Cherry Trees in the Sand

Pakistan sees Kashmir as a “symbol of all the oppression they felt Muslims had suffered,” and India sees it as a line past which they will not be moved. It is an inhospitable place filled with glaciers and mountains as tall as eighteen thousand feet. Pakistan and India have each established outposts and a military presence in the mountains. There has been little actual fighting and few casualties as both sides have chosen to keep up the appearance of aggression and defense. But in the spring of 1999, fighting begins in Kashmir and continues into the summer. Greg Mortenson is losing sleep worrying about the Pakistani refugees who are on the move to Skardu in the Baltistan region and the services the region is ill equipped to provide. He finds no answers as he paces in his house, so he goes to Pakistan.

The normally empty roads are busy with bearded Taliban soldiers and truckloads of military equipment and supplies. In Skardu, military activity is everywhere. In the hotel, Greg sees something he has never seen before: a man bigger than himself. He is summoned to join the large man and another man for tea—with a couple of AK-47s nearby for company. The man’s name is Gul Mohammed (his car license plates read “United Arab Emirates”) and he describes how the mujahedeen (of which he is one) have been fighting valiantly against the Indian forces. After hearing about Greg’s organization and his schools, Gul asks him to come build ten or twenty schools in his country. Greg explains there is a process for such things, smiling inwardly at the uproar such a move would cause. When Greg can no longer keep his eyes open, he heads to his room. The rather eccentric kitchen boy stops him and frantically warns him that the man with whom he has been associating is Taliban, something Greg already knows.

Syed Abbas, the supportive cleric, finds Greg the next day. He is as upset as Greg has ever seen him as he pleads for help for the Gultori refugees fleeing from their caves and flooding Skardu. His similar request to the government has been ignored, and he knows Greg is his best hope for help. Greg establishes that their most immediate need is water, so the two men and Parvi go to the temporary tent city to see how best to provide this basic necessity. The camp is located in the barren desert no one else wanted to inhabit and is an hour away from the nearest water source, the Indus River. The task is daunting, but it might be accomplished with some kind of pump system. Parvi believes he can borrow the required equipment if Greg provides the pipe and water pumps. The camp will grow to four or five thousand when the men send for their women and children in the next several months. Greg goes to visit Mullah Gulzar in his tent and hears the story of these refugees. They had to leave because it was simply too dangerous to stay; but when they got to the barren land into which Skardu banished them, they wanted to return home. They were forbidden by the army to return to their homes because there was nothing there for them anymore. When the women and children come, Gulzar asks, what will we do? Mortenson takes the old man’s hand and promises to bring them water. The mullah has tears in his eyes as he apologizes for having nothing to give in return—not even a cup of tea.

The Skardu equipment...