The Yabgo dynasty ruled this area for 2,000 years,” the king says. “The Turtuk people don’t mind that it is India, that it is Pakistan. It is politics.” Through the arid mountains of Ladakh on the border with Pakistan, there sits a king: Yabgo Mohammad Khan Kacho. He rules over buckwheat fields and quiet stone streets of Turtuk.

As we meet in his home-like royal palace, he insists on speaking English. Like most in Turtuk, the king is Muslim. “Turtuk is 100 percent Muslim,” he says, however, Ladakh’s Buddhist heritage still marks the landscape with gompas.

There is one road into Turtuk, and Pakistan is only two kilometers away. “Ghengis Khan came here, […] Alexander (the Great) came here, and the British came to India – it is the same,” the king says.

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