Meaning of Trans-Karakoram Tract | Babel Free

Definitions

A geographic area along both sides of the Shaksgam River which is de facto administered as part of Kashgar prefecture, Xinjiang autonomous region, China, but which was claimed by Pakistan until 1963, and which is claimed by India (as part of Ladakh).

Examples

“A closer look at the foreign-occupied Indian state of Jammu- Kashmir reveals some unsettling coincidences. The Chinese control the Aksai Chin portion. The Pakistanis control Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas. They ceded the Trans-Karakoram Tract (along the northern frontier of Gilgit-Baltistan agency) to the PRC in 1963. It was in those Northern Areas that the Taliban reinforcement route and al-Qaeda base camp were reported in 2001 and 2002, respectively. (Refer back to Map 7.4.)”

“And what would Middleton tell him—the truth? That he believed Chernayev and a great many other Russians saw an arms race on the subcontinent as inevitable. Worse, that China, before that arms race proceeded much further, would invade Kashmir from its own controlled areas in Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract, doing so for the water, contriving some pretext for the offensive such as protecting an otherwise expendable ethnic minority.”

“The Aksai Chin region, forming nearly one-sixth of the area of Jammu and Kashmir, is controlled by China, which has no intention of relinquishing its jurisdiction. The same is true of the Trans-Karakoram Tract, part of the pre-1947 state which Islamabad transferred to China as stipulated in the 1963 Sino-Pakistani border agreement.”

“Greater Kashmir (also known as the Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu) includes territories administered by India, Pakistan and China. In the west are the provinces of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan; to the north and east are Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract; and the south and central parts are the regions of Jammu, the Kashmir Valley and Ladakh. Historically nomads, traders and the population at large could move back and forth across Kashmir (and beyond) at will. This mobility ended with the solidification of borders following conflicts between India and Pakistan, and India and China, in the 20th century (see History, page 14), and Kashmir has been fractured ever since.”

CEFR level