The Kazakhs had settled in the Dzungaria area of Xinjiang after the Dzungar genocide by the Manchus wiped out most of the native Dzungar Oirats and fleeing from Soviet engineered famines against the Kazakhs like the Kazakh famine of 1919 – 1922 and Kazakhstan famine of 1932-1933 . The Kazakhs had defected to the Republic of China and fought against the Soviet Communist backed Uyghurs in the Ili Rebellion . The initial exodus began in 1950 or the Year of the Tiger , when the victorious Chinese Communist Army took control , not guaranteeing nor overtly denying the Kazakh way of life : tribalism and Islam . Families voted at Barkol and set out to preserve their way of life in the steppes of Kashmir . This initial journey to Kashmir was opposed by the victorious Chinese Red Army as they passed through Chinese territory . The first attack happened at Barkol in Kumul Prefecture and the second near Timurlik . The Kazakh groups that survived fled into Tibet to survive . The victory by the Chinese Red Army was not the only thing that hindered the initial Kazakh exodus ; they also suffered illness which killed countless individuals . It took three months for the Kazakhs to cross Tibet and arrive at Srinagar , Kashmir . Of the 400 families that fled China , only 350 arrived at Srinagar in the initial exodus . In 1962 , the Kazakhs embarked on another exodus from Xinjiang . This time the Kazakh and members of other ethnic groups fled to the Soviet Union due to mass riots and communist reforms that again were imposed on the Kazakhs ' traditional way of life
Dzungar genocide
Dzungar genocide
Kazakh exodus from Xinjiang