{"id":1506390,"date":"2024-02-18T23:17:25","date_gmt":"2024-02-18T23:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rfa.org\/english\/news\/uyghur\/refugees-02142024151839.html"},"modified":"2024-02-18T23:17:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-18T23:17:25","slug":"for-uyghur-family-a-legacy-of-rootlessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/02\/18\/for-uyghur-family-a-legacy-of-rootlessness\/","title":{"rendered":"For Uyghur family, a legacy of rootlessness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n
Tursun Muhammad was thirteen when political persecution forced his family to leave their prosperous farm in Yarkant, Xinjiang, and flee over the Pamir Mountains.<\/span><\/p>\n Tursun\u2019s father was targeted during the Cultural Revolution for his wealth and the fact that he was a landlord, Tursun told RFA. After attending Friday prayer at the local mosque he was locked up for three days.<\/span><\/p>\n So, he packed up his family and left Yarkant to journey into Afghanistan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It took 45 days to reach Kabul. So high are the Pamir ranges that they are known as the \u201croof of the world.\u201d The family sheltered in caves on the route. Once, Tursun passed out from lack of oxygen. An older sister died along the way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHer body is left on the mountain, buried in stones,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In Afghanistan, the formerly prosperous farmer sold vegetables from a cart to feed his family. Tursun learned to be a tailor, and as a young man started a family of his own with another Uyghur refugee, until fighting in the country forced the Muhammads to move again, this time to Pakistan.<\/span><\/p>\n