Karakoram Highway

A thin ribbon of asphalt strikes north from near Islamabad and leaves the modern capital and
the dusty Punjab plains far behind. As it weaves through sparse green hills, the first wrinkles of
mountain-building in this geological ‘collision zone’, this unassuming road gives little hint as to
what lies ahead. This is the high road to China, the Karakoram Highway (KKH), which was
blasted and bulldozed through an intractable landscape of raging rivers, deep ravines and
precipitous peaks in the 1960s and ’70s. It is a 1200km marvel of engineering and a symbolic
collaboration between Pakistan and China. It is also a magnet for adventure-seekers.

The “Friendship Highway” which connects Pakistan and China through the Khunjerab Pass is a
modern feat of construction that defies conventional engineering wisdom. Cutting through the
rugged mountain ranges of the Himalayas, the Karakorums and the Pamirs, carving its way into
terrain which is susceptible to landslides and rock fall, it took over two decades to complete
and witnessed the loss of life of hundreds of Pakistani and Chinese workers. Running 1300 km
from Islamabad to Kashgar (Kashi, in Chinese), it is the highest metal road in the world and
traces one of the many routes of the ancient Silk Road.
The Karakorum Highway (KKH) is often called the Eighth Wonder of the World for its elevation
and extreme difficulty of construction. The December 1979 issue of the New York
Times magazine wrote: “It took twenty years and the life of one worker every mile, to carve
through towering mountains, glaciers and isolated valleys to build 500 miles long Karakoram
Highway through Pakistan to China.” Originally conceived as an all-weather link road between
the northern Pakistani cities of Swat and Gilgit, it was first known by the title of the Indus Valley
Road when the Army Corps of Engineers began work on it in 1958. In 1966, following the
1965 Indo-Pak war, and in the face of emerging security concerns, it was decided to extend the
road to the Chinese border and link it to a road on the other side. The project was named the
Karakorum Highway. From then, and up to its completion, there were periods of temporary
delays caused by the changing political environment, budgetary constraints and the wars of
1965 and 1971 between India and Pakistan.
Work on the highway in Pakistan was to be completed in two phases: the first of these would
oversee the construction of a shingled road from Thakot to Khunjerab, and the second would
upgrade it to highway specifications. The first phase was completed by early 1971; however,
further progress was temporarily halted when war broke out later that year. After the war,
Pakistan was faced with a shortfall of finances and labor, and found itself unable to continue
work on its portion of the highway. At Pakistan’s request, the Chinese Government sent its
engineers to assist their Pakistani counterparts in the project. This joint effort resulted in
completion of the work in 1978, and on June 18 that year, the highway was inaugurated by the
Pakistani President General Zia-ul-Haq and the Chinese Vice Premier Kang Piao. However, it was
not opened to the public for another few years.
Since then it has not only served as a connecting link between the two states, but has opened
up a world of new communities hitherto unexplored. The tiny villages that dot the highway had
previously existed in isolation for hundreds of years. The KKH opened for the traveler an
unexpected plethora of locales, unique in culture and outlook; it also facilitated communication
between the villages themselves and gave them representation in the mainstream life of
Pakistan.
The Northern Areas began to change as their geographic isolation came to an end. Remote
villages, which had lived in a state of disconnect from the rest of the country, witnessed rapid
transformations in their socio-cultural setup with the advent of modern communication in their
relatively closed off existence.
It also provided an economic boost to them in terms of tourism, increased employment
opportunities and bigger markets for their goods. NGOs, in tandem with the government of
Pakistan, began making their way into the newly accessible terrain and established programs
for rural development that would prove to be especially beneficial for the women and girls of
these communities. Health services in the region saw steady improvement, and schools were
opened in the more far flung areas. Parallel to the improvement in physical infrastructure and
socio-economic well-being, an effort was made to improve agricultural productivity. With
greater access to these villages, tourists were able to interact with the local communities and
observe first-hand the unique traditions and customs of each one.
The KKH had also been envisioned as a vehicle for fostering people to people contact between
the two nations, an objective successfully achieved. Numerous trade ventures were undertaken
by Pakistanis and the people of Xinjiang travelling up the Highway. The exchange of goods was
accompanied by cultural exchange. In Kashgar, for instance, Pakistani films and music have
acquired influence. While in the earlier years Pakistani traders travelling to Xinjiang had only
engaged with the local Uighur community, over time they also began travelling directly to other
provinces via Xinjiang and cultivated business relationships with the Han community of China as
well.
The symbolism of the Karakorum Highway as a tribute to the exceptional relationship between
Pakistan and China is as important as is its strategic significance, for it lies at the junction of
Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and India, with a distance of no more than 250 km
separating the five. One consequence is that Pakistan has acquired importance as a potential
energy corridor, since the shortest and most secure overland connecting route between the
landlocked, hydrocarbon-rich Central Asian states, and the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean is
through Pakistan. Another ramification is that the Pakistani dry port of Sost can act as a channel
of trade between the CARs, allowing their exports access to both China and Pakistan. The
Central Asian countries and Pakistan are major producers of cotton. This also opens up the
possibility of joint cotton and textile projects.
In May 2004, a quadrilateral trade agreement between Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and
China, came into effect. It was seen as a means to boost regional trade by using the Karakorum
Highway and onward road links through China for the exchange of commodities
between Pakistan and Kazakhstan. Road links between Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan via the KKH
opened up a new panorama of trade between the two countries; large numbers of Pakistani
traders travel directly to Bishkek, with Pakistani textile products being a particularly popular
item in the Kyrgyz Republic. Tajikistan and Pakistan have recently begun work on a direct land
link in the form of the Pakistan-Tajikistan Highway. It would link the Karakorum Highway to the
Central Asian capital city of Dushanbe. The Highway is also the route parallel to which the TAPI
pipeline linking Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India will run. Uzbekistan, as far back
as 1997, had expressed an interest in using the Andijan-Osh-Irkashtam-Kashgar road link
through Pakistan via the Karakoram Highway; more recently, Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani, on
the occasion of a meeting with Uzbek President Karimov, expressed Pakistan’s desire to include
Uzbekistan in the quadrilateral agreement with China, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and also
offered to facilitate Uzbekistan with the use of the Gwadar and Karachi ports. All these
measures, the core of which is formed by the Karakorum Highway, resulted not just in
improved trade between Pakistan and the Central Asian nations, but also facilitated Pakistan in
taking advantage of their energy resources
The impact of the Karakorum Highway on the trade, communications, cultures and economies
of Pakistan and China has proved to be a positive force for the region. The KKH has not only
become a practical expression of the ever-strengthening Sino-Pak bilateral ties, but also a
conduit for greater economic integration and cooperation within the broader region of Central
Asia.