Sight & Sounnds

Mintika Pass

The historic Mintika pass locates in Misgar valley at  37° 01' N; 74° 50' E and on about 4,709 m or 15,450 ft high. The Kilik pass is some 30km away and the distance between Mintyika pass and Tashkughun is about 150 km. During ancient time it offered the shortest route into China, which was of interest to the Mir of Hunza who held trade relations with the Chinese. He also used the Mintaka Pass for raids into Chinese territory, which was the basis of Hunza’s claim over parts of the upper Pirali district of Taghdumbash Pamir.

These passes were of great strategic concern to the British who feared a Russian invasion on India in the 19^th century, particularly when they received a report in 1874 claiming the Killik Pass to be "of remarkably easy access". A British mission was dispatched there in 1885 found the passes to be a nightmare, losing two porters through exposure and with all the party suffering from snow blindness. In 1893 the British had concluded "we have no reason to fear a Russian advance through the passes". When the KKH was being constructed, the route through the Mintaka Pass was considered but was rejected as lying too close to the Afghan and the Soviet borders. After British occupation in 1891, again, this was the easiest access to China. In more recent times, actually right up to the construction of the Karakoram Highway over the Khunjerab Pass in the 1970s, Misgar was a busy hub for trade between China and Pakistan through Mintaka Pass. The broad trail to the pass, demarcated with large rocks and boulders, is today a visible reminder of these busy times.

Early tombs of Kyrgyz nomads who periodically occupied the region and a series of ancient rock carvings, dating from Buddhist times, let assume that the passes had been known to travelers, pilgrims and traders for a very long time.The Mintaka pass was the main one used in ancient times until the fairly recent advance of glacier ice has forced people in recent times to use the so-called "New Mustagh Pass" (5,800 m or 19,029 ft), about 16 km further west; but this is also heavily glaciated and very difficult.

Historical photo of the summit of Mintika Pass

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© copyrights Zulfiqar Ali Khan All rights reserved-2006