Trans-Karakoram Tract

The Trans-Karakoram Tract (Chinese: 喀喇昆仑走廊; pinyin: Kālǎkūnlún zǒuláng), also known as the Shaksgam Tract (Urdu: شکسگام, romanized: Shaksgām), is an area of approximately 5,200 km² (2,000 sq mi) north of the Karakoram watershed, including the Shaksgam Valley. The tract is administered by China as part of its Taxkorgan and Yecheng counties in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Following the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India in 1947, India claimed sovereignty over all its territory. At that time the northern boundary of Jammu and Kashmir was marked along the Yarkand River. In the 1950 border definition, India retracted the northern border south of the Yarkand River, but included the Shaksgam Valley within Jammu and Kashmir. However, the adjoining Gilgit-Baltistan region came under Pakistani control through the First Kashmir War. Pakistan and China signed Sino-Pakistan Agreement in 1963 and a border based on 1899 Macartney–MacDonald Line was recognized as the international border by China and Pakistan. India has never accepted the Sino-Pakistan Agreement, asserting that Islamabad "unlawfully" attempted to cede the area to Beijing.

Most of the tract is composed of the Shaksgam Valley and was formerly administered as part of Shigar, a district (formerly a tehsil) in the Baltistan region. A polo ground in Shaksgam was built by the Amacha rulers of Shigar according to local traditions, and the Rajas of Shigar used to invite the Amirs of Hotan 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 of the Karakoram Range, including Broad Peak, K2 and Gasherbrum. On the southeast, it is adjacent to the highest battlefield in the world on the Siachen Glacier region which is controlled by India.