The Karakoram pass falls on the boundary between India's union territory of
Ladakh and China's
Xinjiang autonomous region. It also plays a major geographic role in the dispute between Pakistan and India over control of the
Siachen Glacier area immediately to the southwest of the pass. This area has been under control of
India (currently administered as part of the union territory of
Ladakh) since 1984. This situation arose from the
Simla Agreement, signed in 1972 between India and Pakistan, when the treaty failed to specify the last or so of the cease-fire line from the end of the
Line of Control to the border with China. A potential China-India-Pakistan
tripoint at Karakoram Pass is referenced in a
1963 boundary treaty between China and Pakistan concerning the
Trans-Karakoram Tract, but India was not party to that treaty nor any tripoint agreement. The current
de facto tripoint is about 100 km west of the pass near
Indira Col in the
Siachen Muztagh, where the
Actual Ground Position Line between Indian and Pakistani forces meets the border with China. ==Historical maps==