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GeoStrategic Position of PakistanIntroduction

The strategic importance of Pakistan is unique because of being a close neighbortoMiddle East, having a common border with China, India, Iran, Afghanistan and lessthan onehundred kilometer distance from Central Asian state of Uzbekistan. Bridge between South Asiaand South West Asia; Iran and Afghanistan are energy abundant while India and China arelacking of. China finds way to Indian ocean and Arabian Seathrough Korakaram. China with itsfastest economic growth rate of 9%; is developing itssouthern provinces because its own port is4500 km away from Sinkiang but Gawader is2500 km away. Pakistan offers to CARs theshortest route of 2600 km as compared toIran (4500 km) or Turkey (5000 km). land lockedAfganistan now at the phase of Reconstruction, finds its ways through Pakistan. Gawader portwith its deep watersattracts the trade ships of China, CARs and South East Asian Countries.ASEAN

BoundariesPakistan located in the northwestern part of the South Asian subcontinent,Pakistan became a state as a result of the partition of British India on August 14, 1947.Pakistanannexed Azad (Free) Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-48. Initially,Pakistanalso included the northeastern sector of the subcontinent, where Muslims are alsoin themajority. The East Wing and WestWing of Pakistan were, however, separated by 1,600kilometers of hostile IndianTerritory. The country's East Wing, or EastPakistan, becamethe independent state of Bangladesh in December 1971.Pakistan occupies a position of greatgeostrategic importance, bordered by Iran onthe west, Afghanistan on thenorthwest,China on the northeast, India on the east, andthe Arabian Sea on the south.The total landarea is estimated at 803,940 square kilometers.

The boundary with Iran, some 800 kilometers in length, was first delimited by aBritishcommission in 1893, separating Iran from what was then British IndianBalochistan. In 1957Pakistan signed a frontier agreement with Iran, and since then the border between the twocountries has not been a subject of serious dispute.

Pakistan's boundary with Afghanistan is about 2,250 kilometers long. In the north, itruns alongthe ridges of the Hindu Kush (meaning Hindu Killer) mountains and thePamirs, where a narrowstrip of Afghan territory called the Wakhan Corridor extends between Pakistan and Tajikistan.The Hindu Kush was traditionally regarded as the last

northwestern outpost where Hindus couldventure in safety. The boundary line with Afghanistan was drawn in 1893 by Sir Mortimer Durand, then foreign secretary inBritish India, and was acceded to by the amir of Afghanistanthat same year. This boundary, called the Durand Line, was not in doubt when Pakistan becameindependentin 1947, although its legitimacy was in later years disputed periodically by theAfghangovernment as well as by Pakhtun tribes straddling the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.Onthe one hand, Afghanistan claimed that the Durand Line had been imposed by astronger power upon a weaker one, and it favored the establishment of still another stateto be calledPashtunistan or Pakhtunistan. On the other hand, Pakistan, as the legatee of the British in theregion, insisted on the legality and permanence of the boundary. TheDurand Line remained ineffect in 1994.

In the northeastern tip of the country, Pakistan controls about 84,159 square kilometersof theformer princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. This area, consisting of Azad

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Kashmir (11,639square kilometers) and most of the Northern Areas (72,520 squarekilometers), which includesGilgit and Baltistan, is the most visually stunning of Pakistan.The Northern Areas has five of theworld's seventeen highest mountains. It also has suchextensive glaciers that it has sometimes been called the "third pole." The boundary linehas been a matter of pivotal dispute betweenPakistan and India since 1947, and the

Siachen Glacier in northern Kashmir has been animportant arena for fighting betweenthe two sides since 1984, although far more soldiers havedied of exposure to the coldthan from any skirmishes in the conflict.

From the eastern end of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, a boundary of about 520kilometersruns generally southeast between China and Pakistan, ending near theKarakoram Pass. This linewas determined from 1961 to 1965 in a series of agreements between China and Pakistan. Bymutual agreement, a new boundary treaty is to benegotiated between China and Pakistan whenthe dispute over Kashmir is finally resolved between India and Pakistan.

The Pakistan-India cease-fire line runs from the Karakoram Pass west-southwest to apoint about130 kilometers northeast of Lahore. This line, about 770 kilometers long, wasarranged withUnited Nations (UN) assistance at the end of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-48. The cease-fireline came into effect on January 1, 1949, after eighteen months of fighting and was last adjustedand agreed upon by the two countries in the Simla Agreement of July 1972. Since then, it has been generally known as the Line of Control.The Pakistan-India boundary continues irregularly southward for about 1,280kilometers,following the line of the 1947 Radcliffe Award, named for Sir Cyril Radcliffe,the head of theBritish boundary commission on the partition of Punjab and Bengal in1947. Although this boundary with India is not formally disputed, passions still run highon both sides of the border.Many Indians had expected the original boundary line to runfarther to the west, thereby cedingLahore to India; Pakistanis had expected the line to

run much farther east, possibly granting themcontrol of Delhi, the imperial capital of theMughal Empire.

Geo-strategic importance of Pakistan"The establishment is prone to thinking that something or someone will always come toPakistan s rescue because o f its location." (Stephen Cohen)Since independence, Pakistan s geography has been a crucial factor in shaping upinternational politics as well as global affairs of the state. It is located at the region which hasgreat economic, political and strategic importance. The geographical location of Pakistanmakes it a junction of the three important parts of the world, South Asia, West Asia andCentral Asia. Due to its location, it has remained the focus of attention of great powers andhas also served as a route to source deficient countries from source efficient countries.Some of the benefits associated with Pakistan s location come from the proximity of greatpowers, fossil fuel exports, and links with Muslim countries, nuclear capability and economicfactors. An analysis of these factors will provide an explanation for the positive aspects of Pakistan s geostrategic position. Firstly, Pakistan is situated at the juncture of great powers. Forming alliances with theemerging powers of the world enhances the geographical importance of Pakistan. For instance: Pakistan being a neighbor of Afghanistan could assist US in the war against terror,therefore, , US awarded Pakistan with military and economic assistance with an aim to assist

in dealing with high level insecurity and terrorism within the region. A.Z.Hilali (author on US Pakistan relations) writes, the country emerged as a front line

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state, the major player in the game and the principal channel through which assistance wasprovided to the Afghan Mujahidin. The second factor that is involved in strengthening the importance of Pakistan sgeographical position is the presence of trade routes in Pakistan. Presence of enormousnatural resources, control over trade routes, development of Gwadar International port andthe ongoing demand for fossil fuels in the...