The Bolan Pass, at an elevation of 1,793.4 m (5,884 ft) above the sea level is a mountain pass through the Toba Kakar Range of Balochistan province in western Pakistan, 120 kilometres from the Afghanistan border.
Strategically located, traders, invaders, and nomadic tribes have also used it as a gateway to and from the South Asia. The Bolan Pass is an important pass on the Baluch frontier, connecting Jacobabad and Sibi with Quetta, which has always occupied an important place in the history of British campaigns in Afghanistan. In 1837, threatened by a possible Russian invasion of South Asia via the Khyber and Bolan Passes, a British envoy was sent to Kabul to gain support of the Emir, Dost Mohammed. In February 1839, the British Army under Sir John Keane took 12,000 men through the Bolan Pass and entered Kandahar, which the Afghan Princes had abandoned; from there they would go on to attack and overthrow Ghazni. In 1883, Sir Robert Groves Sandeman negotiated with the Khan of Kalat Khudadad Khan and secured British control over the pass in exchange for an annual fee.
Traditionally, the Brahui of the Baluchi ethnic group are in charge of the law and order situation through the Pass area. This tribe is still living in present day Balochistan in Pakistan, and they still preserve their Dravidian Language.
