Burzil Pass

{{short description|Pakistani mountain pass}}

{{Use Pakistani English|date=October 2020}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}

{{Infobox mountain pass

| name = Burzil Pass

| photo = Burzil Pass, Kashmir.jpg

| photo_caption = Part of the route through the Burzil Pass in Pakistani-administered Kashmir

| elevation_m = 4100

| elevation_ref ={{Cite web|title=Burzil Pass, a hairpinned climb in Pakistan|url=https://www.dangerousroads.org/asia/pakistan/3906-burzil-pass.html|access-date=2020-09-10|website=www.dangerousroads.org|language=en-gb}}

| traversed =

| map = Gilgit Baltistan

| map_caption = Location in Gilgit−Baltistan

| location = Gilgit−Baltistan, Pakistan

| range = Himalayas

| coordinates = {{coord|34|54|00|N|75|06|00|E|display=title,inline|region:PK_type:pass_source:GeoNames}}{{cite web |title=Burzil Pass |author= GeoNames.org |url= http://www.geonames.org/1182035/burzil-pass.html}}

| topo =

|length_mi=46

| embedded = {{Infobox mapframe |wikidata=yes |coord={{WikidataCoord|display=i}}}}

}}

The Burzil Pass (el. {{convert|4100|m|abbr=on|sigfig=3}}){{cite book |title=Imperial Gazetteer of India. Provincial Series: Kashmir and Jammu (facsimile reprint) |date=4 July 2001|orig-year=1909 |publisher= Adamant Media Corporation (original: Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta) |isbn= 978-0-543-91776-8 |page= 8 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=TvkpSbmwrf8C&pg=PA8|access-date=2009-08-10}} (Urdu: درہ برزیل) is a mountain pass in northern Pakistan, and is part of the historic caravan route between the cities of Srinagar and Gilgit. The pass lies approximately {{Convert|5|km|mi}} north of the administrative line between the Pakistani-administered territories of Gilgit−Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and some {{Convert|30|km|mi}} north of the Line of Control (LoC), which serves as the de facto border between Pakistan and India in the disputed region of Kashmir. While the Burzil route ran freely through Jammu and Kashmir during British rule in India, major sections were largely closed off by Pakistan following the First Kashmir War, which saw the division by a ceasefire line of the former princely state and the start of an ongoing territorial conflict over the region. The crest of the pass is wide and covered with lush alpine grass vegetation during the summer. The Astore River originates from the western slopes of the Burzil Pass.{{cite journal |last=Sultana |first=K. |author2=Muqarrab Shah |author3=T.M.Upson |year=2007 |title=Altitudinal Distribution of Grasses, Sedges and Rushes of Deosai Plateau: Pakistan |journal=The Electronic Journal of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Chemistry |volume=6 |issue=11 |issn=1579-4377 |page=2518 |url=http://ejeafche.uvigo.es/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=313&Itemid=33 |access-date=2009-08-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091218154854/http://ejeafche.uvigo.es/index.php?option=com_docman |archive-date=2009-12-18 }}

It is the oldest-known route connecting Gilgit with Skardu and Srinagar through the Deosai Plateau. Ancient travellers are believed to have extensively crossed the pass by horse. At the beginning of the 20th century, a hut was built on the crest of the pass, where couriers delivered mail and messages from British India to China.{{cite web |title= The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu, Chapter on the Western Regions from Hou Hanshu 88, The Kingdom of Wuyishanli 烏弋山離 (Kandahar, including Arachosia and Drangiana), 2nd ed. |others=John Hill (translation, notes, appendices)|date=September 2003 |url= http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/hhshu/notes8.html}}

The city of Gilgit is located some {{convert|367|km|abbr=|mi}} from Srinagar by road via the Burzil Pass above the northern banks of Wular Lake and Gurez in the Indian-administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir.{{cite book |title= Culture and political history of Kashmir |last=Bamzai |first= P. N. K. |author-link=Prithivi Nath Kaul Bamzai |volume= 1. Ancient Kashmir |year= 1994 |publisher= M D Publications |isbn=978-81-85880-31-0 |page= 9 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1eMfzTBcXcYC&pg=PA9|access-date=2009-08-10}}