Gilgit-Baltistan is bounded in the north by the Wakhan corridor (Afghanistan) and the Xinjiang region of China, on the south and south-east by Indian-Occupied Kashmir and on the west by Chitral. The Mintaka Pass is the point where the borders of Pakistan, China, Russia and Afghanistan are linked. The strategic rivalry between the British and the Soviet empires for supremacy in Central Asia was known as ‘the Great Game’. The British wanted to protect their interests in the Subcontinent and in Asia against a possible Russian advance. A Russian officer visited Hunza and signed a treaty. His presence in Hunza was taken as the start of the Great Game. Because of this treaty, Col Algernon Durand was sent to Gilgit to analyse the situation. The British at the time were afraid of Russia crossing Pamir and attacking British India through the passes of Chitral and Hunza. This forced the British to develop as the ‘forward policy’. Lord Curzon visited Gilgit even before becoming viceroy of In