Did Pakistan cede Kashmiri Territory of Shaksgam valley to China?
Debunking propaganda from a laymen's perspective
Myth: Pakistan ceded the Trans-Karakoram tract or Shaksgam valley to China in the Trans-Karakoram pact thus showing utter disregard for Kashmiri sovereignty or its own sovereignty.
Fact: Pakistan did not ‘gift’ any Kashmiri land to China. In reality, it actually gained 1942 square kilometres (750 square miles) from the Chinese in the 1963 Sino-Pakistan boundary agreement. In fact, the Trans-Karakoram Tract, that Delhi claims has been ‘gifted’ by Islamabad to Beijing, was never under Pakistani control that they could have vacated it and given it to China. The Pakistan-China Treaty is in the public domain, as are the resulting maps with demarcated boundaries that clearly illustrate Pakistan gaining the aforementioned amount of area and adding it to Gilgit-Baltistan rather than the other way around.
So let's get to the root of the issue and understand how it all started.
The original territorial demarcation issue was between China and British India, which arose as a result of 1846 Amritsar treaty that left the border with China unmarked. British authorities assigned W.H. Johnson, a survey officer, to propose a line which was to be sent to the Chinese government for negotiations. Authors Christopher Snedden and Alastair Lamb state that Mr. Johnson was unhappy with the working conditions under the East India Company and sought to join the court of the Maharaja of Kashmir instead. To impress the Maharaja, he increased the size of the state of Kashmir in the map he created by including Aksai Chin and Shaksgam Valley in Kashmir, both of which were under Chinese control at that point in time.
British authorities in Calcutta were annoyed by the decision to demarcate the border in a manner that showed Chinese controlled territory as being a part of British India and Johnson was disciplined by his superiors and his map rejected. The Maharaja, however, thought that Johnson had magically increased his territory by drawing a few lines on the map and thus, as a reward, he was offered a job by the Maharaja and appointed Wazir or Governor of Ladakh in 1872.
The line he created is called the Johnson Line and, as mentioned above, was rejected by British India, let alone accepted by China. The East India Company then appointed Sir Claude MacDonald to create the new official British line which he did. The new demarcation by Sir Claude MacDonald did not include the Chinese areas that W.H Johnson had included in his demarcation to curry favor with the Maharajah. The British sent it to the Chinese on 14th March 1899 with the following proposal:
1. China will withdraw all claims to Hunza valley
2. British India will withdraw all claims to Shaksgam/Raskam and Taghdumbash
This is the McDonald Line. The Chinese did not respond, prompting the British to inform them that their silence was taken as assent and Britain would act accordingly, which Britain did.
Fast forward, Partition happens, Pakistan and India become free, fight a war and divide Kashmir. But this is where the problem starts. Instead of taking up the McDonald line, the Indian government officially adopted the Johnson line because the increased land (Or rather lines on a paper) impressed Nehru as much as it had impressed the Maharaja. India made it official in 1954 on their published map.
Pakistan obviously did not have to tow Mr. Nehru's ridiculous line. Pakistan recognized the McDonald Line......And that's all.
Actually, that's not all. When Pakistan cited historical evidence and the historical connection of Gilgit-Baltistan to regions in Hunza, the Karakoram watershed, K-2 (Half), Shimshal Pass etc, Zhou EnLai (the then premier of the Peoples Republic of China) acknowledged the validity of those arguments and Pakistan obtained those territories from China and made them part of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Pakistan further asserted that traditional grazing grounds of the Hunza people be made part of Gligit-Baltistan because their loss would cause the people of the region huge distress, given the impact on their traditional way of life. The Chinese Premier, after reviewing the proposal with Xinjiang province and getting the assent of the Uyghur in China, agreed with the Pakistani proposal on making these lands a part of Gilgit Baltistan.
All this area combined totaled 1942 square kilometres (750 square miles).
And that's not all, Pakistan also took care to add a provision to secure Kashmiri sovereignty in the future, pending a resolution of the dispute. Article 6 of the treaty between China & Pakistan states:
"The two parties have agreed that after the settlement of the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, the sovereign authority concerned will 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, provided that in the event of the sovereign authority being Pakistan, the provisions of the present agreement and of the aforesaid protocol shall be maintained in the formal boundary treaty to be signed between the People’s Republic of China and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan"
If you still don't understand how groundbreaking this deal was, imagine this. China went to all out war against India for this line which they absolutely refused to change. Whereas for Pakistan and Kashmir, China ceded 750 square miles and also recognized that a future sovereign Kashmiri government could renegotiate this border when they were free.
Noted Indian Lawyer and Author on Kashmir, AG Noorani Noted this in his article, aptly named "Map Fetish".
https://web.archive.org/web/2020050...e.thehindu.com/the-nation/article30164084.ece
Anwar H Syed in in China and Pakistan: Diplomacy of an Entente Cordiale wrote:
George L. Singleton reconfirmed Pakistan’s claim as shown in the excerpt below:
Pakistani FM, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto also wiped the floor with the Indian delegation when they raised this issue in UN Security Council dated 26 March 1963:
So, in conclusion. The Indian argument that Pakistan violated the UNSC Resolutions on the Disputed Territory of Jammu & Kashmir or that it betrayed/sold out the Kashmiris by 'giving away their land to China' is invalid and baseless.
For more details and references used, please see below:
Question #13 by Kashmiri Academic Dr. Makhdomi
https://web.archive.org/save/https://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/opinion/question-number-13/
Map Fetish by AG Noorani
https://web.archive.org/web/2020050...e.thehindu.com/the-nation/article30164084.ece
Facing the truth by AG Noorani
https://web.archive.org/web/2020050...hehindu.com/world-affairs/article30211220.ece
Who Ceded Land by Dr. Ahmad Rashid Malik Director of the China-Pakistan Study Centre (CPSC) at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad
https://web.archive.org/save/https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2016/06/26/who-ceded-the-land/
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Disclaimer: This is a compilation of a series of tweets by
@DerArschloch reproduced with his permission. I've only done some minor formatting.
. Like I cannot think of a single country except Pakistan that has ever gifted land. That's like a level of Chutiyapanti not considered possible. If anyone needs to import a pair, it's you guys.
. Shaksgam valley is in every map of British India from 1930s and 40s. No land was exchanged. Circle the territory that you gained in red and post it. But I'm pretty sure you won't since it doesn't exist. Your leaders fed you sheeple a cock and bull story of exchange to keep you satisfied and you obviously believed them. British maps from 1930s and 1940s are extremely detailed. The frontiers of Gilgit Baltistan are no different today than they were in 1947- Minus the Shaksgam valley. So no land was obtained, 5500 sq km was given away. But pretty sure you know that very well.
And now you gifted em galwan.
