Valerie Anne Walsh

Tattered Prayer Flags Valerie Anne Walsh

The catalyst of this story begins with the attempted assassination of the president of Pakistan at his birthday banquet. Protesting dissidents who want Kashmir to remain under Indian control fight for their freedom. Pakistan retaliates by sending troops into India. A group of British adventures, Tim, a managing director, Mike and his wife Val, both teachers, employ Tensing, a local guide and his team and set off on a month long expedition into the remote Zanskar Range. After several exhausting and eventful days the group are intercepted at night by Pakistani helicopters near the border. Val has photos of military installations on her camera and is accused of spying. She is taken prisoner and flown to a base in Pakistan to await trial. The men are also taken prisoner but their helicopter strays off course and crashes in China. Val escapes and uses K2 as a landmark to get her back to the Indian border. She has to traverse a dangerous glacier at night. The men have to cross a newly built dam to get over the border back into India. The story alternates between the two parties and the problems they face trying to survive in one of the harshest environments on the planet. For several weeks both parties try to keep out of the way of the invading enemy forces and battle their way towards the ancient capital of Leh in Ladakh, which is under siege. They face encounters with wild predators, starvation and the ravages of early winter storms. Val has to fend off an attempted rape and becomes a prisoner once again. The men are caught and held hostage in the derelict Leh palace, their images sent global via the Internet. In a daring S. A. S. operation the men are airlifted back to safety in Delhi and billeted at an Indian air base. Val teams up with local refugees and they find sanctuary in the monastery overlooking war-torn Leh. Mike is desperate to find his wife but is scheduled to fly back to the U. K. Mike meets an American journalist and together with the guide they abscond from the military airbase at Delhi and hitch a lift on a press plane back to the frontline. There is a bitter battle as Indian and Pakistani troops clash, but gradually Leh city is liberated. The friends and their family are finally reunited in the monastery at Leh. The Pakistani military are forced back into the mountains, the invasion thwarted by a breakdown in communications, by poor organization and the arrival of early winter blizzards. Val adopts an orphaned war child.