Shaksgam Valley

About Shaksgam Valley

• The Shaksgam Valley, or Trans Karakoram Tract, is part of the Hunza-Gilgit region of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) and is a disputed territoryclaimed by India but controlled by Pakistan.
• It borders Xinjiang Provinceof the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to the north, the Northern Areas of POK to the south and west, and the Siachen Glacier region to the east.
• It was ceded to China by Pakistanin 1963, when both countries signed a boundary agreement to settle their border differences.
• However, Article 6 ofthe agreement clearly stated that “the two parties have agreed that after the settlement of the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, the sovereign authority concernedwill 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.”
• The agreement laid the foundation of Karakoram highway, which was built jointly by Chinese and Pakistani engineers in the 1970s.

Q1: What is the strategic importance of Siachen Glacier?

Located at a height of around 20,000 feet in the Karakoram Mountain range, the Siachen Glacier is known as the highest militarized zone around the world. It is located so strategically that while it dominates Shaksgam Valley (ceded to China by Pakistan in 1963) in the north, controls the routes coming from Gilgit Baltistan to Leh from the west, and at the same time, it dominates the ancient Karakoram Pass in the eastern side too. Further, towards the west, it observes nearly the entirety of Gilgit Baltistan, which too is an Indian territory illegally occupied by Pakistan in 1948.

Source:India lodges protest with China over its infra development in Shaksgam valley