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{{Short description|Ruined fort in eastern Ladakh}}
{{Infobox Historic Site
| name = Khurnak Fort
| image = China India western border 88.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = 1988 [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] map showing Khurnak Fort in [[Aksai Chin]]
| designation1 =
| designation1_date =
| designation1_number =
| designation1_criteria =
| designation1_type =
| designation1_free1name = Country
| designation1_free1value = China
| designation1_free2name = Region
| designation1_free2value = [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet]]
| location =
| elevation = 4,257 meters
| built =
| architect =
| architecture =
| coordinates = {{coord|33.7667|78.9877|display=inline,title}}
}}
{{Chinese
|s=库尔纳克堡
|t=庫爾納克堡
|p=Kùěrnàkè bǎo
|s2=库尔那克堡
|t2=庫爾那克堡
|p2=Kùěrnàkè bǎo
}}
The '''Khurnak Fort''' is a ruined [[fort]] on the northern shore of the [[Pangong Lake]] that spans eastern [[Ladakh]] in India and [[Rutog County]] in [[Tibet]]. The area of the Khurnak Fort is disputed by India and China, and has been under Chinese administration since 1958.

Though the ruined fort is itself is not of much significance, it serves as a landmark denoting the middle of the Pangong Lake. The fort lies at the western edge of a large plain formed as the [[alluvial fan]] of a stream known as ''Chang Parma'' and '''Changlung Lungpa''', which falls into the Pangong lake from the north. The plain itself is called ''Ote Plain'' locally, but now generally called the '''Khurnak Plain'''.{{sfnp|Godwin-Austen, Notes on the Pangong Lake District|1867|pp=351–352}}{{sfnp|Strachey, Physical Geography of Western Tibet|1854|p=46}}

==Description==
The fort lies close to the northern bank of the [[Pangong Tso]] and has an elevation of 4,257 meters above sea level.<ref>
{{cite web |url=http://www.getamap.net/maps/india/jammu_and_kashmir/_khurnakfort/ |title=Khurnak Fort |access-date=29 August 2013}}
</ref> It is situated on a rock in the northwestern part of the Khurnak plain.{{sfnp|Lamb, Treaties, Maps and the Western Sector|1965|p=72}}{{sfnp|Godwin-Austen, Notes on the Pangong Lake District|1867|p=355}}

==History==
[[File:Aksai Chin Sino-Indian border map.png|thumb|right|260px|Map including Khurnak Fort]]

In 1863, British topographer [[Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen]] described Khurnak as a disputed [[plain]] claimed both by inhabitants of the [[Pangong Tso|Panggong district]] and Tibetan authorities from Lhasa. He personally believed that it should belong to the latter due to the "old fort standing on a low rock on the north-western side of the plain" previously built by the Tibetans.<ref>
{{harvp|Lamb, Treaties, Maps and the Western Sector|1965|p=72}}: "the said plain ... [of Khurnak] ... is a disputed piece of ground, the men of the Panggong district claim it; though, judging by the site of an old fort standing on a low rock on the north-western side of the plain, I should say that it undoubtedly belongs to the Lhassan authorities, by whom it was built years ago."}}
</ref>{{sfnp|Godwin-Austen, Notes on the Pangong Lake District|1867|p=355}} Godwin-Austen remarked that the Kashmiri authorities in [[Leh]] had recently exerted their influence in the region such that Khurnak was effectively controlled by the Maharaja of [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]].{{sfnp|Lamb, Treaties, Maps and the Western Sector|1965|p=72}}{{sfnp|Godwin-Austen, Notes on the Pangong Lake District|1867|p=355}}

According to [[Alastair Lamb]], the majority of British maps published between 1918 and 1947 showed Khurnak as being in Tibet.{{sfnp|Lamb, Treaties, Maps and the Western Sector|1965|p=39}}

=== Sino-Indian border dispute ===
Prior to 1958, the boundary between India and China was considered to be at the Khurnak Fort<ref name="reference"/><ref>
{{cite book |last1=Negi |first1=S.S. |title=Cold Deserts of India |date=2002 |publisher=Indus Publishing |page=66 |isbn=9788173871276 |edition=Second |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=54RgJ6FgMl0C |access-date=13 August 2014}}
</ref> and Indian forces visited it from time to time and had a post there.<ref name="reference">Pg. 74, La Question de la frontière Sino-Indienne, 1967</ref> China wrested its control since around July 1958, according to most sources.<ref name="reference"/><ref>
See:
* {{cite book |last=Gonon |first=Emmanuel |title=Marches et frontières dans les Himalayas |year=2011 |publisher=Presses Universite Du Quebec |isbn=978-2760527034 |page=206 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tup81U5yzYQC}}
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=co2_ZqRfWikC |title=Foreign Policy of India |author=N. Jayapalan |year=2001 |page=206 |isbn=9788171568987 |access-date=30 August 2013}}
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G7xPaJomYsEC |title=Prepare Or Perish: A Study of National Security |author= K. V. Krishna Rao |year=1991 |page=75 |isbn=9788172120016 |access-date=30 August 2013}}
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z6y2E9gw5oIC |title=India-China Border Dispute: A Case Study of the Eastern Sector |author=M. L. Sali |year=1998 |page=82 |isbn=9788170249641 |access-date=30 August 2013}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.firstpost.com/india/chinas-ladakh-intrusion-two-maps-tell-this-dangerous-story-738131.html |title=China's Ladakh intrusion: Two maps tell this dangerous story |author= Praveen Swami |publisher=Firstpost |access-date=30 August 2013}}
* {{citation |last1=Appadorai |first1=Angadipuram |last2=Rajan |first2=Mannaraswamighala Sreeranga |title=India's Foreign Policy and Relations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8hpuAAAAMAAJ |year=1985 |publisher=South Asian Publishers |isbn=978-81-7003-054-6 |p=120}}
</ref>

During the 1960 talks between the two governments on the boundary issue, India submitted official records including the 1908 Settlement Report, which recorded the amount of revenue collected at Khurnak, as proof of jurisdiction over Khurnak.<ref name="HimalayanBground">{{cite book |last1=Fisher |first1=Margaret W. |last2=Rose |first2=Leo E. |last3=Huttenback |first3=Robert A. |title=Himalayan Battleground: Sino-Indian Rivalry in Ladakh |date=1963 |publisher=Praeger |page=111 |url= |url-access= |via= |isbn=}}{{ISBN?}}</ref> The Chinese claim line of 1956 did not include the Khurnak Fort, but the 1960 claim line included the Khurnak Fort.<ref>
{{cite journal |last1=Patterson |first1=George N. |title=Recent Chinese Policies in Tibet and towards the Himalayan Border States |journal=The China Quarterly |date=Oct–Dec 1962 |issue=12 |page=195 |jstor=651824}}
</ref>

In 1963, Khurnak Fort was described by the US [[National Photographic Interpretation Center]] as follows:
{{quote|Location--33-44N 78-59E, 20 nm north-east of Chushul, on the north shore of PangongTso. Facilities--one large barracks-type building, 2 large storage-type buildings, and 9 smaller buildings; dry moat on three sides; six AW positions and several individual firing positions. Served by natural surface road; no vehicles observed.<ref>
{{cite web |title=SINO-INDIAN BORDER DEFENSE CHUSHUL AREA |date=February 1963 |access-date=20 May 2020 |via=[[CIA]] |publisher=[[National Photographic Interpretation Center]] |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP89B00569R000200120051-4.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170123212037/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP89B00569R000200120051-4.pdf |archive-date=23 January 2017}} [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SINO-INDIAN_BORDER_DEFENSES_CHUSHUL_AREA_CIA-RDP89B00569R000200120051-4.pdf Alt URL]</ref>}}

As of 2019, a [[People's Liberation Army|PLA]] border patrol company of the [[Western Theater Command]] is stationed nearby.<ref>
{{Cite web |title = 零下20摄氏度！边防官兵巡逻在海拔5700米的雪域高原上 |author=China Youth Daily |publisher=[[Sina Corp]] |date=2019-02-11 |access-date=6 January 2020 |url=http://k.sina.com.cn/article_1726918143_66eeadff02000l8lx.html |language=zh |quote = 驻守在班公湖畔的新疆军区某边防团库尔那克堡边防连巡逻分队}}
</ref>

{{multiple image
| align = left
| width = 225
| image1 = Ladakh-Garhwal-1863.jpg
| alt1 =
| caption1 = Edward Weller map of Ladakh and Garhwal, 1863
| image2 = Map India and Pakistan 1-250,000 Tile NI 44-9 Pangong Tso.jpg
| alt2 =
| caption2 = Map including Khurnak Fort (ruins) ([[Army Map Service|AMS]], 1954)([[Army Map Service|AMS]], 1954){{efn|name=delin|From map: "THE DELINEATION OF INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARIES ON THIS MAP MUST NOT BE CONSIDERED AUTHORITATIVE"}}
| image3 = Ni-44-9-chushul-china-india.pdf
| alt3 =
| caption3 = Map including Khurnak Fort ([[Defense Mapping Agency|DMA]], 1982)
}}
{{clear}}

==See also==
* [[List of locations in Aksai Chin]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite journal |title=Notes on the Pangong Lake District of Ladakh, from a Journal Made during a Survey in 1863 |first=H. H. |last=Godwin-Austen |journal=[[Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London]] |volume=37 |year=1867 |pages=343–363 |doi=10.2307/1798534|jstor=1798534 |ref={{sfnref|Godwin-Austen, Notes on the Pangong Lake District|1867}}}}
* {{cite journal |title=Treaties, Maps and the Western Sector of the Sino-Indian Boundary Dispute |last=Lamb |first=Alastair |journal=The Australian Year Book of International Law |pages=37–52 |year=1965 |volume=1 |issue=1 |doi=10.1163/26660229-001-01-900000005 |url=http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUYrBkIntLaw/1965/4.pdf |ref={{sfnref|Lamb, Treaties, Maps and the Western Sector|1965}}}}
* {{citation |last=Strachey |first=Henry |title=Physical Geography of Western Tibet |publisher=William Clows and Sons |location=London |date=1854 |url=https://archive.org/details/physicalgeograp00stragoog |via=archive.org |ref={{sfnref|Strachey, Physical Geography of Western Tibet|1854}}}}

[[Category:Forts in Tibet]]
[[Category:Pangong Lake]]
[[Category:Borders of Ladakh]]
[[Category:Rutog County]]

Khurnak Fort - Revision history

CleanupBot at 05:14, 2 January 2022