Editing Khunjerab Pass (section)

== Notability ==
{{Main|Karakoram Highway}}
[[File:Lightmatter snowleopard.jpg|thumb|left|The [[snow leopard]], an [[endangered species]], is found in the [[Khunjerab National Park]]]]

The Khunjerab Pass holds several distinctions, including being the highest paved international border crossing globally and serving as the highest point along the [[Karakoram Highway]]. The construction of the road across this pass was completed in 1982, and it has since supplanted the previously unpaved [[Mintaka Pass|Mintaka]] and [[Kilik Pass|Kilik]] passes as the principal route across the formidable Karakoram Range.

The decision to use the Khunjerab Pass for the Karakoram Highway was made in 1966. China citing the fact that Mintaka would be more susceptible to air strikes, recommended the steeper Khunjerab Pass instead.<ref name="dfdaily">{{Cite web |author=刘欣 |date=2013-05-03 |title=重寻玄奘之路 |trans-title=Rediscover the path taken by Xuanzang |url=https://site.douban.com/121981/widget/notes/4169991/note/274606907/ |access-date=2017-02-02 |publisher=东方早报 |language=zh |quote=1966年，时任新疆军区副司令员的张希钦在主持修筑中巴公路时，为避敌国空袭，放弃了巴方主张的走宽阔的明铁盖达坂的方案，而取道地势高峻的红其拉甫山口。 |trans-quote=In 1966, when Zhang Xiqin, then deputy commander of the Xinjiang Military Region, was presiding over the construction of the China-Pakistan Highway, in order to avoid enemy air attacks, he gave up the plan advocated by Pakistan to take the wide Mingtie Gaida Ban, and instead took the high-terrain Khunjela. Fushankou.}}</ref>

On the Pakistani-administered side, the pass is {{convert|42|km|abbr=on}} from the National Park station and checkpoint in Dih, {{convert|75|km|abbr=on}} from the customs and immigration post in [[Sust|Sost]], {{convert|270|km|abbr=on}} from [[Gilgit]], and {{convert|870|km|abbr=on}} from [[Islamabad]].

On the Chinese side, the pass is the southwest terminus of [[China National Highway 314]] (G314) and is {{convert|130|km|abbr=on}} from [[Tashkurgan Town|Tashkurgan]], {{convert|420|km|abbr=on}} from [[Kashgar]] and {{convert|1890|km|abbr=on}} from [[Urumqi]].  The Chinese port of entry is located {{convert|3.5|km|abbr=on}} along the road from the pass in [[Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County|Tashkurgan County]].

The long, relatively flat pass is often snow-covered<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.travelntourism.org/pakistan/snowfall-khunjerab-pass-gilgit-baltistan.html |title=Snowfall at Khunjerab Pass, Gilgit-Baltistan - Travel and Tourism |access-date=2016-06-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807064752/http://www.travelntourism.org/pakistan/snowfall-khunjerab-pass-gilgit-baltistan.html |archive-date=2016-08-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref> during the winter season and as a consequence is generally closed for heavy vehicles from November 30 to May 1 and for all vehicles from December 30 to April 1.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dangerousroads.org/asia/pakistan/2655-khunjerab-pass.html |title=Khunjerab Pass |website=dangerousroads<!--sic--> |access-date=2016-09-18}}</ref> This is not set however, late snowfall in the region attributed to climate-change means the road is accessible even during the winter months. Depending on the amount of snowfall, the road is cleared from time periods ranging from days to weeks.

Since June 1, 2006, there has been a daily bus service across the boundary from [[Gilgit]] to Kashgar, Xinjiang.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dawn.com/2006/03/23/nat2.htm |title=Kashghar-Gilgit bus service planned |website=Dawn |date= |access-date=23 March 2006|archive-date=2011-06-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622050808/http://www.dawn.com/2006/03/23/nat2.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[File:A road-sign on way to Khunjerab.jpg|thumb|Road sign giving distances to cities in Pakistan]]

This is one of the international borders where left-hand traffic (Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan) [[Right- and left-hand traffic|changes to right-hand traffic]] (China) and vice versa.

=== Highest ATM in the world ===
The Pakistani side features the highest ATM in the world, administered by the [[National Bank of Pakistan]] and linked to China [[UnionPay]] and the domestic [[1LINK]] switch.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-highest-atm |title=World's Highest ATM |work=[[Atlas Obscura]] |access-date=2019-07-26}}</ref>