GUMAL PASS

also spelled Gomal Pass, route along the Gumal River valley in the extreme southwestern portion of North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. The most important pass between the Khyber and Bolan passes, it connects Ghazni in eastern Afghanistan with Tank and Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan via Domandi and Kot Murtaza. Actually a 4-mile (6-kilometre) defile (gorge), the name is sometimes applied to the full course of the Gumal River. The oldest trade route in the area, the Gumal Pass has been traditionally used by nomadic Afghan traders called Powindahs, whose entry into Pakistan is now restricted. By treaty agreement with the Mahsud Waziri inhabitants, the British succeeded in opening the pass in 1889.