A hero to be remembered
Border guard who lost his life while saving a drowning boy honored for patriotism, bravery
Laqini Bayika, 41, kept shouting “save the child, save the child”. His heavy clothing was completely soaked and weighed him down, and the freezing water sapped his energy. What was worse, he did not know how to swim. He struggled to lift up his arms and mustered all his strength to get the child out of the water.
After about 10 minutes, Laqini managed to save the child and his mom from drowning. But he himself sank underwater, dropping out of sight. When his lifeless body was recovered later, it was frozen in the position of holding up a child.
The tragic incident happened on Jan 4 when Laqini was on his way to lunch with his roommate Musarjan Nurdun, just after class. A member of the Tajik ethnic group, Laqini had been taking a Chinese language course in Kashgar, in southern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
As he was passing by a lake on the campus of Kashgar University, he heard someone crying out for help. Looking in the direction of the voice, he saw a young boy who had fallen through the ice on the frozen lake. And he also noticed that the boy’s helpless mother had jumped into an unfrozen edge of the water, about 4 meters deep, calling for rescue of her 8-year-old child.
Without the slightest hesitation, Laqini ran toward the boy. Just as he reached the boy to pull him up, the ice caved in and Laqini found himself in freezing water all alone. Meanwhile, Musarjan had run to get help, and other people joined in.
Recalling the effort, Musarjan said, with tears running down his cheeks, “I held out my scarf and shouted at him (Laqini) to hold on to, but I fell into the water. When I managed to get back, I could still hear him saying, ‘save the child’.”
Commending Laqini’s brave rescue attempt, Musarjan, a Party chief in the city of Yining, Xinjiang, said during a visit to Laqini’s hometown that Laqini, a member of the herdsman border control team, was “a hero on the Pamir Plateau”.
“He did everything he could to save my child, and this kindness will always be remembered by my family,” said the rescued child’s father. “I told my son (about) who gave him a second chance to live, and what kind of person he wanted to be growing up.”
It was not the first time that Laqini put his own life at risk for others. Laqini and two older generations of his family had saved many lives over the course of 70 years of work devoted to patrolling and protecting the border area, a traditional job for many locals. Laqini’s father and grandfather were former patrol guides with the Khunjerab border force, which guards the China-Pakistan border.
His grandfather, Kaldibak Dildar, had guided soldiers in patrolling the area for 23 years, because he knew every stream, mountain pass, and boundary marker, and had formed a great friendship with the patrol men until his health could no longer support him. Then, his father performed the same duty, often riding a yak, for another 30 plus years, spending countless nights on the snowy ground.
Laqini had once taken off his clothes during a blizzard in 2011 and twisted them into a rope-like tool to drag a soldier out of a snow cave. The soldier was rescued, but doctors had to treat Laqini for three hours in a hospital to revive him after his exposure to the freezing temperatures.
“He’s a role model for me in many ways. I remember how he once invited me home. I’m sorry he won’t be acting as a guide now,” said Musarjan.
Born in a small village in Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County, the only Tajik autonomous county in China, Laqini grew up tough on the plateau in a harsh environment. With an average elevation of over 4,000 meters, and winter temperatures of minus 40
degrees celsius, Laqini’s hometown borders Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
Ethnic Tajik people living in Taxkorgan are known as the “eagles of the high mountains”.
“The given name of Laqini refers to a kind of eagle and stands for bravery and perseverance. He lived up to it,” said Bayika Kalidibek, Laqini’s 68-year-old father, who is also nationally acknowledged for his patrol work.
Bayika said his son’s final action was no surprise to him, and that it was a choice he was bound to make and would even have done it again if he had survived.
“It pains me immensely to see him go that way, but I’m proud of him for saving others,” the father said.
Herdsman Laqini had grown up listening to his father’s awestruck tales about his grandfather, prompting him to dream of being a patrol guide himself. Eventually, he did follow in their footsteps, starting out by accompanying his father on patrol from the age of 12, then taking over at 25. That very same year, he joined the Communist Party of China.
One part of his work was to help
patrol the Khunjerab border 12 times a year, which meant covering 11,500 kilometers across snowy mountains, through passes, over glaciers, and even “Death Valley” which experienced frequent avalanches and landslides.
During those 16 years of border guarding, Laqini faced many dangerous situations. With his bravery and experience, Laqini was pretty much a pioneer figure for the border guards.
One of the guards, a person named Xiao Yao, said, “On every one of those journeys, we had to cross glaciers and he insisted on going first, by himself, to test the depth and strength of water flows to assure our safety.”
Laqini’s job was by no means easy. Once, while they were climbing a cliff, he was knocked unconscious by a falling rock that left him bleeding. The border route that Laqini frequented snakes over several mountains more than 5,000 meters above sea level. The terrain is so tortuous, rugged and slippery that only yaks can transport people here.
So Laqini voluntarily offered his yaks, the major asset of local families, to carry people over the mountains.
But even yaks would get hurt during the patrols, and he would shed tears over these animal friends. He once had to say farewell to a prized white yak that had accompanied him for years.
“I miss them so much that sometimes I dream of them. But I know they died for a worthy cause,” Laqini said.
Through all those thrilling moments and difficulties, Laqni never tired of patrolling. “It’s a tradition of his family to serve the people and the country regardless of their own interests,” said Musa Mehmet, a National People’s Congress’s deputy from the region.
Laqini was elected as a national lawmaker in 2018, the only Tajik NPC deputy at that time, and made a string of suggestions during annual parliament sessions to improve local people’s wellbeing.
Dolatmaan Kamak, 28, also patrols the border in the county and was chosen this year to fill the seat of fellow patrolman Laqini, one of the initiators of proposals aiming to improve the treatment of border patrollers in plateau regions.
Laqini had a good relationship with local villagers, and often volunteered to lend a hand to herdsmen, Dolatmaan recalled.
“When villagers needed help amid the COVID-19 epidemic last year, the first person they thought of was Laqini,” he said. “I saw him transferring emergency supplies near the border, delivering daily necessities to each household, and working on the pastureland for other villagers. I seldom saw him rest.”
“I want to say to him that good brother, we will help you accomplish your unfulfilled wishes. We believe you will continue to roam China’s sky as an eagle on the Pamir Plateau,” said Musarjan, who witnessed Laqini’s heroic behavior on the lake and also as a national lawmaker
On March 3, Laqini was posthumously awarded the title “role model of the times” for his patriotism, devotion and bravery.
As the news of his death reached his remote home on the plateau, Laqini’s wife, who was out feeding their yaks, noted that her husband had been training four small yaks before he went to Kashgar.
The wife recalled, speaking through tears, “He told me that, after they got trained, there would be five yaks to join the patrol.”
Laqini, it appears, made it clear that he would take those four animals and add to his other individual yak companion.
While he was alive, Laqini took his 11-year-old son to the border area several times to give the child inspiration. Recalling those memories, his son said, “My dad is a hero, and I hope to grow up to be just like him.”