a mughal chieftain haider douglat attempted to invade kashmir for the first time in 1542 through ladakh. in june 1715, two italian priests epo lito and emanuel khariray reached leh from rome via srinagar. there is a small community of christians in leh now. in the past, leh has been an important centre for trade between india and the states of turkestan. a road leads to central asian countries from here through the karakoram pass.