Land
of Pakistan
Pakistan
is a land of many splendours. The Scenery changes northward from coastal
beaches, lagoons and mangrove swamps to sandy deserts, desolate plateaus,
fertile plains, dissected uplands and high mountains with beautiful valleys,
snow-covered peaks and eternal glaciers. This variety of landscape divided
Pakistan into six major regions-the Northern High Mountainous Region, the
Western Low Mountainous Region, the Potwar Uplands, the Baluchistan Plateau,
the Punjab Plain and the Sind Plain.
The
Himalayas
Stretching
in the north from east to west are a series of high muntain ranges which
separate Pakistan from China, Russia and Afghanistan. They include the
Himalayas, the Karakoram and the Hindukush mountains. The Himalayas spread
in the north-east and the Karakoram rises on the north-west of the Himalayas
and extends eastward up to Gilgit. The Hindukush mountains lie in the north
west of the Karakoram but extend eastward into Afghanistan. With the assemblage
of 33 giant peaks over 7,315m, the region is the climbers' paradise. Many
summits are even higher than 26,000 ft. (7,925m) and the highest K-2 (Mt.
Goawin Ausün) at 28,250ft. (8,610m) is exceeded only by Mt. Everest.
Inhospitable and technically more difficult to climb than even Mt. Everest,
they have taken the biggest toll of human lives in the annals of mountaineering.
The very passes are rarely lower than the summit of Mt. Blonc and several
are over 18,000 ft. (5,485m). The Karakoram Highway that passes through
the mountains is the highest trade route in the world.
Besides,
the regio abounds in the vast glaciers, large lakes and green valleys which
have combined at places to produce holiday resorts such as Gilgit, Hunza
and Yasin in the west and the valleys of , Dir, Chitral, Kaghan and Swat
drained by the rivers Chitral, Panjkora, Kunhar and Swat respectively in
the east. Dotted profusely with scenic spots having numerous streams and
rivulets, thick forests of pine and junipers and vast variety of fauna
and flora, the Chitral, Kaghan and Swat valleys have particularly earned
the reputation of being the most enchanting tourist resorts of Pakistan.
South
of the high mountains, the ranges lose their heights gradually and settle
down finally in the Margalla hills (2,000-3,000 ft.) in the vicinity of
Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, and swat and Chitral hills north of
river Kabul.
The
Western Low Mountains Region
These
mountains spread from the Swat and Chitral hills in a north-south direction,
and cover a large portion of N.W.F.P. North of the river Kabul their altitude
ranges from 5,000 ft. to 6,000 ft. in Mohmand and Malakand hills. The aspect
of these hills is exceedingly dreary and the eye is everywhere met by the
dry rivers between long rows of rocky hills and crags, scantly clothes
with coarse grass, scrub wood and dwarf palm.
South
of the river Kabul spreads the Koh-e-Sofed Range with a general height
of 10,000 ft., its highest peak Sakaram being 15,620 ft. South of the Koh-e-Sofed
are the Kohat and the Waziristan hills (5,000 ft.) which are traversed
by the Kurram and Tochi rivers, and are bounded on south by Gomal river.
The whole area is a tangle of arid hills composed of limestone and sandstone.
South
of the Gomal River, the Sulaiman Mountains run for a distance of about
300 miles in a north-south direction, Takhte Sulaiman (11,295 ft.) being
its highest peak. At the southern end lie the low Marri and Bugti hills.
South
of the Sulaiman Mountains is the Kirthar Range which froms a boundary between
Sind plains with Quetta in Baluchistan Plateau. It consists of a series
of ascending ridges running generally north and south with broad flat valleys
in between. The highest peak named Kute ji Kabar (dog's grave) is 6,878
ft. above sea-level.
The
Western Mountains have a number of passes which are of specila geographical
and historical interest. For centuries they have been watching numerous
kings, generals and preachers passing through them, and the events that
followed brought about momentous changes in the annals of mankind. Khyber
Pass, the largest and the most renowned of these is 35 miles long and connects
Kabul in Afghanistan with the fertile vale of Peshawar in N.W.F.P. the
Tochi Pass connects Ghazni in Afghanistan with Bannu in Pakistan and the
Gomal Pass provides a route from Afghanistan to Dera Ismail Khan which
overlooks at the Punjab plains. The Bolan Pass connects the Sind plains
with Quetta in Baluchistan and onward through Chaman with Afghanistan.
Enclosed
by the bramches of western mountains are a number of fertile plains which
have been formed by rivers rising from these mounatins and falling into
Indus.
The
Balochistan Plateau
The
Balochistan Plateau extends westward, averaging more than 1,000 feet in
elevation, with many ridges running across it from northeast to southwest.
It is separated from the Indus Plain by the Sulaiman and Kirthar ranges.
It has a remarkable indigenous method of irrigation called the karez, which
consists of underground channels and galleries that collect subsoil water
at the foot of hills and carry it to the fields and villages. The water
is drawn from the channels through shafts that are sunk into the fields
at suitable intervals. Because the channels are underground, the loss of
water by evaporation is minimized. The technology for the construction
of the karez probably came from western China, brought into Balochistan
by the Buddhist monks who traveled back and forth over the Karakoram Range.
The plateau is an extremely arid country and is the most sparsely populated
region in Pakistan. Pastoral activity supplements a primitive form of agriculture.
True pastoral nomadism survives in the northwest. Goats and fat-tailed
sheep account for the majority of the stock, and much of the local traffic
consists of camels and donkeys, although trucks and buses are in use on
the new roads.
The
Desert Areas
The
desert areas include the steppes of the Sindh Sagar Doab (at its centre
is the Thal, which has true desert conditions) and Cholistan in the Bahawalpur
region (Punjab), which is known as the Nara or Registan in the Khairpur
region (Sindh) and as the Thar Desert in the Thar Parkar region of southeastern
Sindh. All these areas are extensions of the Thar Desert of western India.
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