Hello and

the BBC World Service with me for Hana Haida.

And today we're going back to 1979

when one of the great engineering feats of the last century

was completed

and the Karakoram Highway between Pakistan and China was finally opened.

The anthem for the Engineer Corps of the Pakistani Army.

It was these engineers who built the Pakistani side of the road,

which would cut a path through 1,300 kilometers of rugged high-altitude terrain,

connecting Kashgar in Western China with Islamabad in Pakistan. The Karakuram Highway, also known as a Friendship Highway in China,

was started in 1959 due to the difficult conditions under China was

constructed, it's also sometimes referred to as the eighth wonder of the world.

It's unique. There is no semblance of this kind of terrain in the world. It's unique. There is no semblance of this kind of a terrain in the world. It has some 60 peaks, averaging 6,600 meters. It's a kind of a paradise for the geologists, but a nightmare for the road builders.

Purves Akmal was a 28-year-old major with the Pakistani engineer corps

when he was put in charge of a hundred kilometer stretch of road just a year

before the Karakoram Highway was opened to the public.

I joined in my capacity is one of the company commanders of a road maintenance battalion.

During the course of that I was not just looking at that 100 kilometer plus stretch that I had to maintain.

I also had a number of opportunities to go right up to Kanjarab and see how things were

happening.

In the process would also see the Chinese doing their leftover works.

The Kundjurab Pass at a height of 4,700 meters lies close to the border between Pakistan and China in the Karakoram Mountains.

...