This is a much quieter battlefront than Drass or Batalik but probably more insidious. It will not be won by military excess, which has earned ascendancy from Tololing to Tiger Hill, or by diplomatic restraint, which has squeezed out Pakistani promises of a withdrawal in Washington. Turtuk is an infinitely more intractable prospect, and perhaps least because it is a chicken neck lodged between Pakistani forces in occupied-Kashmir and the Chinese Red Army in Aksai Chin. The menace in Turtuk is not so much the preponderance of the enemy without but the abundance of the enemy within. Last month, as the conflict over Kargil gained decibels, a man by the name of Ali Bhutto almost quietly achieved in Turtuk what it took entire battalions of Pakistani army regulars and mercenaries to secure in the ridges above Drass and Batalik ? alteration, however temporary, of the Line of Control in Pakistan?s favour. They needed to send in neither their troops nor Afghan freelancers; Ali Bhutto, resident of Turtuk, holder of an identity card as citizen of India, was there to do the job for them. He had amassed an awesome arsenal for insurrection: three rocket-launchers, five anti-tank rockets, three surface-to-air missiles, 27 Kalashnikovs, several kilos of RDX plastic explosives, remote-controlled detonators and a yet-unspecified amount of automatic weapon ammunition. And, of course, he had acquired the traitor?s most essential tool: A secret confederacy ready to take arms at the appointed hour. Deployed effectively, the army contends, Ali Bhutto?s personal armoury would have been sufficient to push the LoC a little inward and drag Turtuk and a few surrounding hamlets ? Thang, Chulunka, Takshi, Pachathang ? over into Pakistan. But then a quirk worked. Intelligence, that thing which had been failing all along the upper Kashmir frontier, ran into Lady Luck in Turtuk and actually picked up a scent. Ali Bhutto and several of his comrades were arrested and their stockpiles seized. The rocket-launchers were found buried in the snows in the upper reaches of Turtuk, the smaller arms and ammunition were in ditches peppered all over nearby settlements. ?The preparations were for a lightning insurrection,? says a field major of the Ladakh Scouts, sentries of this lofty frontier. ?They could have taken us totally unawares in the middle of a border war.? And even though Ali Bhutto and his mates-in-arms are now under detention in Leh, the major isn?t sure the danger is past. ?We have arrested some men and recovered some weapons but there could be more of both lurking in the region, waiting for the opportune moment. We can handle the shelling from across but the threat from within our territory seems more threatening.? Flung at the far end of the sprawling Nubra Valley, Turtuk perhaps typifies the symptoms of what we call a border dispute. The uncertainties of its history and geography have alchemised a complex psyche ? Turtuk straddles a shifting line between India and Pakistan so perhaps it is no wonder its loyalties too shift. Not too long ago, this was a dateline in Pakistan. During the 1971 war, Indian forces took over Turtuk and then a line was drawn in Simla attesting it as part of India. Overnight, Turtuk?s links with its age-old cousins ? the first Pakistani village called Thanu is only a two kilometre trek from Turtuk ? were cut off and its allegiance demanded by a new master. And last month, the shifting line trembled under Turtuk once again and it almost slipped back into earlier loyalties, into being a dateline in Pakistan. ?Loyalty is a problem subject here,? says an officer at the subdivisional headquarters at Diskit nearby. ?People have relatives across the border, they have land and financial interests, they even have active links. Turtuk is a fertile ground for Pakistani agent provocateurs.? The irony is that at the moment at least, Pakistan is creating more foes than friends in Turtuk. Consistent shelling over the past month-and-a-half has driven all the population out in panic. Some are sheltered in Diskit and others in a closer mountain-fold called Tabay Nullah. ?They say Turtuk is full of Pakistani agents,? says Mohammed Ali, a refugee in the Nullah. ?But the truth is we are all victims of Pakistani shelling.? Ali used to live in the securer of the two hamlets ? Yul and Pharul ? that comprises Turtuk but he had to flee Pharul despite the absence of shelling there because Pakistani guns were targeting the connecting bridge. The bridge blown, Pharul would perhaps have been under easier Pakistani grasp, specially with Ali Bhutto?s militia ready to join forces. But the bridge stands, protected by more and more guns and soldiers,and so does Turtuk?s link with India.