Trans-Karakoram Tract

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Trans-Karakoram Tract
Capital Not applicable
Area 5,181 km²
Languages Not applicable
Established  Not applicable
Abolished 1963 (conferred to China)

Government of Pakistan

The Trans-Karakoram Tract (Chinese: 喀喇昆仑走廊; pinyin: Kālǎkūnlún zǒuláng) is an area of nearly 5,800 km2 (2,239 sq mi) along both sides of the Shaksgam River, is entirely administered by the People's Republic of China as a part of Kargilik County and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in the Kashgar Prefecture of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, but claimed by Pakistan until 1963. It is still claimed by India as part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan gave up its claim to the tract under a border agreement with China in 1963 with the proviso that the settlement was subject to the final solution of the Kashmir dispute.

Most of the tract, also called Shaksgam, is composed of the Shaksgam Valley. Most of the tract was administered as a part of Shigar, a valley in the Baltistan region. The Raja of Shigar controlled most this land until 1971, when Pakistan abolished the Raja government system. A polo ground in Shaksgam was built by the Amacha Royal family of Shigar, and the Rajas of Shigar used to invite the Amirs of Yarkand to play polo there. Most of the names of the mountains, lakes, rivers and passes are in Balti/Ladakhi, suggesting that this land had been part of Baltistan/Ladakh region for a long time.

The tract is one of the most inhospitable areas of the world, with some of the highest mountains. The tract is bounded by the Kun Lun Mountains to the north, and by the Karakoram peaks to the south, including Broad Peak, K2 and Gasherbrum. On the southeast it is adjacent to the highest battlefield in the world in the Siachen Glacier region.

Contents

History

Historically the people of Hunza cultivated and grazed areas to the north of the Karakoram, and the Mir of Hunza claimed those areas as part of Hunza's territories. Those areas included the Raskam Valley, north of the Shaksgam Valley.[1]

In 1889 the first expedition to the Shaksgam Valley by a Westerner was undertaken by Francis Younghusband (who referred to the Shaksgam as the Oprang).[2] In March 1899 the British proposed, in a Note from Sir Claude MacDonald to China, a new boundary between China and British India. The Note proposed that China should relinquish its claims to suzerainty over Hunza, and in return Hunza should relinquish its claims to most of the Taghdumbash and Raskam districts. The Note proposed a border which broadly followed the main Karakoram crest dividing the watersheds of the Indus River and the Tarim River, but with a variation to pass through a Hunza post at Darwaza near the Shimshal Pass. The Chinese did not respond to the Note, and the British took that as acquiescence.[3] The Macdonald line was modified in 1905 to include in India a small area east of the Shimshal Pass, to put the border on the Oprang Jilga River and a stretch of the Shaksgam River.[4]

At the same time Britain was concerned at the danger of Russian expansion as China weakened. Britain adopted a policy of claiming a border north of the Shaksgam River, following a line proposed by Sir John Ardagh in a Memorandum of 1897.[5] That border included the Mir of Hunza's claim over the Raskam Valley. However, the British never administered north of the Karakoram watershed.[6]

From 1899 until the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, the representation of the border on maps varied. In 1926 Kenneth Mason explored and surveyed the Shaksgam Valley[7] In 1927 the Government of British India abandoned any claim to the area north of the Macdonald line, but the decision did not find its way on to British maps.[8] By 1959, however, Chinese maps were published showing large areas west and south of the Macdonald line in China. That year, the Government of Pakistan announced its willingness to consult on the boundary question.[9]

From 1947 India claimed sovereignty over the entire area of the pre-1947 Jammu and Kashmir, and therefore maintained that Pakistan and China did not share a common border.

Sino-Pakistan Frontier Agreement

In the 1950s Pakistan became concerned that Chinese maps showed areas of Pakistan in China. In 1961 Ayub Khan sent a formal Note to China, and a year later China proposed a provisional agreement, subject to final resolution of the Kashmir dispute. Negotiations resulted in an agreement signed on 2 March 1963. The agreement resulted in China withdrawing from about 750 sq m of territory, and Pakistan abandoning its claim to about 2,050 sq m of territory (which it had not in fact occupied or administered).[10]

The text of the agreement was as follows:[9]

The Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of Pakistan; HAVING agreed, with a view to ensuring the prevailing peace and tranquility on their respective border, to formally delimit and demarcate the boundary between China’s Sinkiang and the contiguous areas the defence of which is under the actual control of Pakistan, in a spirit of fairness, reasonableness, mutual understanding and mutual accommodation, and on the basis of the ten principles as enunciated in the Bandung conference. Being convinced that this would not only give full expression to the desire of the people of China and Pakistan for the development of good neighbourly and friendly relations, but also help safeguard Asian and world peace.
Have resolved for this purpose to conclude the present agreement and have appointed as their respective plenipotentiaries the following.
For the Government of the People's Republic of China; Chen Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
For the Government of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Minister of External Affairs.
Who, having mutually examined their full powers and found them to be in good and due form have agreed upon following:
Article 1
In view of the fact that the boundary between China’s Sinkiang and the contiguous areas the defence of which is under the actual control of Pakistan has never been formally delimited, two parties agree to delimit it on the basis of the traditional customary boundary line including features and in a spirit of equality, mutual benefit and friendly cooperation.
Article 2
In accordance with the principle expounded in Article 1 of the present agreement, the two parties have fixed as follows the alignment of the entire boundary line between China’s Sinkiang and the contiguous areas the defence of which is under the actual control of Pakistan.
1 Commencing from its north western extremity at height 5,630 metres (a peak the reference coordinates of which are approximately longitude 74 degrees 34 minutes east and latitude 37 degrees 3 minutes north), the boundary line runs generally eastward and then South-eastward strictly along the main watershed between the tributaries of the Tashkurgan River of the Tarim river system on the one hand on the tributes of the Hunza river of the Indus river system on the other hand, passing through the Kilik Daban (Dawan), the Mintake Daban (pass), the Kharchanai Daban (named on the Chinese map only), the Mutsgila Daban (named on the Chinese map only) and the Parpik Pass (named on the Pakistan map only) and reaches the Khunjerab (Yutr) Daban (Pass).
2 After passing through the Khunjerab (Yutr) Daban (pass) the boundary line runs generally southward along the above-mentioned main watershed up to a mountain-top south of the Daban (pass), where it leaves the main watershed to follow the crest of a spur lying generally in a south-easterly direction, which is the watershed between the Akjilga river ( a nameless corresponding river on the Pakistan map) on the one hand, and the Taghumbash (Oprang) river and the Koliman Su (Oprang Jilga) on the other hand. According to the map of the Chinese side, the boundary line, after leaving the south-eastern extremity of the spur, runs along a small section of the middle line of the bed of the Koliman Su to reach its confluence with the Kelechin river. According to the map of the Pakistan side, the boundary line, after leaving the south-eastern extremity of this spur, reaches the sharp bend of the Shaksgam or Muztagh river.
3 From the aforesaid point, the boundary lines runs up the Kelechin river (Shaksgam or Muztagh river) along the middle line of its bed its confluence (reference coordinates approximately longitude 76 degrees 2 minutes east and latitude 36 degrees 26 minutes north) with the Shorbulak Daria (Shimshal river or Braldu river).
4 From the confluence of the aforesaid two rivers, the boundary line, according to the map of the Chinese side, ascends the crest of a spur and runs along it to join the Karakoram range main watershed at a mountain-top (reference coordinates approximately longitude 75 degrees 54 minutes east and latitude 36 degrees 15 minutes north) which on this map is shown as belonging to the Shorgulak mountain. According to the map of the Pakistan side, the boundary line from the confluence of the above mentioned two river ascends the crest of a corresponding spur and runs along it, passing through height 6.520 meters (21,390 feet) until it joins the Karakoram range main watershed at a peak (reference coordinates approximately longitude 75 degrees 57 minutes east and latitude 36 degrees 3 minutes north).
5 Thence, the boundary line, running generally south-ward and then eastward strictly follows the Karakoram range main watershed which separates the Tarim river drainage system from the Indus river drainage system, passing through the east Mustagh Pass (Muztagh pass), the top of the Chogri peak (K2) the top of the Broad Peak, the top of the Gasherbrum mountain (8,068), the Indirakoli pass (names of the Chinese maps only) and the top of the Teram Kangri peak, and reaches its south-eastern extremity at the Karakoram Pass. Then alignment of the entire boundary line as described in section one of this article, has been drawn on the one million scale map of the Pakistan side in English which are signed and attached to the present agreement. In view of the fact that the maps of the two sides are not fully identical in their representation of topographical features the two parties have agreed that the actual features on the ground shall prevail, so far as the location and alignment of the boundary described in section one is concerned, and that they will be determined as far as possible by bgint survey on the ground.
Article 3
The two parties have agreed that:
i) Wherever the boundary follows a river, the middle line of the river bed shall be the boundary line; and that
ii) Wherever the boundary passes through a deban (pass) the water-parting line thereof shall be the boundary line.
Article 4
One the two parties have agreed to set up, as soon as possible, a joint boundary demarcation commission. Each side will appoint a chairman(Chaudry Mohammad Aslam for the Pakistani side), one or more members and a certain number of advisers and technical staff. The joint boundary demarcation commission is charged with the responsibility in accordance with the provisions of the present agreement, to hold concrete discussions on and carry out the following tasks jointly.
1) To conduct necessary surveys of the boundary area on the ground, as stated in Article 2 of the present agreement so as to set up boundary markers at places considered to be appropriate by the two parties and to delineate the boundary line of the jointly prepared accurate maps.
To draft a protocol setting forth in detail the alignment of the entire boundary line and the location of all the boundary markers and prepare and get printed detailed maps, to be attached to the protocol, with the boundary line and the location of the boundary markers shown on them.
2) The aforesaid protocol, upon being signed by representatives of the governments of the two countries, shall become an annex to the present agreement, and the detailed maps shall replace the maps attached to the present agreement.
3) Upon the conclusion of the above-mentioned protocol, the tasks of the joint boundary demarcation commission shall be terminated.
Article 5
The two parties have agreed that any dispute concerning the boundary which may arise after the delimitation of boundary line actually existing between the two countries shall be settled peacefully by the two parties through friendly consultations.
Article 6
The two parties have agreed that after the settlement of the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, the sovereign authority concerned will reopen negotiations with the Government of the People's Republic of China on the boundary as described in Article. Two of the present agreement, so as to sign a formal boundary treaty to replace the present agreement, provided that in the event of the sovereign authority being Pakistan, the provisions of the present agreement and of the aforesaid protocol shall be maintained in the formal boundary treaty to be signed between the People’s Republic of China and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Article 7
The present agreement shall come into force on the data of its signature.
Done in duplicate in Peking on the second day of March 1963, in the Chinese and English languages, both side being equally authentic.

See also

References

  1. ^ Aksaichin and Sino-Indian Conflict by John Lall
  2. ^ Younghusband, Francis (1896). The Heart of a Continent. pp. 200ff. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Avk88OI8bQkC. 
  3. ^ Woodman, Dorothy (1969). Himalayan Frontiers. Barrie & Rockcliff. pp. 74–75 and 366. 
  4. ^ Woodman (1969) pp.109 and 308
  5. ^ Woodman (1969) p.107
  6. ^ Woodman (1969) p.298, citing Alistair Lamb in the Australian Outlook, December 1964
  7. ^ Exploration of the Shaksgam Valley and Aghil Ranges By Kenneth Mason
  8. ^ Woodman (1969), p. 107 and 298
  9. ^ a b The Geographer. Office of the Geographer. Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Department of State, United States of America (November 15, 1968), China – Pakistan Boundary, International Boundary Study, 85, Florida State University College of Law, http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS085.pdf 
  10. ^ Woodman (1969) pp.307-309

External links