NJ9842, also called NJ 980420 (in full: NJ 38 98000, 13 42000, yard based Indian Grid Coordinates), is the northernmost demarcated point of the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

cease fire line in

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

known as the

Line of Control The Line of Control (LoC) is a military control line between the Indian and Pakistanicontrolled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but serv ...

(LoC). The India–Pakistan AGPL (Actual Ground Position Line), begins from the NJ9842 on LoC and ends near the Indira Ridge at the trijunction of areas controlled by

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, India, and Pakistan.

Delineation

As part of the Simla Agreement signed on 2 July 1972, prime ministers

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 and was al ...

and

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourt ...

agreed that "the line of control resulting from the ceasefire of December 17, 1971, shall be respected by both sides without prejudice to the recognised position of either side". In November–December 1972, the military delegations of the two sides met in Suchetgarh to delineate the Line of Control. After delineation, signed maps were exchanged by the two sides and submitted to the respective governments for ratification. Scholar Brian Cloughley remarked that the delineation represented remarkable territorial precision. However, it terminated at the grid reference NJ9842, leaving undelimited roughly 60 to 75 km to the border with China.

Location

Map India and Pakistan 1-250,000 Tile NI 43-4 Chulung

The point NJ9842 is on the Saltoro Mountain Range, at the top of the Chalunka Lungpa valley that runs north from the village of Chalunka. The immediate south of the point is occupied by the Korisa Glacier, the source of the Chalunka Lungpa stream which flows into the

Shyok River The Shyok River is a tributary of the Indus River that flows through northern Ladakh and enters Gilgit–Baltistan, spanning some . The Shyok River originates at the Rimo Glacier, one of the tongues of Siachen Glacier. Its alignment is ver ...

. To the southeast of NJ9842 is the Urdolep or Waris Glacier, which forms the source of the Waris Lungpa stream. To the north of the point are the Chulung Glacier, which is the source of the Dansam River (one of the feeder rivers of the Saltoro River), and the Gyong Glacier, which generates a tributary stream called Gyong, all in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The prevailing line of control, called the Actual Ground Position Line, runs northeast from NJ9842 for about 10 km, approximately along the water-parting line of the two sets of glaciers. Afterwards, it runs north roughly along the watershed line of the Saltoro ridge, which divides the waters of the tributaries of the Shyok River that flow into Pakistan-administered Kashmir from those that flow into the Nubra river and tributaries in Indian-administered Kashmir. Even though several authors identify the point Khor of the 1949 cease-fire line with NJ9842, the two points are quite different. Khor is further south, in the grid 39 00000, 13 20000 of Indian grid coordinates, closer to the Shyok River valley. The move up from Khor to NJ9842 in 1972 represented in part the territory gained by India in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

AGPL

AGPL runs along the Saltoro Mountains Range from Point NJ9842 on the India-Pakistan LoC to near La Yongma Ri, Gyong La, Gyong Kangri,

Chumik Kangri Chumik Kangri (also known as Chumik Point 22158) is a mountain peak located at above sea level in the west of the Chumik Glacier. Location Chumik Kangri is a key peak overlooking the Chumik Glacier and Gyong La Pass, part of Pakistan's Gil ...

Bilafond La Bilafond La (meaning "Pass of the Butterflies" in Balti language, also known as the Saltoro Pass, is a mountain pass situated on Saltoro Ridge, sitting immediately west of the vast Siachen Glacier, some directly north of map point NJ 980420 wh ...

(pass) and nearby Bana Post, Saltoro Kangri, Ghent Kangri, and Sia La to the India–Pakistan–China trijunction northwest of Indira Col West on the Sino-Indian LAC. The peaks and passes under Pakistan's control such as Gayari Camp, Chogolisa, Baltoro Glacier, Conway Saddle, Baltoro Muztagh, and Gasherbrum lie west of the AGPL.R Baghela and M Nüsserab, 2015
Securing the heights: The vertical dimension of the Siachen conflict between India and Pakistan in the Eastern Karakoram
Political Geography (journal), Volume 48, Pages 24–36.

Notes

References

External links

Simla Agreement
{{coord, 35.008371, N, 77.008805, E, region:CN_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title India–Pakistan relations