The Lost Caravan |
The history of my family is etched into the rugged geography of the old Silk Road. My great-grandfather, Haji Syed Ghulam Mohammad Gilani, was a man of immense stature—a political agent for the British government and a flourishing tradesman who carved out a life of fortune in the prosperous town of Yarkand. He passed away in 1949, just as the political landscape of China shifted forever.
His eldest son, my grandfather Haji Syed Ahmed Gilani, inherited the family’s business. However, as the new regime took hold, life became untenable for the Gilanis. My grandfather and his siblings were eventually deported toward the Kazakhstan border. It was a journey marked by tragedy; my grandfather’s younger brother, Syed Abdul Qadir—the Imam of the main Kashgar mosque—was killed by border troops for his defiance. In the........