- Bolan Pass
Infobox Mountain Pass
Name = Bolan Pass
Photo = Bolanpass.jpg
Caption = Bolan Pass depicted on a 1910 advertisement card for Liebig Meat Extract Company
Elevation = 1793.4 meters [5880 feet]
Location = Balochistan
Range =Toba Kakar Range
Coordinates = coord|29|45|N|67|35|E|type:pass
Topographic
Transversed by =Bolan Pass (
Urdu : درہ بولان "Dharaa Bolan") is amountain pass through theToba Kakar Range of mountains in westernPakistan , 120 kilometres from theAfghanistan border.Strategically located, traders, invaders, and nomadic tribes have also used it as a gateway to and from the
South Asia .The British took the threat of a
Russia n invasion ofSouth Asia via the Khyber and Bolan Passes very seriously so in 1837, a British envoy was sent toKabul to gain support of theEmir ,Dost Mohammed . In February 1839, theBritish Army under Sir John Keane took 12,000 men through the Bolan Pass and enteredKandahar , which the Afghan Princes had abandoned; from there they would go on to attack and overthrowGhazni .Traditionally, the
Brahui of theKurd tribe are in charge of the law and order situation through the Pass area. This tribe is still living in present day Balochistan inPakistan .In 1879 at the close of the Second Afghan War, the
Treaty of Gandamak , the Bolan Pass was brought under British control; this was when theSind-Pishin Railway was built by the British across the pass betweenKandahar andQuetta .The Bolan Pass is an important pass on the
Baluch frontier , connectingJacobabad andSibi withQuetta , which has always occupied an important place in the history of British campaigns inAfghanistan . Since the treaty ofGandamak , which was signed at the close of the first phase of the Afghan War in 1879, the Bolan route has been brought directly under British control, and it was selected for the first alignment of theSind -Pishin railway from the plains to the plateau. From Sibi the line runs south-west, skirting the hills toRindli , and originally followed the course of the Bolan stream to its head on the plateau. The destructive action of floods, however, led to the abandonment of this alignment, and the railway now follows theMashkaf valley (whichdebouches into the plains close to Sibi), and is carried from near the head of the Mashkaf to a junction with the Bolan atMach . An alternative route from Sibi to Quetta was found in theHarnai valley to the N.E. of Sibi, the line starting in exactly the opposite direction to that of the Bolan and entering the hills atNari . TheHarnai route, although longer, is the one adopted for all ordinary traffic, the Bolan loop being reserved for emergencies. At theKhundilani gorge of the Bolan route conglomerate cliffs enclose the valley rising to a height of 800 ft., and atSir-i-Bolan the passage between the limestone rocks hardly admits of three persons riding abreast. The temperature of the pass in summer is very high, whereas in winter, near its head, the cold is extreme, and the ice-cold wind rushing down the narrow outlet becomes destructive to life. Since 1877, when the Quetta agency was founded, the freedom of the pass from plundering bands ofBaluch marauder s (chieflyMarris ) had been secured by theBritish Indian Army .ee also
* Balochistan
*Mehrgarh References
External links
* [http://mehrgarh.webpal.info/mehrgarh/ Mehrgarh (Balochistan)]
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