above the Indus where the Shigar river comes in. From 1834 Zorawar Singh, general of Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu, had brought Ladakh under the Dogras. In the winter of 1839–40 he crossed into Baltistan, beat the Balti army, and took Skardu in 1840, deposing its ruler Ahmad Shah and setting up a ruler loyal to Jammu. From here he turned east, and in 1841 marched to Mansarovar and western Tibet, where he fell at To-yo that December. Baltistan stayed with Jammu and Kashmir.
02The siege of 1948
When Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India in October 1947, the Gilgit Scouts rebelled and raiders moved into Baltistan. At Skardu Lt. Col. Sher Jung Thapa of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces held the fort and the town with a small garrison from February 1948. Relief columns could not get through, and supplies dropped from the air were too few. After about six months, with food and ammunition gone, the garrison surrendered on 14 August 1948. Thapa was later given the Maha Vir Chakra. Skardu has been under Pakistan’s occupation since; India counts it part of Ladakh.
The life of this place
- 1840 CEZorawar Singh took Skardu for the Dogra state.
- February–August 1948Sher Jung Thapa’s garrison held Skardu under siege for about six months.
- 14 August 1948The garrison surrendered; Skardu passed under Pakistani occupation.
