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A Pigeon near Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum.
The laughing dove (Spilopelia senegalensis) is a small pigeon that is a resident breeder in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Western Australia where it has established itself in the wild after being released from Perth Zoo in 1898. This small long-tailed dove is found in dry scrub and semi-desert habitats where pairs can often be seen feeding on the ground. It is closely related to the spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis) which is distinguished by a white and black chequered necklace. Other names include laughing turtle dove, palm dove and Senegal dove while in Asia the name of the little brown dove is often used.
Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum is located near the Samani Mausoleum, in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Its name means Job's well, due to the legend in which Job (Ayub) visited this place and made a well by striking the ground with his staff. The water of this well is still pure and is considered healing. The current building was constructed during the reign of Timur and features a Khwarazm-style conical dome uncommon in Bukhara.
Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum is in the middle of a small, ancient cemetery. The construction suffered some losses, but the preserved parts represent a combination of a harmonious entrance portal, and adjoining it are the remains of the western curtain wall.
The construction layout of the portal is in a traditional pattern, made up in the form of two pylons, forming the niche overlapped by the semi vault. The II-shaped frame, the inside of which forms the obverse surface, tympanum, and ktoba, is finished with an inscription above the lancet arch. The northern part of the niche portal is a limited gable wall with a doorway. From the western end the portal is adjoined by a deep brick wall that measures 5.9 m, of which the western portion has been lost. The wall is in the form of a trapezoid with a large base. The central room is overlapped by the tent-peaked dome. Except for the proportions of the construction, this monument has well-considered and perfectly executed decoration, the basic part of which is concentrated on the portal. The most effective place in the general composition of the decoration is ktoba, filled with Arabic inscriptions on a background of botanical ornamentation. The portal frame on the external contour is marked by the II-shaped zone, strengthened by girikh from intertwining octahedrons, made of terracotta bricks. Glazed inserts in turquoise fill the central octahedral sockets. A tape borders the frame and ktoba. The historical value of the monument consists of the exact dating written on ktoba (1208-1209 .A.D.) or the 605th year of the Muslim Calendar.
Mausoleo Chashma-Ayub está situado cerca del Mausoleo Samani, en Bujara, Uzbekistán. Su nombre significa «pozo de Job», debido a la leyenda en la que Job (Ayub) visitó este lugar y construyó un pozo golpeando el terreno con su bastón. El agua de este pozo sigue siendo pura y se considera curativa. El edificio actual fue construido durante el reinado de Timur y presenta una cúpula cónica de estilo khwarazm poco común en Bujara.
The Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum is located near the Samani Mausoleum in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Its name means "Job's Well," due to the legend in which Job (Ayub) visited this spot and dug a well by striking the ground with his staff. The water from this well remains pure and is considered to have healing properties. The current building was constructed during Timur's reign and features a conical dome in the Khwarazm style, which is uncommon in Bukhara.
Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum is located near the Samani Mausoleum, in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Its name means Job's well, due to the legend in which Job (Ayub) visited this place and made a well by striking the ground with his staff. The water of this well is still pure and is considered healing. The current building was constructed during the reign of Timur and features a Khwarazm-style conical dome uncommon in Bukhara.
Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum is in the middle of a small, ancient cemetery. The construction suffered some losses, but the preserved parts represent a combination of a harmonious entrance portal, and adjoining it are the remains of the western curtain wall.
The construction layout of the portal is in a traditional pattern, made up in the form of two pylons, forming the niche overlapped by the semi vault. The II-shaped frame, the inside of which forms the obverse surface, tympanum, and ktoba, is finished with an inscription above the lancet arch. The northern part of the niche portal is a limited gable wall with a doorway. From the western end the portal is adjoined by a deep brick wall that measures 5.9 m, of which the western portion has been lost. The wall is in the form of a trapezoid with a large base. The central room is overlapped by the tent-peaked dome. Except for the proportions of the construction, this monument has well-considered and perfectly executed decoration, the basic part of which is concentrated on the portal. The most effective place in the general composition of the decoration is ktoba, filled with Arabic inscriptions on a background of botanical ornamentation. The portal frame on the external contour is marked by the II-shaped zone, strengthened by girikh from intertwining octahedrons, made of terracotta bricks. Glazed inserts in turquoise fill the central octahedral sockets. A tape borders the frame and ktoba. The historical value of the monument consists of the exact dating written on ktoba (1208-1209 .A.D.) or the 605th year of the Muslim Calendar.
Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum is located near the Samani Mausoleum, in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Its name means Job's well, due to the legend in which Job (Ayub) visited this place and made a well by striking the ground with his staff. The water of this well is still pure and is considered healing. The current building was constructed during the reign of Timur and features a Khwarazm-style conical dome uncommon in Bukhara.
Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum is in the middle of a small, ancient cemetery. The construction suffered some losses, but the preserved parts represent a combination of a harmonious entrance portal, and adjoining it are the remains of the western curtain wall.
The construction layout of the portal is in a traditional pattern, made up in the form of two pylons, forming the niche overlapped by the semi vault. The II-shaped frame, the inside of which forms the obverse surface, tympanum, and ktoba, is finished with an inscription above the lancet arch. The northern part of the niche portal is a limited gable wall with a doorway. From the western end the portal is adjoined by a deep brick wall that measures 5.9 m, of which the western portion has been lost. The wall is in the form of a trapezoid with a large base. The central room is overlapped by the tent-peaked dome. Except for the proportions of the construction, this monument has well-considered and perfectly executed decoration, the basic part of which is concentrated on the portal. The most effective place in the general composition of the decoration is ktoba, filled with Arabic inscriptions on a background of botanical ornamentation. The portal frame on the external contour is marked by the II-shaped zone, strengthened by girikh from intertwining octahedrons, made of terracotta bricks. Glazed inserts in turquoise fill the central octahedral sockets. A tape borders the frame and ktoba. The historical value of the monument consists of the exact dating written on ktoba (1208-1209 .A.D.) or the 605th year of the Muslim Calendar.
Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Constructed between the 12th and 16th centuries and noted for its unusual conical dome.
Chashma-Ayub a Bukhara, traducibile come Fonte di San Giobbe. Secondo una leggenda, il profeta biblico Giobbe, dopo aver visitato questa terra, decise di aiutare le persone che soffrivano per la scarsità d'acqua nel deserto. Colpì il terreno con il suo bastone, facendo scaturire una sorgente d'acqua cristallina in quel luogo.
La gente crede che l'acqua della sorgente abbia poteri curativi. Un mausoleo è stato eretto sopra la sorgente. Ha la forma di un prisma allungato. L'edificio è coronato da cupole di forme diverse. Sopra l'edificio principale con la sorgente, c'è una particolare cupola doppia con una "cupola" conica
Chashma-Ayub in Bukhara, translated as Saint Job's Spring. According to legend, the biblical prophet Job, after visiting this land, decided to help the people suffering from water shortages in the desert. He struck the ground with his staff, causing a crystal-clear spring to flow there.
People believe the spring's water has healing powers. A mausoleum was erected over the spring. It has the shape of an elongated prism. The building is crowned with domes of various shapes. Above the main building with the spring is a unique double dome with a conical dome.
Le mausolée Chashma-Ayub est situé près du mausolée des Samanides . Selon la légende Job (Ayub) voulant aider les habitants du désert qui manquaient d'eau, aurait fait jaillir une source en frappant le sol avec son bâton. L'eau du puits est encore pure et est considérée comme cicatrisante. Le bâtiment actuel a été construit pendant le règne de Timur, la date exacte de la construction (1208-1209 AD) figure sur le bâtiment. Le dôme conique de style Khwarazm est peu commun à Boukhara.
Di fronte all’Ark e vicino alla moschea Bolo Khauz si trova questo originale Mausoleo Chashma Ayub, costruito tra il XII e il XVI secolo sopra una sorgente, secondo la tradizione fatta scaturire da Giobbe. Si trova nei pressi del Mausoleo Samani, nel bel mezzo di un piccolo ed antico cimitero vicino alle rovine delle antiche mura di Bukhara
Opposite the Ark and near the Bolo Khauz mosque is this original Chashma Ayub Mausoleum, built between the 12th and 16th centuries on top of a spring, according to the tradition made by Job. It is located near the Samani Mausoleum, in the middle of a small and ancient cemetery near the ruins of the ancient walls of Bukhara
republished by www.villadeayora.com/blog/samarkand-uzbekistans-past/ without photographer's permission & reference
"Chashma Ayub" ("Job's Well") takes its name from a local legend that Ayub, or Job, dug a well here by striking the ground with his staff. The water from this well remains pure and is said to have healing properties.
The current building was constructed by Khorezmian craftsmen following Amir Temur's campaign to Khorezm.
The mountainous areas embracing the Himalayan, Karakorum and Hindukush Ranges are rich in fauna and flora, as compared to other parts of the country. These areas provide an excellent habitat for wildlife in the form of alpine grazing lands, sub-alpine scrub and temperate forests. These habitats support a variety of wild animals. The areas are difficult for human beings to access, hence, most wildlife is present in reasonable numbers though some are endangered for other reasons. Some of the main wildlife species are the snow leopard, the black and the brown bears, otter, wolf, lynx, Himalayan ibex, markhor, bharal, Marco Polo's sheep, shapu/Urial, musk deer, marmots, tragopan and monal pheasants. The snow partridge and snowcock reside at higher elevations. The Rhesus monkey, common langur, red fox, black bear, common leopard, a variety of cats, musk deer (over a limited area), goral, several species of flying squirrels, chakor, partridge and pheasants (koklass, kaleej and cheer) live in the lower elevations. Amongst these the snow leopard, musk deer, Marco Polo's sheep, and the brown bear are endangered. The Tibetan wild ass and the blue sheep populations have been reduced drastically. The cheer pheasant is reported to be extinct from within Pakistan's boundaries, and is included in the IUCN Red Data Book. The western horned tragopan was reported to have disappeared from within Pakistani territory, but has now been relocated to Indus Kohistan, although its numbers are low.
The main threats to the population of wild animals in the northern mountainous regions include, the competition with domestic livestock for existing natural forage, increasing human interference in the form of cultivation, the construction of roads, and hunting.
The Himalayan foothills and the Potohar region, including the Salt Range and Kala Chitta Range, are covered with scrub forests, which have been reduced to scanty growth in most places. Medium-sized animals like the Punjab urial, barking deer, goral, chinkara, partridges (grey and black), seesee and chakor are supported in these habitats. A variety of songbird fauna also occurs in these areas.
Vast Indus flood plains have been cleared of natural vegetation to grow crops. Very little wildlife habitat has been left untouched. Only animals like the jackal, mongoose, jungle cat, civet cat, scaly anteater, desert cat and the wild hare occur in these areas. Hog deer is found in riverine tracts. The crop residues and wild growth support reasonable populations of black and grey partridges.
Little vegetative cover, severity of climatic conditions and the great thrust of grazing animals on the deserts have left wild animals in a precarious position. Parts of Thall and Cholistan are now being irrigated, with the situation almost identical to that of the flood plains. Chinkara is the only animal, which can still be found in average numbers in Cholistan, but rarely in Thall. The blackbuck, once plentiful in Cholistan has now been eliminated. However, efforts are being made to reintroduce them back into the country. A small number of blue bulls are found along the Pak-Indian border, and some parts of Cholistan. Grey partridge, species of sand grouse and the Indian courser are the main birds of the area. Peafowl occur in some areas in Cholistan.
The Thar Desert supports a fair population of the Chinkara gazelle. Peacocks are only found in the wild, mainly because of the protection they enjoy in Hindu communities. The wild ass migrates from the Indian part of the Rann of Kutch to the Pakistani part in search of food.
The Houbara bustard is a regular winter visitor to the desert. Visiting diplomats have hunted and reduced their numbers. The great Indian bustard is sporadically sighted. The imperial sandgrouse is another migrant visiting these areas. Grey partridges are frequently sighted. The python is also threatened with extinction.
The Sulaiman and Kirthar Ranges present habitats manifesting unique characteristics. The former supports the straight-horned markhor, chinkara and urial, whereas Sindh ibex, urial, chinkara and common leopard occupy the latter. The straight-horned markhor, which is almost extinct from within settled boundaries of Pakistan, occurs in somewhat fair numbers in the Tribal Areas. The chakor, seesee and grey partridge are birds commonly found in the tracts.
The reed beds and tamarisk bushes along the rivers support hog deer and black partridge populations. However, due to occasional heavy floods their numbers have also been reduced. The Indus dolphin, fishing cat, and smooth otter are found in the Indus River waters below the Chashma Barrage. The gavial has become extinct in Pakistan. The crocodile is found in small numbers in lower Sindh. Wild boar numbers have increased because of the immunity they enjoy in a Muslim society that forbids its consumption by humans.
The animals found in the south-western mountains of Balochistan are: Sindh ibex, Chiltan markhor, straight horned markhor, wild sheep, leopard, marbled pole cat, Blandford's fox, chinkara, goitered gazelle and the marsh crocodile. The cheetah, is believed to be extinct and the Makran (baluchistan) bear critically endangered. The Houbara bustard (migratory), sandgrouse, black and grey partridges, and the chakor and see see partridges are also found here.
Irrigated forest plantations have emerged as the prevailing land use practice for the last 100 years. These ideally provide excellent habitat for chinkara, hog deer and blue bull. Forest management does not cater to the needs of these wild animals. This, coupled with the poor implementation of laws has resulted in the extinction of species in the irrigated plantations. Due to habitat disturbances, the ungulates have failed to establish themselves, whereas the partridges have flourished well.
The striped hyena and the wolf are widely distributed in the sparsely populated parts of the country. However, information about them is scanty. Information about carnivores in general is difficult to obtain because of their nocturnal mode of life and high mobility. The black bear and brown bear populations are also not understood completely.
Birds of prey like the peregrine, cherrug or saker falcons, tawny eagle, imperial and greater spotted eagles, osprey, shikra, and the black-winged kite occur throughout Pakistan but their population statuses are unknown.
Pakistan's coastline of 1,050 km consists of a variety of habitat types, supporting a wide range of animals, of which over 1000 are fish species. Pakistan's marine flora and fauna have not been studied properly. Hence, detailed information on these species is deficient. Along the shores, there are four species of marine turtles: the ridley, green, leather back and hawksbill turtle, which are of high economic importance. Due to loss of habitat and human disturbances, their population is also decreasing.
About eight species of freshwater turtles are found in Pakistan. Sand lizards, monitors, geckos, agamas, diamond snakes, sand snakes, vipers, cobras, kraits and the famous Indian python constitute the other reptilian fauna.
Large water bodies in the country support a variety of waterfowl both resident and migratory. The extent of wetlands is constantly being changed. On one hand, swamps and marshes are being drained to reclaim land, whereas on the other hand, new dams (large water bodies) have been created for irrigation purposes. Canal irrigation through seepage has also contributed towards increasing the land area under water in the form of water logging. Such areas support a great number of waterfowl by providing them with an excellent habitat. The wetlands are one of the most important wintering areas and "green routes" of Asia. The important waterfowl in Pakistan are the ducks (mallard, pintail, shoveler, pochard, gargeny, ruddy shellduck, teals, tufted and gadwall), geese (grey lag, bar-headed), coots, flamingoes, pelicans, spoon bills, storks, ibises, plovers, curlews, sand pipers, snipes, and herons. The marbled teal and white-headed duck have decreased in number and now visit the wetlands infrequently. Among the waterfowl are (resident) gallinules, moorhens and rails, gulls, terns, water cock, grebes, cormorants, egrets, bitterns, and jakanas. The spot-billed lesser whistling teal and the cotton teal are resident ducks. A rich wader fauna visits the coastline during the winter.
Efforts have been made to document the status of wildlife and in some cases, the correct status is known, whereas most of the information about their populations is sketchy. With the strengthening of wildlife organisations in the country more reliable information can be obtained.
In Chasme Shahi Bagh, a Moghul garden in Srinagar.
Chashme Shahi or Chashma i Shahi, also called Chashma Shahi, is one of the Mughal gardens built in 1632 AD around a spring by Ali Mardan Khan, a governor of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as per the orders of the Emperor, as a gift for his elder son Prince Dara Shikoh.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River
The Indus River (Sanskrit सिन्धु Sindhu,; Urdu: سندھ Sindh; Sindhi: سندھو Sindhu; Punjabi سندھ Sindh; Hindko سندھ Sindh; Avestan: حندو Harahauvati; Pashto: ّآباسن Abasin "Father of Rivers"; Persian: Nilou (رود سند) "Hindu"; Arabic: السند "Al-Sind"; Tibetan: Sênggê Zangbo (སེང་གེ།་གཙང་པོ་) "Lion River"; Chinese: 森格藏布/狮泉河/印度河, Sēngé Zàngbù/Shīquán Hé/Yìndù Hé; Greek: Ινδός Indos;Turki: Nilab) is the longest river in Pakistan and the twenty-first largest river in the world in terms of annual flow. It is often considered the life-line of Pakistan. The Europeans used the name "India" for the entire South Asian subcontinent based on Indos, the Greek appellation of this river. Historically significant, the river is at the crux of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization.
Originating in the Tibetan plateau in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the National River runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and then enters Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan), flowing through the North in a southerly direction along the entire length of the country, to merge into the Arabian Sea near Pakistan's port city of Karachi in Sindh. The total length of the river is 3,180 kilometers (1,976 miles). The river has a total drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 square kilometers (450,000 square miles). The river's estimated annual flow stands at around 207 cubic kilometers. Beginning at the heights of the world with glaciers, the river feeds the ecosystem of temperate forests, plains and arid countryside. Together with the rivers Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, Jhelum, Beas and two tributaries from the North West Frontier and Afghanistan, the Indus forms the Sapta Sindhu (Seven Rivers) delta of Pakistan.
Description
The Indus provides the key water resources for the economy of Pakistan - especially the Breadbasket of Punjab province, which accounts for most of the nation's agricultural production, and Sindh. The word Punjab is a combination of the Sanskrit words panj meaning Five, and āb meaning Water, giving the literal meaning of the Land of the Five Rivers. The Five rivers after which Punjab is named are the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and the Sutlej. The river also supports many heavy industries and provides the main supply of potable water in Pakistan.
The ultimate source of the Indus is in Tibet; it begins at the confluence of the Sengge and Gar rivers that drain the Nganglong Kangri and Gangdise Shan mountain ranges. The Indus then flows northwest through Ladakh and Baltistan into Gilgit, just south of the Karakoram range. The Shyok River, Shigar and Gilgit streams carry glacial waters into the main river. It gradually bends to the south, coming out of the hills between Peshawar and Rawalpindi. The Indus passes gigantic gorges 4,500-5,200 metres (15,000-17,000 feet) high near the Nanga Parbat massif. It flows swiftly across Hazara, and is dammed at the Tarbela Reservoir. The Kabul River joins it near Attock. The remainder of its route to the sea is in plains of the Punjab and Sindh, and the river becomes slow-flowing and highly braided. It is joined by Panjnad River at Mithankot. Beyond this confluence, the river, at one time, was named Satnad River (Sat = seven, Nadi = river), as the river was now carrying the waters of the Kabul River, the Indus River and the five Punjab rivers. Passing by Jamshoro, it ends in a large delta to the east of Thatta.
The Indus is one of the few rivers in the world that exhibit a tidal bore. The Indus system is largely fed by the snows and glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakoram and the Hindu Kush ranges of Tibet, the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the Northern Areas of Pakistan respectively. The flow of the river is also determined by the seasons - it diminishes greatly in the winter, while flooding its banks in the monsoon months from July to September. There is also evidence of a steady shift in the course of the river since prehistoric times - it deviated westwards from flowing into the Rann of Kutch and adjoining Banni grasslands after the 1816 earthquake[1][2].
Effects of climate change on the river
The Tibetan Plateau contains the world's third-largest store of ice. Qin Dahe, the former head of the China Meteorological Administration, said that the recent fast pace of melting and warmer temperatures will be good for agriculture and tourism in the short term; but issued a strong warning:
"Temperatures are rising four times faster than elsewhere in China, and the Tibetan glaciers are retreating at a higher speed than in any other part of the world.... In the short term, this will cause lakes to expand and bring floods and mudflows. . . . In the long run, the glaciers are vital lifelines for Asian rivers, including the Indus and the Ganges. Once they vanish, water supplies in those regions will be in peril."[3]
“There is insufficient data to say what will happen to the Indus,” says David Grey, the World Bank’s senior water advisor in South Asia. “But we all have very nasty fears that the flows of the Indus could be severely, severely affected by glacier melt as a consequence of climate change,” and reduced by perhaps as much as 50 percent. “Now what does that mean to a population that lives in a desert [where], without the river, there would be no life? I don’t know the answer to that question,” he says. “But we need to be concerned about that. Deeply, deeply concerned.” [4]
History
Paleolithic sites have been discovered in Pothohar near Pakistan's capital Islamabad, with the stone tools of the Soan Culture. In ancient Gandhara, near Islamabad, evidence of cave dwellers dated 15,000 years ago has been discovered at Mardan.
The major cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, date back to around 3300 BC, and represent some of the largest human habitations of the ancient world. The Indus Valley Civilization extended from Balochistan to Gujarat, with an upward reach from east of Jhelum River to Ropar on the upper Sutlej. The coastal settlements extended from Sutkagan Dor at the Iranian border to Lothal in Gujarat. There is an Indus site on the Amu Darya at Shortughai in northern Afghanistan, and the Indus site Alamgirpur at the Hindon River is located only 28 km from Delhi. To date, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the Ghaggar-Hakra River and its tributaries. Among the settlements were the major urban centers of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, as well as Lothal, Dholavira, Ganeriwala, and Rakhigarhi. Only 90-96 of the over-800 known Indus Valley sites have been discovered on the Indus and its tributaries. The Sutlej, now a tributary of the Indus, in Harappan times flowed into the Ghaggar-Hakra River, in the watershed of which were more Harappan sites than along the Indus.
Most scholars believe that settlements of Gandhara grave culture of the early Indo-Aryans flourished in Gandhara from 1700 BC to 600 BC, when Mohenjo-daro and Harappa had already been abandoned.
The name Indus is a Latinization of Hindu, in turn the Iranian variant of Sindhu, the name of the Indus in the Rigveda. The Sanskrit Sindhu generically means river, stream, ocean, probably from a root sidh meaning to keep off; Sindhu is attested 176 times in the Rigveda, 95 times in the plural, more often used in the generic meaning. Already in the Rigveda, notably in the later hymns, the meaning of the word is narrowed to refer to the Indus river in particular, for example in the list of rivers of the Nadistuti sukta. This resulted in the anomaly of a river with masculine gender: all other Rigvedic rivers are female, not just grammatically, being imagined as goddesses and compared to cows and mares yielding milk and butter.
The Indus has formed a natural boundary between the Indian Subcontinent hinterland and its frontier with the Iranian Plateau, a region which includes Pakistan's Balochistan, North West Frontier Province as well as Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Iran. It has been crossed by the armies of Alexander the Great - His Macedonian forces retreated along the southern course of the river at the end of the Asian campaign after conquering what is now Pakistan and joining it to the Hellenic Empire. The Indus plains have also been under the domination of the Persian empire and the Kushan empire. The Muslim armies of Muhammad bin Qasim, Mahmud of Ghazni, Mohammed Ghori, Tamerlane and Babur also crossed the river to strike into the inner regions of Punjab , Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The word "India" is derived from the Indus River. In ancient times, "India" initially referred to the region of modern-day Pakistan along the Indus river, but by 300 BC, Greek writers like Megasthenes applied the term to the entire subcontinent.[5] :)
Geography
Tributaries
•Astor River
•Balram River
•Gar River
•Ghizar River
•Gilgit River
•Gumal River
•Kabul River
•Panjnad
•Shigar River
•Shyok River
•Suru River
•Swaan River
•Tanubal River
•Zanskar River
Geology
The Indus River feeds the Indus submarine fan located in the Indian Ocean, which is the second largest sediment body on the Earth at around 5 million cubic kilometres of material eroded from the mountains. Studies of the sediment in the modern river indicate that the Karakoram Mountains in northern Pakistan are the single most important source of material, with the Himalayas providing the next largest contribution, mostly via the large rivers of the Punjab (i.e., the Jhelum, Ravi, Chenab, Beas and the Sutlej). Analysis of sediments from the Arabian Sea has demonstrated that prior to five million years ago the Indus was not connected to these Punjab rivers which instead flowed east into the Ganga and were captured after that time[6]. Earlier work showed that sand and silt from western Tibet was reaching the Arabian Sea by 45 million years ago, implying the existence of an ancient Indus River by that time[7]. The delta of this proto-Indus river has subsequently been found in the Katawaz Basin, on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Most recently the Indus was paralleled by the ancient Saraswati River, which the Rigveda suggests flowed from the Himalayas between the Sutlej and the Yamuna Rivers, close to modern day Chandigarh.
In the Nanga Parbat region, the massive amounts of erosion due to the Indus river following the capture and rerouting through that area is thought to bring middle and lower crustal rocks to the surface[8].
Wildlife
Accounts of the Indus valley from the times of Alexander's campaign indicate a healthy forest cover in the region, which has now considerably receded. The Mughal Emperor Babur writes of encountering rhinoceroses along its bank in his memoirs (the Baburnama). Extensive deforestation and human interference in the ecology of the Shivalik Hills has led to a marked deterioration in vegetation and growing conditions. The Indus valley regions are arid with poor vegetation. Agriculture is sustained largely due to irrigation works.
The Blind Indus River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) is a sub-species of Dolphins found only in the Indus River. It formerly also occurred in the tributaries of the Indus river. Palla fish (Hilsa) of the river is a delicacy for people living along the river. The population of fishes in the river is moderately high, with Sukkur, Thatta and Kotri being the major fishing centres - all in the lower Sindh course. But damming and irrigation has made fish farming an important economic activity. Located southeast of Karachi, the large delta has been recognised by conservationists as one of the world's most important ecological regions. Here the river turns into many marshes, streams and creeks and meets the sea at shallow levels. Here marine fishes are found in abundance, including Pomfret and Prawns
Economy
The Indus is the most important supplier of water resources to the Punjab and Sindh plains - it forms the backbone of agriculture and food production in Pakistan. The river is especially critical as rainfall is meagre in the lower Indus valley. Irrigation canals were first built by the people of the Indus valley civilization, and later by the engineers of the Kushan Empire and the Mughal Empire. Modern irrigation was introduced by the British East India Company in 1850 - the construction of modern canals accompanied with the restoration of old canals. The British supervised the construction of one of the most complex irrigation networks in the world. The Guddu Barrage is 1,350 metres (4,450 ft) long - irrigating Sukkur, Jacobabad, Larkana and Kalat. The Sukkur Barrage serves over 20,000 square kilometres (5,000,000 acres).
After the independence of Pakistan, a water control treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 guaranteed that Pakistan would receive water from the Indus River and its two western tributaries, the Jhelum River & the Chenab River independent of upstream control by India.[9] The project, Indus Basin Project, consisted primarily of the construction of two main dams, the Mangla Dam built on the Jhelum River and the Tarbela Dam constructed on the Indus River, together with their subsidiary dams.[10] The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority undertook the construction of the Chashma-Jhelum link canal - linking the waters of the Indus and Jhelum rivers - extending water supplies to the regions of Bahawalpur and Multan. Pakistan constructed the Tarbela Dam near Rawalpindi - standing 2743 metres (9,000 ft) long and 143 metres (470 ft) high, with an 80 kilometre (50 mile) long reservoir. The Kotri Barrage near Hyderabad is 915 metres (3,000 ft) long and provides additional supplies for Karachi. The Taunsa Barrage near Dera Ghazi Khan produces 100,000 kilowatts of electricity. The extensive linking of tributaries with the Indus has helped spread water resources to the valley of Peshawar, in the North-West Frontier Province. The extensive irrigation and dam projects provide the basis for Pakistan's large production of crops such as cotton, sugarcane and wheat. The dams also generate electricity for heavy industries and urban centres.
People
The inhabitants of the regions through whom the Indus river passes and forms a major natural feature and resource are diverse in ethnicity, religion, national and linguistic backgrounds. On the northern course of the river in the state of Jammu and Kashmir live the Buddhist people of Ladakh, of Tibetan stock, and the Dards of Indo-Aryan or Dardic stock and practising Buddhism and Islam. Then it descends into Baltistan, northern Pakistan passing the main Balti city of Skardu. As it continues through Pakistan, the Indus river forms a distinctive boundary of ethnicity and cultures - upon the western banks the population is largely Pashtun, Baloch, and of other Iranian stock, with close cultural, economic and ethnic ties to Afghanistan and Iran. The eastern banks are largely populated by peoples of Indo-Aryan stock, such as the Punjabis, the Sindhis and the Seraikis. In northern Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province, ethnic Pashtun tribes live alongside Dardic people in the hills (Khowar, Kalash, Shina, etc.), Burushos (in Hunza), and Punjabi people. In the southern portion of the Punjab province, the Saraiki peoples speak a distinctive tongue and practise distinctive traditions. In the province of Sindh, peoples of Sindhi backgrounds form the local populations. Upon the western banks of the river live the Baloch and Pashtun peoples of Balochistan.
Modern issues
The Indus is a strategically vital resource for Pakistan's economy and society. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the use of the waters of the Indus and its five eastern tributaries became a major dispute between India and Pakistan. The irrigation canals of the Sutlej valley and the Bari Doab were split - with the canals lying primarily in Pakistan and the headwork dams in India disrupting supply in some parts of Pakistan. The concern over India building large dams over various Punjab rivers that could undercut the supply flowing to Pakistan, as well as the possibility that India could divert rivers in the time of war, caused political consternation in Pakistan. Holding diplomatic talks brokered by the World Bank, India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. The treaty gave India control of the three easternmost rivers of the Punjab, the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi, while Pakistan gained control of the three western rivers, the Jhelum, the Chenab and the Indus. India retained the right to use of the western rivers for non irrigation projects. (See discussion regarding a recent dispute about a hydroelectric project on the Chenab (not Indus) known as the Baglihar Project).
Hindu pilgrimage to holy sites alongside the river has been a source of conflict between the two nations. Pakistan and India do not generally allow each others' citizens to cross borders for religious pilgrimages, other than Sikhs who travel to Pakistan for their annual pilgrimage.
There are concerns that extensive deforestation, industrial pollution and global warming are affecting the vegetation and wildlife of the Indus delta, while affecting agricultural production as well. There are also concerns that the Indus river may be shifting its course westwards - although the progression spans centuries. On numerous occasions, sediment clogging owing to poor maintenance of canals has affected agricultural production and vegetation. In addition, extreme heat has caused water to evaporate, leaving salt deposits that render lands useless for cultivation.
More recently and within Pakistan, the province of Punjab is seeking to cut off the flow of the river downstream to Sindh by building dams within its provincial limits in the face of opposition from the people of Sindh, storage reservoirs used to produce the bulk of food consumed by millions of Pakistanis nationwide as well as providing cheap hydel power to the country's national electric grid system.
This photograph captures a unique perspective of the Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum, a significant landmark in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. The composition cleverly frames the mausoleum's dome through an arched brick wall, creating a sense of depth and drawing the viewer's eye to the architectural detail. The warm tones of the brickwork contrast beautifully with the cool blue sky, creating a visually appealing image.
This link will bring you to my immersive 360° YouTube video.
In Chasme Shahi Bagh, a Moghul garden in Srinagar.
Chashme Shahi or Chashma i Shahi, also called Chashma Shahi, is one of the Mughal gardens built in 1632 AD around a spring by Ali Mardan Khan, a governor of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as per the orders of the Emperor, as a gift for his elder son Prince Dara Shikoh.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River
The Indus River (Sanskrit सिन्धु Sindhu,; Urdu: سندھ Sindh; Sindhi: سندھو Sindhu; Punjabi سندھ Sindh; Hindko سندھ Sindh; Avestan: حندو Harahauvati; Pashto: ّآباسن Abasin "Father of Rivers"; Persian: Nilou (رود سند) "Hindu"; Arabic: السند "Al-Sind"; Tibetan: Sênggê Zangbo (སེང་གེ།་གཙང་པོ་) "Lion River"; Chinese: 森格藏布/狮泉河/印度河, Sēngé Zàngbù/Shīquán Hé/Yìndù Hé; Greek: Ινδός Indos;Turki: Nilab) is the longest river in Pakistan and the twenty-first largest river in the world in terms of annual flow. It is often considered the life-line of Pakistan. The Europeans used the name "India" for the entire South Asian subcontinent based on Indos, the Greek appellation of this river. Historically significant, the river is at the crux of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization.
Originating in the Tibetan plateau in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the National River runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and then enters Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan), flowing through the North in a southerly direction along the entire length of the country, to merge into the Arabian Sea near Pakistan's port city of Karachi in Sindh. The total length of the river is 3,180 kilometers (1,976 miles). The river has a total drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 square kilometers (450,000 square miles). The river's estimated annual flow stands at around 207 cubic kilometers. Beginning at the heights of the world with glaciers, the river feeds the ecosystem of temperate forests, plains and arid countryside. Together with the rivers Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, Jhelum, Beas and two tributaries from the North West Frontier and Afghanistan, the Indus forms the Sapta Sindhu (Seven Rivers) delta of Pakistan.
Description
The Indus provides the key water resources for the economy of Pakistan - especially the Breadbasket of Punjab province, which accounts for most of the nation's agricultural production, and Sindh. The word Punjab is a combination of the Sanskrit words panj meaning Five, and āb meaning Water, giving the literal meaning of the Land of the Five Rivers. The Five rivers after which Punjab is named are the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and the Sutlej. The river also supports many heavy industries and provides the main supply of potable water in Pakistan.
The ultimate source of the Indus is in Tibet; it begins at the confluence of the Sengge and Gar rivers that drain the Nganglong Kangri and Gangdise Shan mountain ranges. The Indus then flows northwest through Ladakh and Baltistan into Gilgit, just south of the Karakoram range. The Shyok River, Shigar and Gilgit streams carry glacial waters into the main river. It gradually bends to the south, coming out of the hills between Peshawar and Rawalpindi. The Indus passes gigantic gorges 4,500-5,200 metres (15,000-17,000 feet) high near the Nanga Parbat massif. It flows swiftly across Hazara, and is dammed at the Tarbela Reservoir. The Kabul River joins it near Attock. The remainder of its route to the sea is in plains of the Punjab and Sindh, and the river becomes slow-flowing and highly braided. It is joined by Panjnad River at Mithankot. Beyond this confluence, the river, at one time, was named Satnad River (Sat = seven, Nadi = river), as the river was now carrying the waters of the Kabul River, the Indus River and the five Punjab rivers. Passing by Jamshoro, it ends in a large delta to the east of Thatta.
The Indus is one of the few rivers in the world that exhibit a tidal bore. The Indus system is largely fed by the snows and glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakoram and the Hindu Kush ranges of Tibet, the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the Northern Areas of Pakistan respectively. The flow of the river is also determined by the seasons - it diminishes greatly in the winter, while flooding its banks in the monsoon months from July to September. There is also evidence of a steady shift in the course of the river since prehistoric times - it deviated westwards from flowing into the Rann of Kutch and adjoining Banni grasslands after the 1816 earthquake[1][2].
Effects of climate change on the river
The Tibetan Plateau contains the world's third-largest store of ice. Qin Dahe, the former head of the China Meteorological Administration, said that the recent fast pace of melting and warmer temperatures will be good for agriculture and tourism in the short term; but issued a strong warning:
"Temperatures are rising four times faster than elsewhere in China, and the Tibetan glaciers are retreating at a higher speed than in any other part of the world.... In the short term, this will cause lakes to expand and bring floods and mudflows. . . . In the long run, the glaciers are vital lifelines for Asian rivers, including the Indus and the Ganges. Once they vanish, water supplies in those regions will be in peril."[3]
“There is insufficient data to say what will happen to the Indus,” says David Grey, the World Bank’s senior water advisor in South Asia. “But we all have very nasty fears that the flows of the Indus could be severely, severely affected by glacier melt as a consequence of climate change,” and reduced by perhaps as much as 50 percent. “Now what does that mean to a population that lives in a desert [where], without the river, there would be no life? I don’t know the answer to that question,” he says. “But we need to be concerned about that. Deeply, deeply concerned.” [4]
History
Paleolithic sites have been discovered in Pothohar near Pakistan's capital Islamabad, with the stone tools of the Soan Culture. In ancient Gandhara, near Islamabad, evidence of cave dwellers dated 15,000 years ago has been discovered at Mardan.
The major cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, date back to around 3300 BC, and represent some of the largest human habitations of the ancient world. The Indus Valley Civilization extended from Balochistan to Gujarat, with an upward reach from east of Jhelum River to Ropar on the upper Sutlej. The coastal settlements extended from Sutkagan Dor at the Iranian border to Lothal in Gujarat. There is an Indus site on the Amu Darya at Shortughai in northern Afghanistan, and the Indus site Alamgirpur at the Hindon River is located only 28 km from Delhi. To date, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the Ghaggar-Hakra River and its tributaries. Among the settlements were the major urban centers of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, as well as Lothal, Dholavira, Ganeriwala, and Rakhigarhi. Only 90-96 of the over-800 known Indus Valley sites have been discovered on the Indus and its tributaries. The Sutlej, now a tributary of the Indus, in Harappan times flowed into the Ghaggar-Hakra River, in the watershed of which were more Harappan sites than along the Indus.
Most scholars believe that settlements of Gandhara grave culture of the early Indo-Aryans flourished in Gandhara from 1700 BC to 600 BC, when Mohenjo-daro and Harappa had already been abandoned.
The name Indus is a Latinization of Hindu, in turn the Iranian variant of Sindhu, the name of the Indus in the Rigveda. The Sanskrit Sindhu generically means river, stream, ocean, probably from a root sidh meaning to keep off; Sindhu is attested 176 times in the Rigveda, 95 times in the plural, more often used in the generic meaning. Already in the Rigveda, notably in the later hymns, the meaning of the word is narrowed to refer to the Indus river in particular, for example in the list of rivers of the Nadistuti sukta. This resulted in the anomaly of a river with masculine gender: all other Rigvedic rivers are female, not just grammatically, being imagined as goddesses and compared to cows and mares yielding milk and butter.
The Indus has formed a natural boundary between the Indian Subcontinent hinterland and its frontier with the Iranian Plateau, a region which includes Pakistan's Balochistan, North West Frontier Province as well as Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Iran. It has been crossed by the armies of Alexander the Great - His Macedonian forces retreated along the southern course of the river at the end of the Asian campaign after conquering what is now Pakistan and joining it to the Hellenic Empire. The Indus plains have also been under the domination of the Persian empire and the Kushan empire. The Muslim armies of Muhammad bin Qasim, Mahmud of Ghazni, Mohammed Ghori, Tamerlane and Babur also crossed the river to strike into the inner regions of Punjab , Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The word "India" is derived from the Indus River. In ancient times, "India" initially referred to the region of modern-day Pakistan along the Indus river, but by 300 BC, Greek writers like Megasthenes applied the term to the entire subcontinent.[5] :)
Geography
Tributaries
•Astor River
•Balram River
•Gar River
•Ghizar River
•Gilgit River
•Gumal River
•Kabul River
•Panjnad
•Shigar River
•Shyok River
•Suru River
•Swaan River
•Tanubal River
•Zanskar River
Geology
The Indus River feeds the Indus submarine fan located in the Indian Ocean, which is the second largest sediment body on the Earth at around 5 million cubic kilometres of material eroded from the mountains. Studies of the sediment in the modern river indicate that the Karakoram Mountains in northern Pakistan are the single most important source of material, with the Himalayas providing the next largest contribution, mostly via the large rivers of the Punjab (i.e., the Jhelum, Ravi, Chenab, Beas and the Sutlej). Analysis of sediments from the Arabian Sea has demonstrated that prior to five million years ago the Indus was not connected to these Punjab rivers which instead flowed east into the Ganga and were captured after that time[6]. Earlier work showed that sand and silt from western Tibet was reaching the Arabian Sea by 45 million years ago, implying the existence of an ancient Indus River by that time[7]. The delta of this proto-Indus river has subsequently been found in the Katawaz Basin, on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Most recently the Indus was paralleled by the ancient Saraswati River, which the Rigveda suggests flowed from the Himalayas between the Sutlej and the Yamuna Rivers, close to modern day Chandigarh.
In the Nanga Parbat region, the massive amounts of erosion due to the Indus river following the capture and rerouting through that area is thought to bring middle and lower crustal rocks to the surface[8].
Wildlife
Accounts of the Indus valley from the times of Alexander's campaign indicate a healthy forest cover in the region, which has now considerably receded. The Mughal Emperor Babur writes of encountering rhinoceroses along its bank in his memoirs (the Baburnama). Extensive deforestation and human interference in the ecology of the Shivalik Hills has led to a marked deterioration in vegetation and growing conditions. The Indus valley regions are arid with poor vegetation. Agriculture is sustained largely due to irrigation works.
The Blind Indus River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) is a sub-species of Dolphins found only in the Indus River. It formerly also occurred in the tributaries of the Indus river. Palla fish (Hilsa) of the river is a delicacy for people living along the river. The population of fishes in the river is moderately high, with Sukkur, Thatta and Kotri being the major fishing centres - all in the lower Sindh course. But damming and irrigation has made fish farming an important economic activity. Located southeast of Karachi, the large delta has been recognised by conservationists as one of the world's most important ecological regions. Here the river turns into many marshes, streams and creeks and meets the sea at shallow levels. Here marine fishes are found in abundance, including Pomfret and Prawns
Economy
The Indus is the most important supplier of water resources to the Punjab and Sindh plains - it forms the backbone of agriculture and food production in Pakistan. The river is especially critical as rainfall is meagre in the lower Indus valley. Irrigation canals were first built by the people of the Indus valley civilization, and later by the engineers of the Kushan Empire and the Mughal Empire. Modern irrigation was introduced by the British East India Company in 1850 - the construction of modern canals accompanied with the restoration of old canals. The British supervised the construction of one of the most complex irrigation networks in the world. The Guddu Barrage is 1,350 metres (4,450 ft) long - irrigating Sukkur, Jacobabad, Larkana and Kalat. The Sukkur Barrage serves over 20,000 square kilometres (5,000,000 acres).
After the independence of Pakistan, a water control treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 guaranteed that Pakistan would receive water from the Indus River and its two western tributaries, the Jhelum River & the Chenab River independent of upstream control by India.[9] The project, Indus Basin Project, consisted primarily of the construction of two main dams, the Mangla Dam built on the Jhelum River and the Tarbela Dam constructed on the Indus River, together with their subsidiary dams.[10] The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority undertook the construction of the Chashma-Jhelum link canal - linking the waters of the Indus and Jhelum rivers - extending water supplies to the regions of Bahawalpur and Multan. Pakistan constructed the Tarbela Dam near Rawalpindi - standing 2743 metres (9,000 ft) long and 143 metres (470 ft) high, with an 80 kilometre (50 mile) long reservoir. The Kotri Barrage near Hyderabad is 915 metres (3,000 ft) long and provides additional supplies for Karachi. The Taunsa Barrage near Dera Ghazi Khan produces 100,000 kilowatts of electricity. The extensive linking of tributaries with the Indus has helped spread water resources to the valley of Peshawar, in the North-West Frontier Province. The extensive irrigation and dam projects provide the basis for Pakistan's large production of crops such as cotton, sugarcane and wheat. The dams also generate electricity for heavy industries and urban centres.
People
The inhabitants of the regions through whom the Indus river passes and forms a major natural feature and resource are diverse in ethnicity, religion, national and linguistic backgrounds. On the northern course of the river in the state of Jammu and Kashmir live the Buddhist people of Ladakh, of Tibetan stock, and the Dards of Indo-Aryan or Dardic stock and practising Buddhism and Islam. Then it descends into Baltistan, northern Pakistan passing the main Balti city of Skardu. As it continues through Pakistan, the Indus river forms a distinctive boundary of ethnicity and cultures - upon the western banks the population is largely Pashtun, Baloch, and of other Iranian stock, with close cultural, economic and ethnic ties to Afghanistan and Iran. The eastern banks are largely populated by peoples of Indo-Aryan stock, such as the Punjabis, the Sindhis and the Seraikis. In northern Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province, ethnic Pashtun tribes live alongside Dardic people in the hills (Khowar, Kalash, Shina, etc.), Burushos (in Hunza), and Punjabi people. In the southern portion of the Punjab province, the Saraiki peoples speak a distinctive tongue and practise distinctive traditions. In the province of Sindh, peoples of Sindhi backgrounds form the local populations. Upon the western banks of the river live the Baloch and Pashtun peoples of Balochistan.
Modern issues
The Indus is a strategically vital resource for Pakistan's economy and society. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the use of the waters of the Indus and its five eastern tributaries became a major dispute between India and Pakistan. The irrigation canals of the Sutlej valley and the Bari Doab were split - with the canals lying primarily in Pakistan and the headwork dams in India disrupting supply in some parts of Pakistan. The concern over India building large dams over various Punjab rivers that could undercut the supply flowing to Pakistan, as well as the possibility that India could divert rivers in the time of war, caused political consternation in Pakistan. Holding diplomatic talks brokered by the World Bank, India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. The treaty gave India control of the three easternmost rivers of the Punjab, the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi, while Pakistan gained control of the three western rivers, the Jhelum, the Chenab and the Indus. India retained the right to use of the western rivers for non irrigation projects. (See discussion regarding a recent dispute about a hydroelectric project on the Chenab (not Indus) known as the Baglihar Project).
Hindu pilgrimage to holy sites alongside the river has been a source of conflict between the two nations. Pakistan and India do not generally allow each others' citizens to cross borders for religious pilgrimages, other than Sikhs who travel to Pakistan for their annual pilgrimage.
There are concerns that extensive deforestation, industrial pollution and global warming are affecting the vegetation and wildlife of the Indus delta, while affecting agricultural production as well. There are also concerns that the Indus river may be shifting its course westwards - although the progression spans centuries. On numerous occasions, sediment clogging owing to poor maintenance of canals has affected agricultural production and vegetation. In addition, extreme heat has caused water to evaporate, leaving salt deposits that render lands useless for cultivation.
More recently and within Pakistan, the province of Punjab is seeking to cut off the flow of the river downstream to Sindh by building dams within its provincial limits in the face of opposition from the people of Sindh, storage reservoirs used to produce the bulk of food consumed by millions of Pakistanis nationwide as well as providing cheap hydel power to the country's national electric grid system.
The Indus River Dolphin is the only cetacean to inhabit the Indus river. These dolphins favour the silt-laden, turbid waters of the Indus river system, at temperatures between 8°C and 33°C.
The Indus River Dolphin is one of the world's most endangered mammals and has been listen in IUCN's list of threatened species. This dolphin is endemic to Pakistan. The species inhabits the Indus river in Pakistan from Kotri, Sind, to Jinnah, northwestern Punjab. The Indus River dolphin was apparently formerly common and distributed throughout the Indus River system in Pakistan, from the Himalayan foothills to the mouth of the Indus, and in the main tributaries - Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej - from the hills to their junction with the Indus . Beginning in the 1930's, numerous dams and barrages were constructed in the Indus. This split the dolphin's population into small groups, degraded its habitat and impeded migration. As a result, by the 1970's the abundance and distribution of the Indus River dolphin had significantly declined, and most of the remaining population was concentrated between two of the barrages, the Sukkur and Guddu barrages in Sind Province. The government of Sind established this region as the Indus River Dolphin Reserve in 1974. The Reserve continues to harbor the majority of the remaining population. Its population has apparently increased there, while few of the dolphin remain elsewhere. Besides Sind Province, the Indus River dolphin also exists in Punjab Province, but it continues to decline. The Indus River Dolphins have suffered as a result of incidental and direct exploitation. They have been accidentally caught in fishing nets, but have also been hunted for meat, oil and traditional medicines. The most recent population servey was done in 2001, by WWF-Pakistan, the Wildlife Departments of Sindh, the Punjab and the NWFP, the Adventure Foundation of Pakistan, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society of UK and Karavan Leaders. During the survey 965 dolphins were counted in the river system. The survey which started from Kalabagh in the Punjab on March 12, ended at Hyderabad, 1,400 kilometres downstream, after seven weeks. A section, about 40 kilometres long, between Sukkur and Kotri barrages was missed for security reasons. Considering that the mammal is also found in these stretches, the total number could be 1,000 or slightly higher. The team counted two dolphins between the Jinnah and Chashma Barrages, 84 between Chashma and Taunsa Barrages, 259 between Taunsa and Guddu Barrages, 602 between Guddu and Sukkur Barrages and 18 between the 500 kilometres stretch between Sukkur and Kotri Barrages. The number of mammals counted is greater than earlier estimates of 500-700. It could, however, not be considered enough to take the species off the endangered list.
A Pigeon near Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum.
The laughing dove (Spilopelia senegalensis) is a small pigeon that is a resident breeder in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Western Australia where it has established itself in the wild after being released from Perth Zoo in 1898. This small long-tailed dove is found in dry scrub and semi-desert habitats where pairs can often be seen feeding on the ground. It is closely related to the spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis) which is distinguished by a white and black chequered necklace. Other names include laughing turtle dove, palm dove and Senegal dove while in Asia the name of the little brown dove is often used.
Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum is located near the Samani Mausoleum, in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Its name means Job's well, due to the legend in which Job (Ayub) visited this place and made a well by striking the ground with his staff. The water of this well is still pure and is considered healing. The current building was constructed during the reign of Timur and features a Khwarazm-style conical dome uncommon in Bukhara.
(c) 2015 Murtaza Mahmud (Travel) Facebook Twitter
Follow complete story on an online edition of local newspaper here: blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/28565/mahodand-lake-a-tribute-...
Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum is located near the Samani Mausoleum, in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Its name means Job's well, due to the legend in which Job (Ayub) visited this place and made a well by striking the ground with his staff. The water of this well is still pure and is considered healing. The current building was constructed during the reign of Timur and features a Khwarazm-style conical dome uncommon in Bukhara.
Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum is in the middle of a small, ancient cemetery. The construction suffered some losses, but the preserved parts represent a combination of a harmonious entrance portal, and adjoining it are the remains of the western curtain wall.
The construction layout of the portal is in a traditional pattern, made up in the form of two pylons, forming the niche overlapped by the semi vault. The II-shaped frame, the inside of which forms the obverse surface, tympanum, and ktoba, is finished with an inscription above the lancet arch. The northern part of the niche portal is a limited gable wall with a doorway. From the western end the portal is adjoined by a deep brick wall that measures 5.9 m, of which the western portion has been lost. The wall is in the form of a trapezoid with a large base. The central room is overlapped by the tent-peaked dome. Except for the proportions of the construction, this monument has well-considered and perfectly executed decoration, the basic part of which is concentrated on the portal. The most effective place in the general composition of the decoration is ktoba, filled with Arabic inscriptions on a background of botanical ornamentation. The portal frame on the external contour is marked by the II-shaped zone, strengthened by girikh from intertwining octahedrons, made of terracotta bricks. Glazed inserts in turquoise fill the central octahedral sockets. A tape borders the frame and ktoba. The historical value of the monument consists of the exact dating written on ktoba (1208-1209 .A.D.) or the 605th year of the Muslim Calendar.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River
The Indus River (Sanskrit सिन्धु Sindhu,; Urdu: سندھ Sindh; Sindhi: سندھو Sindhu; Punjabi سندھ Sindh; Hindko سندھ Sindh; Avestan: حندو Harahauvati; Pashto: ّآباسن Abasin "Father of Rivers"; Persian: Nilou (رود سند) "Hindu"; Arabic: السند "Al-Sind"; Tibetan: Sênggê Zangbo (སེང་གེ།་གཙང་པོ་) "Lion River"; Chinese: 森格藏布/狮泉河/印度河, Sēngé Zàngbù/Shīquán Hé/Yìndù Hé; Greek: Ινδός Indos;Turki: Nilab) is the longest river in Pakistan and the twenty-first largest river in the world in terms of annual flow. It is often considered the life-line of Pakistan. The Europeans used the name "India" for the entire South Asian subcontinent based on Indos, the Greek appellation of this river. Historically significant, the river is at the crux of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization.
Originating in the Tibetan plateau in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the National River runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and then enters Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan), flowing through the North in a southerly direction along the entire length of the country, to merge into the Arabian Sea near Pakistan's port city of Karachi in Sindh. The total length of the river is 3,180 kilometers (1,976 miles). The river has a total drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 square kilometers (450,000 square miles). The river's estimated annual flow stands at around 207 cubic kilometers. Beginning at the heights of the world with glaciers, the river feeds the ecosystem of temperate forests, plains and arid countryside. Together with the rivers Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, Jhelum, Beas and two tributaries from the North West Frontier and Afghanistan, the Indus forms the Sapta Sindhu (Seven Rivers) delta of Pakistan.
Description
The Indus provides the key water resources for the economy of Pakistan - especially the Breadbasket of Punjab province, which accounts for most of the nation's agricultural production, and Sindh. The word Punjab is a combination of the Sanskrit words panj meaning Five, and āb meaning Water, giving the literal meaning of the Land of the Five Rivers. The Five rivers after which Punjab is named are the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and the Sutlej. The river also supports many heavy industries and provides the main supply of potable water in Pakistan.
The ultimate source of the Indus is in Tibet; it begins at the confluence of the Sengge and Gar rivers that drain the Nganglong Kangri and Gangdise Shan mountain ranges. The Indus then flows northwest through Ladakh and Baltistan into Gilgit, just south of the Karakoram range. The Shyok River, Shigar and Gilgit streams carry glacial waters into the main river. It gradually bends to the south, coming out of the hills between Peshawar and Rawalpindi. The Indus passes gigantic gorges 4,500-5,200 metres (15,000-17,000 feet) high near the Nanga Parbat massif. It flows swiftly across Hazara, and is dammed at the Tarbela Reservoir. The Kabul River joins it near Attock. The remainder of its route to the sea is in plains of the Punjab and Sindh, and the river becomes slow-flowing and highly braided. It is joined by Panjnad River at Mithankot. Beyond this confluence, the river, at one time, was named Satnad River (Sat = seven, Nadi = river), as the river was now carrying the waters of the Kabul River, the Indus River and the five Punjab rivers. Passing by Jamshoro, it ends in a large delta to the east of Thatta.
The Indus is one of the few rivers in the world that exhibit a tidal bore. The Indus system is largely fed by the snows and glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakoram and the Hindu Kush ranges of Tibet, the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the Northern Areas of Pakistan respectively. The flow of the river is also determined by the seasons - it diminishes greatly in the winter, while flooding its banks in the monsoon months from July to September. There is also evidence of a steady shift in the course of the river since prehistoric times - it deviated westwards from flowing into the Rann of Kutch and adjoining Banni grasslands after the 1816 earthquake[1][2].
Effects of climate change on the river
The Tibetan Plateau contains the world's third-largest store of ice. Qin Dahe, the former head of the China Meteorological Administration, said that the recent fast pace of melting and warmer temperatures will be good for agriculture and tourism in the short term; but issued a strong warning:
"Temperatures are rising four times faster than elsewhere in China, and the Tibetan glaciers are retreating at a higher speed than in any other part of the world.... In the short term, this will cause lakes to expand and bring floods and mudflows. . . . In the long run, the glaciers are vital lifelines for Asian rivers, including the Indus and the Ganges. Once they vanish, water supplies in those regions will be in peril."[3]
“There is insufficient data to say what will happen to the Indus,” says David Grey, the World Bank’s senior water advisor in South Asia. “But we all have very nasty fears that the flows of the Indus could be severely, severely affected by glacier melt as a consequence of climate change,” and reduced by perhaps as much as 50 percent. “Now what does that mean to a population that lives in a desert [where], without the river, there would be no life? I don’t know the answer to that question,” he says. “But we need to be concerned about that. Deeply, deeply concerned.” [4]
History
Paleolithic sites have been discovered in Pothohar near Pakistan's capital Islamabad, with the stone tools of the Soan Culture. In ancient Gandhara, near Islamabad, evidence of cave dwellers dated 15,000 years ago has been discovered at Mardan.
The major cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, date back to around 3300 BC, and represent some of the largest human habitations of the ancient world. The Indus Valley Civilization extended from Balochistan to Gujarat, with an upward reach from east of Jhelum River to Ropar on the upper Sutlej. The coastal settlements extended from Sutkagan Dor at the Iranian border to Lothal in Gujarat. There is an Indus site on the Amu Darya at Shortughai in northern Afghanistan, and the Indus site Alamgirpur at the Hindon River is located only 28 km from Delhi. To date, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the Ghaggar-Hakra River and its tributaries. Among the settlements were the major urban centers of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, as well as Lothal, Dholavira, Ganeriwala, and Rakhigarhi. Only 90-96 of the over-800 known Indus Valley sites have been discovered on the Indus and its tributaries. The Sutlej, now a tributary of the Indus, in Harappan times flowed into the Ghaggar-Hakra River, in the watershed of which were more Harappan sites than along the Indus.
Most scholars believe that settlements of Gandhara grave culture of the early Indo-Aryans flourished in Gandhara from 1700 BC to 600 BC, when Mohenjo-daro and Harappa had already been abandoned.
The name Indus is a Latinization of Hindu, in turn the Iranian variant of Sindhu, the name of the Indus in the Rigveda. The Sanskrit Sindhu generically means river, stream, ocean, probably from a root sidh meaning to keep off; Sindhu is attested 176 times in the Rigveda, 95 times in the plural, more often used in the generic meaning. Already in the Rigveda, notably in the later hymns, the meaning of the word is narrowed to refer to the Indus river in particular, for example in the list of rivers of the Nadistuti sukta. This resulted in the anomaly of a river with masculine gender: all other Rigvedic rivers are female, not just grammatically, being imagined as goddesses and compared to cows and mares yielding milk and butter.
The Indus has formed a natural boundary between the Indian Subcontinent hinterland and its frontier with the Iranian Plateau, a region which includes Pakistan's Balochistan, North West Frontier Province as well as Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Iran. It has been crossed by the armies of Alexander the Great - His Macedonian forces retreated along the southern course of the river at the end of the Asian campaign after conquering what is now Pakistan and joining it to the Hellenic Empire. The Indus plains have also been under the domination of the Persian empire and the Kushan empire. The Muslim armies of Muhammad bin Qasim, Mahmud of Ghazni, Mohammed Ghori, Tamerlane and Babur also crossed the river to strike into the inner regions of Punjab , Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The word "India" is derived from the Indus River. In ancient times, "India" initially referred to the region of modern-day Pakistan along the Indus river, but by 300 BC, Greek writers like Megasthenes applied the term to the entire subcontinent.[5] :)
Geography
Tributaries
•Astor River
•Balram River
•Gar River
•Ghizar River
•Gilgit River
•Gumal River
•Kabul River
•Panjnad
•Shigar River
•Shyok River
•Suru River
•Swaan River
•Tanubal River
•Zanskar River
Geology
The Indus River feeds the Indus submarine fan located in the Indian Ocean, which is the second largest sediment body on the Earth at around 5 million cubic kilometres of material eroded from the mountains. Studies of the sediment in the modern river indicate that the Karakoram Mountains in northern Pakistan are the single most important source of material, with the Himalayas providing the next largest contribution, mostly via the large rivers of the Punjab (i.e., the Jhelum, Ravi, Chenab, Beas and the Sutlej). Analysis of sediments from the Arabian Sea has demonstrated that prior to five million years ago the Indus was not connected to these Punjab rivers which instead flowed east into the Ganga and were captured after that time[6]. Earlier work showed that sand and silt from western Tibet was reaching the Arabian Sea by 45 million years ago, implying the existence of an ancient Indus River by that time[7]. The delta of this proto-Indus river has subsequently been found in the Katawaz Basin, on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Most recently the Indus was paralleled by the ancient Saraswati River, which the Rigveda suggests flowed from the Himalayas between the Sutlej and the Yamuna Rivers, close to modern day Chandigarh.
In the Nanga Parbat region, the massive amounts of erosion due to the Indus river following the capture and rerouting through that area is thought to bring middle and lower crustal rocks to the surface[8].
Wildlife
Accounts of the Indus valley from the times of Alexander's campaign indicate a healthy forest cover in the region, which has now considerably receded. The Mughal Emperor Babur writes of encountering rhinoceroses along its bank in his memoirs (the Baburnama). Extensive deforestation and human interference in the ecology of the Shivalik Hills has led to a marked deterioration in vegetation and growing conditions. The Indus valley regions are arid with poor vegetation. Agriculture is sustained largely due to irrigation works.
The Blind Indus River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) is a sub-species of Dolphins found only in the Indus River. It formerly also occurred in the tributaries of the Indus river. Palla fish (Hilsa) of the river is a delicacy for people living along the river. The population of fishes in the river is moderately high, with Sukkur, Thatta and Kotri being the major fishing centres - all in the lower Sindh course. But damming and irrigation has made fish farming an important economic activity. Located southeast of Karachi, the large delta has been recognised by conservationists as one of the world's most important ecological regions. Here the river turns into many marshes, streams and creeks and meets the sea at shallow levels. Here marine fishes are found in abundance, including Pomfret and Prawns
Economy
The Indus is the most important supplier of water resources to the Punjab and Sindh plains - it forms the backbone of agriculture and food production in Pakistan. The river is especially critical as rainfall is meagre in the lower Indus valley. Irrigation canals were first built by the people of the Indus valley civilization, and later by the engineers of the Kushan Empire and the Mughal Empire. Modern irrigation was introduced by the British East India Company in 1850 - the construction of modern canals accompanied with the restoration of old canals. The British supervised the construction of one of the most complex irrigation networks in the world. The Guddu Barrage is 1,350 metres (4,450 ft) long - irrigating Sukkur, Jacobabad, Larkana and Kalat. The Sukkur Barrage serves over 20,000 square kilometres (5,000,000 acres).
After the independence of Pakistan, a water control treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 guaranteed that Pakistan would receive water from the Indus River and its two western tributaries, the Jhelum River & the Chenab River independent of upstream control by India.[9] The project, Indus Basin Project, consisted primarily of the construction of two main dams, the Mangla Dam built on the Jhelum River and the Tarbela Dam constructed on the Indus River, together with their subsidiary dams.[10] The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority undertook the construction of the Chashma-Jhelum link canal - linking the waters of the Indus and Jhelum rivers - extending water supplies to the regions of Bahawalpur and Multan. Pakistan constructed the Tarbela Dam near Rawalpindi - standing 2743 metres (9,000 ft) long and 143 metres (470 ft) high, with an 80 kilometre (50 mile) long reservoir. The Kotri Barrage near Hyderabad is 915 metres (3,000 ft) long and provides additional supplies for Karachi. The Taunsa Barrage near Dera Ghazi Khan produces 100,000 kilowatts of electricity. The extensive linking of tributaries with the Indus has helped spread water resources to the valley of Peshawar, in the North-West Frontier Province. The extensive irrigation and dam projects provide the basis for Pakistan's large production of crops such as cotton, sugarcane and wheat. The dams also generate electricity for heavy industries and urban centres.
People
The inhabitants of the regions through whom the Indus river passes and forms a major natural feature and resource are diverse in ethnicity, religion, national and linguistic backgrounds. On the northern course of the river in the state of Jammu and Kashmir live the Buddhist people of Ladakh, of Tibetan stock, and the Dards of Indo-Aryan or Dardic stock and practising Buddhism and Islam. Then it descends into Baltistan, northern Pakistan passing the main Balti city of Skardu. As it continues through Pakistan, the Indus river forms a distinctive boundary of ethnicity and cultures - upon the western banks the population is largely Pashtun, Baloch, and of other Iranian stock, with close cultural, economic and ethnic ties to Afghanistan and Iran. The eastern banks are largely populated by peoples of Indo-Aryan stock, such as the Punjabis, the Sindhis and the Seraikis. In northern Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province, ethnic Pashtun tribes live alongside Dardic people in the hills (Khowar, Kalash, Shina, etc.), Burushos (in Hunza), and Punjabi people. In the southern portion of the Punjab province, the Saraiki peoples speak a distinctive tongue and practise distinctive traditions. In the province of Sindh, peoples of Sindhi backgrounds form the local populations. Upon the western banks of the river live the Baloch and Pashtun peoples of Balochistan.
Modern issues
The Indus is a strategically vital resource for Pakistan's economy and society. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the use of the waters of the Indus and its five eastern tributaries became a major dispute between India and Pakistan. The irrigation canals of the Sutlej valley and the Bari Doab were split - with the canals lying primarily in Pakistan and the headwork dams in India disrupting supply in some parts of Pakistan. The concern over India building large dams over various Punjab rivers that could undercut the supply flowing to Pakistan, as well as the possibility that India could divert rivers in the time of war, caused political consternation in Pakistan. Holding diplomatic talks brokered by the World Bank, India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. The treaty gave India control of the three easternmost rivers of the Punjab, the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi, while Pakistan gained control of the three western rivers, the Jhelum, the Chenab and the Indus. India retained the right to use of the western rivers for non irrigation projects. (See discussion regarding a recent dispute about a hydroelectric project on the Chenab (not Indus) known as the Baglihar Project).
Hindu pilgrimage to holy sites alongside the river has been a source of conflict between the two nations. Pakistan and India do not generally allow each others' citizens to cross borders for religious pilgrimages, other than Sikhs who travel to Pakistan for their annual pilgrimage.
There are concerns that extensive deforestation, industrial pollution and global warming are affecting the vegetation and wildlife of the Indus delta, while affecting agricultural production as well. There are also concerns that the Indus river may be shifting its course westwards - although the progression spans centuries. On numerous occasions, sediment clogging owing to poor maintenance of canals has affected agricultural production and vegetation. In addition, extreme heat has caused water to evaporate, leaving salt deposits that render lands useless for cultivation.
More recently and within Pakistan, the province of Punjab is seeking to cut off the flow of the river downstream to Sindh by building dams within its provincial limits in the face of opposition from the people of Sindh, storage reservoirs used to produce the bulk of food consumed by millions of Pakistanis nationwide as well as providing cheap hydel power to the country's national electric grid system.
Es un lugar respetado y sagrado referido a "Los Lugares de la Huella" Según las leyendas por aquí paso el profeta Ayub. e encuentra en el parque occidental del Ark.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River
The Indus River (Sanskrit सिन्धु Sindhu,; Urdu: سندھ Sindh; Sindhi: سندھو Sindhu; Punjabi سندھ Sindh; Hindko سندھ Sindh; Avestan: حندو Harahauvati; Pashto: ّآباسن Abasin "Father of Rivers"; Persian: Nilou (رود سند) "Hindu"; Arabic: السند "Al-Sind"; Tibetan: Sênggê Zangbo (སེང་གེ།་གཙང་པོ་) "Lion River"; Chinese: 森格藏布/狮泉河/印度河, Sēngé Zàngbù/Shīquán Hé/Yìndù Hé; Greek: Ινδός Indos;Turki: Nilab) is the longest river in Pakistan and the twenty-first largest river in the world in terms of annual flow. It is often considered the life-line of Pakistan. The Europeans used the name "India" for the entire South Asian subcontinent based on Indos, the Greek appellation of this river. Historically significant, the river is at the crux of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization.
Originating in the Tibetan plateau in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the National River runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and then enters Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan), flowing through the North in a southerly direction along the entire length of the country, to merge into the Arabian Sea near Pakistan's port city of Karachi in Sindh. The total length of the river is 3,180 kilometers (1,976 miles). The river has a total drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 square kilometers (450,000 square miles). The river's estimated annual flow stands at around 207 cubic kilometers. Beginning at the heights of the world with glaciers, the river feeds the ecosystem of temperate forests, plains and arid countryside. Together with the rivers Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, Jhelum, Beas and two tributaries from the North West Frontier and Afghanistan, the Indus forms the Sapta Sindhu (Seven Rivers) delta of Pakistan.
Description
The Indus provides the key water resources for the economy of Pakistan - especially the Breadbasket of Punjab province, which accounts for most of the nation's agricultural production, and Sindh. The word Punjab is a combination of the Sanskrit words panj meaning Five, and āb meaning Water, giving the literal meaning of the Land of the Five Rivers. The Five rivers after which Punjab is named are the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and the Sutlej. The river also supports many heavy industries and provides the main supply of potable water in Pakistan.
The ultimate source of the Indus is in Tibet; it begins at the confluence of the Sengge and Gar rivers that drain the Nganglong Kangri and Gangdise Shan mountain ranges. The Indus then flows northwest through Ladakh and Baltistan into Gilgit, just south of the Karakoram range. The Shyok River, Shigar and Gilgit streams carry glacial waters into the main river. It gradually bends to the south, coming out of the hills between Peshawar and Rawalpindi. The Indus passes gigantic gorges 4,500-5,200 metres (15,000-17,000 feet) high near the Nanga Parbat massif. It flows swiftly across Hazara, and is dammed at the Tarbela Reservoir. The Kabul River joins it near Attock. The remainder of its route to the sea is in plains of the Punjab and Sindh, and the river becomes slow-flowing and highly braided. It is joined by Panjnad River at Mithankot. Beyond this confluence, the river, at one time, was named Satnad River (Sat = seven, Nadi = river), as the river was now carrying the waters of the Kabul River, the Indus River and the five Punjab rivers. Passing by Jamshoro, it ends in a large delta to the east of Thatta.
The Indus is one of the few rivers in the world that exhibit a tidal bore. The Indus system is largely fed by the snows and glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakoram and the Hindu Kush ranges of Tibet, the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the Northern Areas of Pakistan respectively. The flow of the river is also determined by the seasons - it diminishes greatly in the winter, while flooding its banks in the monsoon months from July to September. There is also evidence of a steady shift in the course of the river since prehistoric times - it deviated westwards from flowing into the Rann of Kutch and adjoining Banni grasslands after the 1816 earthquake[1][2].
Effects of climate change on the river
The Tibetan Plateau contains the world's third-largest store of ice. Qin Dahe, the former head of the China Meteorological Administration, said that the recent fast pace of melting and warmer temperatures will be good for agriculture and tourism in the short term; but issued a strong warning:
"Temperatures are rising four times faster than elsewhere in China, and the Tibetan glaciers are retreating at a higher speed than in any other part of the world.... In the short term, this will cause lakes to expand and bring floods and mudflows. . . . In the long run, the glaciers are vital lifelines for Asian rivers, including the Indus and the Ganges. Once they vanish, water supplies in those regions will be in peril."[3]
“There is insufficient data to say what will happen to the Indus,” says David Grey, the World Bank’s senior water advisor in South Asia. “But we all have very nasty fears that the flows of the Indus could be severely, severely affected by glacier melt as a consequence of climate change,” and reduced by perhaps as much as 50 percent. “Now what does that mean to a population that lives in a desert [where], without the river, there would be no life? I don’t know the answer to that question,” he says. “But we need to be concerned about that. Deeply, deeply concerned.” [4]
History
Paleolithic sites have been discovered in Pothohar near Pakistan's capital Islamabad, with the stone tools of the Soan Culture. In ancient Gandhara, near Islamabad, evidence of cave dwellers dated 15,000 years ago has been discovered at Mardan.
The major cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, date back to around 3300 BC, and represent some of the largest human habitations of the ancient world. The Indus Valley Civilization extended from Balochistan to Gujarat, with an upward reach from east of Jhelum River to Ropar on the upper Sutlej. The coastal settlements extended from Sutkagan Dor at the Iranian border to Lothal in Gujarat. There is an Indus site on the Amu Darya at Shortughai in northern Afghanistan, and the Indus site Alamgirpur at the Hindon River is located only 28 km from Delhi. To date, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the Ghaggar-Hakra River and its tributaries. Among the settlements were the major urban centers of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, as well as Lothal, Dholavira, Ganeriwala, and Rakhigarhi. Only 90-96 of the over-800 known Indus Valley sites have been discovered on the Indus and its tributaries. The Sutlej, now a tributary of the Indus, in Harappan times flowed into the Ghaggar-Hakra River, in the watershed of which were more Harappan sites than along the Indus.
Most scholars believe that settlements of Gandhara grave culture of the early Indo-Aryans flourished in Gandhara from 1700 BC to 600 BC, when Mohenjo-daro and Harappa had already been abandoned.
The name Indus is a Latinization of Hindu, in turn the Iranian variant of Sindhu, the name of the Indus in the Rigveda. The Sanskrit Sindhu generically means river, stream, ocean, probably from a root sidh meaning to keep off; Sindhu is attested 176 times in the Rigveda, 95 times in the plural, more often used in the generic meaning. Already in the Rigveda, notably in the later hymns, the meaning of the word is narrowed to refer to the Indus river in particular, for example in the list of rivers of the Nadistuti sukta. This resulted in the anomaly of a river with masculine gender: all other Rigvedic rivers are female, not just grammatically, being imagined as goddesses and compared to cows and mares yielding milk and butter.
The Indus has formed a natural boundary between the Indian Subcontinent hinterland and its frontier with the Iranian Plateau, a region which includes Pakistan's Balochistan, North West Frontier Province as well as Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Iran. It has been crossed by the armies of Alexander the Great - His Macedonian forces retreated along the southern course of the river at the end of the Asian campaign after conquering what is now Pakistan and joining it to the Hellenic Empire. The Indus plains have also been under the domination of the Persian empire and the Kushan empire. The Muslim armies of Muhammad bin Qasim, Mahmud of Ghazni, Mohammed Ghori, Tamerlane and Babur also crossed the river to strike into the inner regions of Punjab , Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The word "India" is derived from the Indus River. In ancient times, "India" initially referred to the region of modern-day Pakistan along the Indus river, but by 300 BC, Greek writers like Megasthenes applied the term to the entire subcontinent.[5] :)
Geography
Tributaries
•Astor River
•Balram River
•Gar River
•Ghizar River
•Gilgit River
•Gumal River
•Kabul River
•Panjnad
•Shigar River
•Shyok River
•Suru River
•Swaan River
•Tanubal River
•Zanskar River
Geology
The Indus River feeds the Indus submarine fan located in the Indian Ocean, which is the second largest sediment body on the Earth at around 5 million cubic kilometres of material eroded from the mountains. Studies of the sediment in the modern river indicate that the Karakoram Mountains in northern Pakistan are the single most important source of material, with the Himalayas providing the next largest contribution, mostly via the large rivers of the Punjab (i.e., the Jhelum, Ravi, Chenab, Beas and the Sutlej). Analysis of sediments from the Arabian Sea has demonstrated that prior to five million years ago the Indus was not connected to these Punjab rivers which instead flowed east into the Ganga and were captured after that time[6]. Earlier work showed that sand and silt from western Tibet was reaching the Arabian Sea by 45 million years ago, implying the existence of an ancient Indus River by that time[7]. The delta of this proto-Indus river has subsequently been found in the Katawaz Basin, on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Most recently the Indus was paralleled by the ancient Saraswati River, which the Rigveda suggests flowed from the Himalayas between the Sutlej and the Yamuna Rivers, close to modern day Chandigarh.
In the Nanga Parbat region, the massive amounts of erosion due to the Indus river following the capture and rerouting through that area is thought to bring middle and lower crustal rocks to the surface[8].
Wildlife
Accounts of the Indus valley from the times of Alexander's campaign indicate a healthy forest cover in the region, which has now considerably receded. The Mughal Emperor Babur writes of encountering rhinoceroses along its bank in his memoirs (the Baburnama). Extensive deforestation and human interference in the ecology of the Shivalik Hills has led to a marked deterioration in vegetation and growing conditions. The Indus valley regions are arid with poor vegetation. Agriculture is sustained largely due to irrigation works.
The Blind Indus River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) is a sub-species of Dolphins found only in the Indus River. It formerly also occurred in the tributaries of the Indus river. Palla fish (Hilsa) of the river is a delicacy for people living along the river. The population of fishes in the river is moderately high, with Sukkur, Thatta and Kotri being the major fishing centres - all in the lower Sindh course. But damming and irrigation has made fish farming an important economic activity. Located southeast of Karachi, the large delta has been recognised by conservationists as one of the world's most important ecological regions. Here the river turns into many marshes, streams and creeks and meets the sea at shallow levels. Here marine fishes are found in abundance, including Pomfret and Prawns
Economy
The Indus is the most important supplier of water resources to the Punjab and Sindh plains - it forms the backbone of agriculture and food production in Pakistan. The river is especially critical as rainfall is meagre in the lower Indus valley. Irrigation canals were first built by the people of the Indus valley civilization, and later by the engineers of the Kushan Empire and the Mughal Empire. Modern irrigation was introduced by the British East India Company in 1850 - the construction of modern canals accompanied with the restoration of old canals. The British supervised the construction of one of the most complex irrigation networks in the world. The Guddu Barrage is 1,350 metres (4,450 ft) long - irrigating Sukkur, Jacobabad, Larkana and Kalat. The Sukkur Barrage serves over 20,000 square kilometres (5,000,000 acres).
After the independence of Pakistan, a water control treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 guaranteed that Pakistan would receive water from the Indus River and its two western tributaries, the Jhelum River & the Chenab River independent of upstream control by India.[9] The project, Indus Basin Project, consisted primarily of the construction of two main dams, the Mangla Dam built on the Jhelum River and the Tarbela Dam constructed on the Indus River, together with their subsidiary dams.[10] The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority undertook the construction of the Chashma-Jhelum link canal - linking the waters of the Indus and Jhelum rivers - extending water supplies to the regions of Bahawalpur and Multan. Pakistan constructed the Tarbela Dam near Rawalpindi - standing 2743 metres (9,000 ft) long and 143 metres (470 ft) high, with an 80 kilometre (50 mile) long reservoir. The Kotri Barrage near Hyderabad is 915 metres (3,000 ft) long and provides additional supplies for Karachi. The Taunsa Barrage near Dera Ghazi Khan produces 100,000 kilowatts of electricity. The extensive linking of tributaries with the Indus has helped spread water resources to the valley of Peshawar, in the North-West Frontier Province. The extensive irrigation and dam projects provide the basis for Pakistan's large production of crops such as cotton, sugarcane and wheat. The dams also generate electricity for heavy industries and urban centres.
People
The inhabitants of the regions through whom the Indus river passes and forms a major natural feature and resource are diverse in ethnicity, religion, national and linguistic backgrounds. On the northern course of the river in the state of Jammu and Kashmir live the Buddhist people of Ladakh, of Tibetan stock, and the Dards of Indo-Aryan or Dardic stock and practising Buddhism and Islam. Then it descends into Baltistan, northern Pakistan passing the main Balti city of Skardu. As it continues through Pakistan, the Indus river forms a distinctive boundary of ethnicity and cultures - upon the western banks the population is largely Pashtun, Baloch, and of other Iranian stock, with close cultural, economic and ethnic ties to Afghanistan and Iran. The eastern banks are largely populated by peoples of Indo-Aryan stock, such as the Punjabis, the Sindhis and the Seraikis. In northern Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province, ethnic Pashtun tribes live alongside Dardic people in the hills (Khowar, Kalash, Shina, etc.), Burushos (in Hunza), and Punjabi people. In the southern portion of the Punjab province, the Saraiki peoples speak a distinctive tongue and practise distinctive traditions. In the province of Sindh, peoples of Sindhi backgrounds form the local populations. Upon the western banks of the river live the Baloch and Pashtun peoples of Balochistan.
Modern issues
The Indus is a strategically vital resource for Pakistan's economy and society. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the use of the waters of the Indus and its five eastern tributaries became a major dispute between India and Pakistan. The irrigation canals of the Sutlej valley and the Bari Doab were split - with the canals lying primarily in Pakistan and the headwork dams in India disrupting supply in some parts of Pakistan. The concern over India building large dams over various Punjab rivers that could undercut the supply flowing to Pakistan, as well as the possibility that India could divert rivers in the time of war, caused political consternation in Pakistan. Holding diplomatic talks brokered by the World Bank, India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. The treaty gave India control of the three easternmost rivers of the Punjab, the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi, while Pakistan gained control of the three western rivers, the Jhelum, the Chenab and the Indus. India retained the right to use of the western rivers for non irrigation projects. (See discussion regarding a recent dispute about a hydroelectric project on the Chenab (not Indus) known as the Baglihar Project).
Hindu pilgrimage to holy sites alongside the river has been a source of conflict between the two nations. Pakistan and India do not generally allow each others' citizens to cross borders for religious pilgrimages, other than Sikhs who travel to Pakistan for their annual pilgrimage.
There are concerns that extensive deforestation, industrial pollution and global warming are affecting the vegetation and wildlife of the Indus delta, while affecting agricultural production as well. There are also concerns that the Indus river may be shifting its course westwards - although the progression spans centuries. On numerous occasions, sediment clogging owing to poor maintenance of canals has affected agricultural production and vegetation. In addition, extreme heat has caused water to evaporate, leaving salt deposits that render lands useless for cultivation.
More recently and within Pakistan, the province of Punjab is seeking to cut off the flow of the river downstream to Sindh by building dams within its provincial limits in the face of opposition from the people of Sindh, storage reservoirs used to produce the bulk of food consumed by millions of Pakistanis nationwide as well as providing cheap hydel power to the country's national electric grid system.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mianwali_District
Mianwali (Urdu: ضلع میانوالی) is a District in the north-west of Punjab province, Pakistan. It borders Lakki Marwat district in the west, Kohat and Karak districts in the North west and Dera Ismail Khan District in the southwest. Attock lies in the north, Chakwal in the north east, Khushab in the east and Bhakkar in the south. In November 1901, the North-West Frontier Province was carved out of Punjab and present day towns of Mianwali, Isa Khel, Kalabagh, and Kundian were separated from Bannu District (NWFP) and hence a new district was made with the headquarters in Mianwali city and placed in Punjab.
Demography
The majority of the population is of Hindko origin similar to the people of Attock.Niazi Tribe is The Most Famouse Tribe of this District. Niazi Tribe is Mostly Living in The Mianwali City, Shahbaz Khel, Mosa Khel, Mochh,Utra Kalaan, Sawans. The Tribes who known as Jats are living in the Kacha and Thal speak a Hindko Seraiki, lived in all parts of the district but mostly in Waan Bacharaan, Kundian, Ding Khola, Khanqah Sirrajia, Saeed Abad, Bakharra/Kacha Kalo, Kacha paar,khita-e-Atlas, Kacha Gujrat, Kacha Shahnawaz Wala, Phaati, Hurnoli, Alluwali, Duaba, Jaal, Piplan, Wichveen Bala, Moosa Khel, Shadia and many others villages which are parts of the district. There are small minority of Pashtuns and Punajbis. Mostly people speak a unique dialect of Seraiki which borrows many words from Hindko and Pashto. However the Khattak tribes living in the suburbs of Isakhel, Chapri, Bhangi Khel, Sultan Khel, Makarwal and Bani Afghan are bilingual, Pashto being their primary language but can fairly communicate in Seraiki as well. Awans living in the Salt range of Mianwali speak a dialect of Potohari which is called "Uttraadi"(pertaining to the highlanders).
According to the 1998 census of Pakistan the district had a population of 1,056,620 of which 20.39%[2] of which 85,000 inhabit the district capital.
Administration
Mianwali used to be the part of Bannu district but on November the 9th,1901 a new district was made with headquarters at Mianwali city.Deputy commissioner used to be the head of the district.The first deputy commissioner was Captain A.J.O'Brian.The first district judge was Sardar Balwant Singh.It is worth mentioning that Capt.O'Brian served Mianwali not once but thrice.He was again given the charge of D.C.Mianwali in 1906 and then in 1914. This time he was promoted to the rank of Major.
The system continued even after the creation of Pakistan as a sovereign nation.It was not until year 2000 when the new local government system was introduced by the President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf.Three basic changes were made
Divisions which used to be third tier of the government were abolished and more autonomy was given to the districts under the motive of devolution of power.
With this new status of the districts Nazims were to become the administrators of the district with more authoritative powers.
The post of D.C. was abolished with the aim to put an end to the bureaucratic rule however the bureaucracy was offered an olive branch by creating a new post of District Co-ordinating Officer.However the Nazim remains the main elected representative and administrator while the D.C.Os serve as representatives of the government.
The district is administratively divided into three tehsils and 56 Union Councils:[3]
Name of Tehsil No of Unions
Isakhel 14
Mianwali 28
Piplan 14
Total 56
Geography
Mianwali district covers an area of 5,840 square kilometres. The area in north is a continuation of the Pothohar Plateau and the Kohistan-e-Namak. The district consists of various towns, including Kalabagh, Isa Khel,Ding Khola (Khanqah Sirrajia), Kundian, Paikhel, Piplan, Kamar Mushani, Mochh, Rokhri, Harnoli, Musa Khel, Zimri, Wan Bhachhran, Daud Khel and the district capital - Mianwali city.
Kalabagh is famous for the Kalabagh Dam and the Nawab of Kalabagh and for the red hills of the salt range and scenic view of mighty Indus River.
Nawab of Kalabagh Malik Amir Muhammad Khan(1910-1967),Ex-Governor West Pakistan.Kundian is the second largest town at a distance of 15 km from the city of Mianwali.There is a Chashma Nuclear power plant(Chashnupp)Ding Khola (PAEC),Kundian(Chashma)Barrage,K.J(Kundian Jehlum)Chashma Jehlum)Link Canal
Thal is a large area which is mostly desert and semi-arid. It is located between Jhelum and Indus river (The Sindh-Saagar Doab). The boundaries of the old district established in 1901 included almost 70 % of this great area, but after the separation of Layyah and then Bhakkar Tehsils, only about 20% remains in this district. First deputy commissioner Mr. A J O'Brian wrote in his memoirs
" In 1901 the District of Mianwali was formed out of the two Punjab halves of two older districts, and I had the good fortune to be put in charge. It was a lonely District with, as my Assistant Mr. Bolster called it, 'three white men in a wilderness of sand.'"[4]
Nammal (Namal) Lake is a place of interest for the hikers and holiday-makers in Chakrala.
Amongst fine views should be included that of the Indus and the eastern valley from a little conical hill at Mari, where the "Kalabagh diamonds" (quartz crystals) are found and which is crowned by an old Hindu ruin. Amongst picturesque spots may be mentioned Nammal, just beyond the Dhak Pass in Mianwali, also Kalabagh and Mari on the Indus, and Kotki in the throat of Chichali Pass.[5]. The average rainfall in the district is about 250 mm.
Isa Khel is another important town located in the west of Mianwali. It is a historical town named after Isa Khan, a famous Niazi chief.
Kamar Mushani is famous for its trade and minerals.
Education
The city is an economic and commercial hub in the district. There are several educational institutions up to post-graduate level, affiliated with the University of Punjab.
Climate
Whole of the district has extreme weather, summer last from May to September, June is the hottest month average temperature of month rise up to 42°C and maximum could go to 50°C whereas in winter, December and January temperature is as low as 3 to 4°C average per month
History
Traditionally all major rulers of South Asia governed this area in their turn. Mughal emperor Babur mentions Essa Khail (Isakhel) whilst he was fighting against the Pakhtuns as part of his campaign to conquer the Punjab during the 1520s (ref. Baburnama). Then came the Sikhs, that era was famous for lawlessness, and barbarism, they ruled until the annexation of Punjab in 1849 by the British. During British rule, the Indian empire was subdivided into province, divisions and districts, (after the independence of Pakistan divisions remained the third tier of government until 2000). The British had made the towns of Mianwali and Isa Khel tehsil headquarters of Bannu District then part of Dera Ismail Khan Division of Punjab province.
The district of Mianwali was created in November 1901, when the North West Frontier Province was carved out of Punjab and the towns of Mianwali, Isa Khel, Kalabagh, and Kundian were separated from Bannu District which became part of the NWFP. A new district was made with the headquarters in Mianwali city and placed in Punjab, the district became a part of Multan Division. Mianwali originally contained four tehsils namely Mianwali, Isa Khel, Bhakkar, and Layyah, in 1909 Layyah was transferred to Muzaffargarh District. The district became a part of Sargodha Division in 1961, in 1982 Bhakkar tehsil was removed from Mianwali and became a separate district of Sargodha Division.
Of the early history of the district nothing can be stated with any certainty, beyond the fact that its inhabitants were Hindus, and that before the Christian era the country formed an integral portion of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom of Kabul and the Punjab.
Early History
The Thal, however, without wells would be a desert, and the probability is that in early historic times nearly the whole of it was a barren waste. There is no record of any plundering expedition on the Thal side by Alexander the Great's forces, when they passed down the Jhelum to its junction with the Indus River, though they lightly undertook such an expedition across the waterless Bar to the Ravi. This affords a presumption that the Thal was then a poorer country than it is now. www.mianwalinews.com,
Architectural Objects and Remains
In the southern part of the district the general absence of antiquarian remains also tends to prove that it can never have been the site of a rich and populous Government. In the Kachhi tract, of course, such remains could not survive the action of river floods, and this tract must, at one time, have been much wider than it is now. The Thal, however, is admirably suited for the preservation of antiquarian relics, had any such ever existed, but there are none that date from earlier than the fourteenth century.
Ruins at Mari Indus & Mari City
Ruins of centuries old hindu temples in salt range near Mari Indus (River Indus can be seen traversing through hills)At Mari in the Mianwali Tahsil there is a picturesque Hindu ruin, crowning the gypsum hill, locally called Maniot (from Manikot, meaning fort of jewels), on which the Kalabagh diamonds are found. The ruins themselves must once have been extensive. It appears that the very top of the hill was built over with a large palace or fort.
Architectural Objects and Remain-Ruins of Sirkapp Fort
Overlooking the village site of Namal in the Khudri is a ridge of great natural strength, cut off on three sides by hill torrents. On the top of this ridge there are extensive ruins of what is said to have been the stronghold of Sirkapp, Raja of the country , who was a contemporary of Raja Risalu of Sialkot, by whom he was vanquished. The outer wall of the fort still exists in part in a dilapidated condition, but the enclosure, which must once have contained accommodation for a fairly large garrison , is now one mass of fallen houses and piles of hewn or chiselled stones . The series of lifts, made for carrying water from the bed of the stream to the top of the hill, have left their marks.
Other Antiquities
The above, together with two sentry-box like buildings, supposed to be dolmens, midway between, Namal and Sakesar, and several massive looking tombs, constructed of large blocks of dressed stones in the Salt Range, comprise all the antiquities above ground in the district. No doubt many remain concealed beneath the surface. The encroachments of the Indus and even of the Kurram near Isakhel often expose portions of ancient masonry arches and wells.
"Days of Yore" PR ZE. class 230 enroute to Lakki Marwat from Mari Indus in frosty winter morning circa 1987.(Mianwali was the only district in Punjab with about 80 km of Narrow Gauge section which was closed in 1992)The only other antiquity worth mentioning is a monster baoli at Wanbhachran , said to have been built by order of Sher Shah Suri. It is in good preservation and similar to those in the Shahpur District.
The Rule of the Ghakkars in the North - Invasion of Nadir Shah in 1738
Prior to the invasion of Nadir Shah in 1738, there is little to relate concerning .the history of the northern portion of the district. The upper half of the district was ruled by the Ghakkars, who became feudatories of the Mughal Empire, of which the district continued to form a part until the invasion of Nadir Shah. In 1738 a portion of his army entered Bannu, and by its atrocities so cowed the Bannuchis and Marwats that a heavy tribute was raised from them. Another portion of the army crossed the Pezu pass and worked its way .down to Dera Ismail Khan. The country was generally plundered and contingents raised from the neighbourhoods of Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan marched under Nadir Shah's banner to the sack of Delhi. In 1739 the country west of the Indus was surrendered by the Emperor of Delhi to Nadir Shah, and passed after his death to Ahmad Shah Abdali.
Grave of Lt.Col. A J O'Brien 1st Deputy Commissioner of the district, Brompton Cemetery, LondonExpulsion of the Ghakkars in 1748
In 1748 a Durrani army under one of Ahmad Shah's generals crossed the Indus at Kalabagh, and drove out the Ghakkars, who still ruled in the cis-Indus tracts of the district, owing nominal allegiance to the Emperor at Delhi. Their stronghold, Muazzam Nagar, was razed to the ground, and with their expulsion was swept away the last vestige of authority of the Mughal Emperor, in these parts.
The armies of Ahmad Shah marched repeatedly through the district, the cis-Indus portion of which was, with the rest of the Punjab, incorporated in the Durrani Kingdom in 1756, and for the next sixty years a precarious hold was maintained on their eastern provinces, including this district, by Ahmad Shah and his successors to the throne of the newly created Kingdom of Kabul.
The history of the Bhakkar Tahsil comprising the southern portion of the district both in the period which preceded and that which followed the incorporation of the district in the
Durrani Kingdom, requires separate recording. Its history is bound up with that of Dera Ismail Khan and of Leiah, and to some extent with that of Dera Ghazi Khan.
During the greater portion of the reign of Ahmad Shah, no regular Governors were appointed by the Kabul Government. The country was divided between the Hot and Jaskani chiefs, whose predecessors had been the first Biluch chiefs to form settlements along the Indus.
References to the original settlements of the first Biluch chiefs are found in Ferishta and in a Persian manuscript, quoted in Mr. Tucker's settlement report of the Dera Ismail Khan District. The account given by the latter is, that in 874 Hijri (1469 A.D.) Sultan Husain, son of Kutubudin, obtained the Government of Multan. He held the forts of Shor and Chiniot in Lyallpur District and of Kot Karor (Karor Lal Isan) and Din Kot (near Kalabagh). Soon after Malik Suhrab, a Dodai Biluch, along with his son, Ismail Khan, and Fatih Khan and others of his tribe arrived from Kech Mekran, and entered the service of Sultan Husain. As the hill robbers were then becoming very troublesome in the province of Multan, Sultan Husain rejoiced in the opportune arrival of Malik Suhrab, and assigned to him the country from the fort of Karor to Dinkot." On this becoming known, many Balochis came from Kech Mekran to the service of the Sultan. The lands, cultivated and waste, along the banks of the Indus were assigned to the Balochis, and the royal revenue began to increase, The old inhabitants of Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan relate that after Suhrab's arrival, Haji Khan, with his son Ghazi Khan and many of their kindred and tribe, came from Kech Mekran to enter the service of the Sultan. When the tracts along the Indus were in the hands of Malik Suhrab and Haji Khan, Malik Suhrab founded a Dera named after Ismail Khan, and Haji Khan another, with the name of Ghazi Khan ". This account is confirmed, though in less detail, by the historian Ferishta.
Tribes & Clans
The populations of the district is split into four main groups, the Pashtuns who predominate in Isa Khel Tehsil, and riverain Mianwali Tehsil, the Awans who are found mainly in the Salt Range, and Kalabagh in Isakhel Tehsil. The Thal desert portion is held by Seraiki speaking Jat and Baluch tribes. The city of Mianwali and town of Wan Bhachran are both home to the Qureshi - Makhdooms and Miana tribes respectively.
The district are includes descendents of refugees from East Punjab and Haryana in India, who settled after partition..
Immigration
The district has been settled by a triple immigration from opposite directions, of Awans from the north-east, of Jats and Balochis up the valley of the Indus from the south, and of Pakhtuns from the north-west.
Awans
The Awans now occupy that part of the district which lies east of the Dhak Spur of the Salt Range and is known as Khudri, Pakhar, or Awankari. "Men of Mianwali mostly know the name Pakhar; but residents of the Kacha and Isakhel generally speak of the tract and parts beyond as utrad. i.e., the high country."Bannu district Gazetter
They have been almost the sole occupants of that extensive tract for at least six hundred years and may perhaps have resided there since the Arab invasions of the seventh century. Previous to the decilne and extinction of Ghakkar tribe authorities in Mianwali, the Awan possessions extended westward of the Salt Range. At first Awans under the leadership of legendary Awan warrior Qutab Shah pushed the Niazi tribe out of Mianwali who were previously residing in Mianwali. But afterwards , Niazis rose up and were able to fight back most of their captured land from Awans.
The Awans were amongst those the British considered to be "martial races" and as such, formed an important part of the British Indian army, serving with distinction during World Wars I and II. Along with Rajputs, Awans occupy the highest ranks of the Pakistani army.
Sir Colin Campbell Garbett (founder of Campbellpur, modern day Attock), said of the Awans, "There are no better people in India."
Awans claim themselves to be of Arab origin , a claim which is disputed by many British anthropologists and historians. Some label them as remnants of "Bactrian Greeks".While the others insist that they are the descendants of Raja Risalu of Sialkot , thus insisting on their Rajput origins. Some also relate them to the Qutab Shah who had Arab ancestry thus giving a proof to their claim.
However in general Awans are brave, big landlords , religious and best known for their hospitality. They also got the fame of being the good horsemen.
The Jat and Baloch Immigration
Before the fifteenth century the lower portion of the district was probably occupied by a few scattered tribes of Jats, depending on their cattle for subsistence. The valley of the Indus was a dense jungle, swarming with pig and hog-deer, and frequented by numerous tigers; while the Thal must have been almost unoccupied.
All the traditions of the people go to show that an immigration of mixed tribes of Jats Talokar/Tilokar/Talukar/Thalokar,(Siyars, Chhina, Khokhars, &.c.,) set in about the beginning of the 15th century from the Multan and Bahawalpur direction. They gradually passed up the valley of the Indus to the Mianwali Tahsil, occupying the intervening country. Most of their villages would have been located on the edge of the Thal and a portion of the immigrants probably crossed the river and settled along its right bank. After these came the Balochis. They also came from the south, but in large bands under recognized leaders, and they appear to have taken military rather than proprietary possession of the country. They were the ruling class, and served under their chiefs in the; perpetual little wars that were then going on in every direction. It is probable that the Jat immigration continued for sometime after the Balochis first came into the country. However it may have been, all the Kachha, immediately adjoining the Thal bank, seems to have been parcelled off to Jat families. Each block was accompanied with a long strip of Thal to the back. These estates are the origin of the present mauzas as far north as Kundian in the Mianwali Tahsil. They are almost all held by Jats. Here and there, shares are held by Balochis, but these have mostly been acquired in later times by purchase. In the same way the unoccupied lands towards the river were divided off into blocks, and formed into separate estates; and sometimes; where the hads first, formed had too much waste land, new hads were formed in later times by separating off outlying portions of the old estates. This division into hads extended right up to Kundian. In course of time, as the Balochis settled down in the country, individuals acquired plots of land for wells, but generally in subordination to the had proprietors or lords of manors. Here and there a small clan settled down together, but this was the exception. Balochis are still numerous all through the southern part of the Kachha, up to Darya Khan; but though they were originally the ruling race, still, as regards proprietary rights in the land they hold a position inferior to that of the Jats and Sayyads, by whom the superior proprietorship of hads is generally held. North of Darya Khan there are very few Balochis. In the Thal the population is nearly entirely Jat.
Baluch Clans
The Mamdanis of Khansar, the Magsis, a tribe which came in very early, and settled in the eastern Thal about Dhingana and Haidarabad, and the Durranis of Dab in the Mianwali Tehsil, are almost the only considerable bodies of Balochis to be found in the Thal.
[edit] The Jat Clans
All through the Kachha the mass of the villages are named after Jat families, who form the bulk of the proprietors. These are generally the descendants of the original founders, and have stuck together as like 'Jat Talokar/Tilokar/Talukar/Thalokar in Ding Khola(Khanqah Sirrajia) and bakhharra(kachha).'''' In the Thal there are a large number of villages held in the same way by men of particular families ; but in most the population is very mixed, nearly every well being held by a man of a different caste. The only Jat tribes in the Thal deserving of special mention are the Chhinas and Bhidwals. The Chhina country extends across from Chhina, Behal, Lappi and Notak, on the edge of the Kachha, to Mankera and Haidarabad on the further side of the Thal. The Bhidwals possess a somewhat smaller tract round Karluwala and Mahni in the neighbourhood of the Jhang border. They have always been a good fighting tribe.
The Pakhtun Immigrations
Mahmud of Ghazni is said to have conquered the upper half of the district together with Bannu, expelling its Hindu inhabitants and reducing the country to a desert. Hence there was no one left, capable of opposing the settlement of immigrant tribes from across the, border. The series of Pakhtun immigrations into Bannu took place in the following order :-
1.The Bannuchis, who about five hundred years ago displaced two small tribes of Mangals and Hannis, of whom little is known as well as a settlement of Khattaks, from the then marshy but fertile country on either bank of the Kurram.
2.The Niazis, who some hundred and fifty years later spread from Tank over the plain now called Marwat, then sparsely inhabited by pastoral Jats.
3.The Marwats, a younger branch of the same tribe, who within one hundred years of the Niazi settlement of Marwat, followed in their wake, and drove them farther eastward into the countries now known as Isa Khel and Mianwali.
Immigrations - The Niazis
Burqa-clad women in Mianwali--This district is famous across the country for strict Burqa-observanceThe Bannuchis must have settled down for nearly two centuries, before the Niazi arrival into Marwat took place. The Niazis occupied the hills about Salghar, which are now held by the Sulaiman Khels, until a feud with the Ghilzais compelled them to migrate elsewhere. Marching south by east, the expelled tribe found a temporary resting place in Tank. There the Niazais lived for several generations, occupying themselves as traders and carriers, as do their kinsmen the Lohani Pawindahs in the present day. At length towards the close of the fifteenth century, numbers spread north into the plain now known as Marwat, and squatted there as graziers, and perhaps too as cultivators, on the banks of the Kurram and Gambila, some fifteen miles below the Bannuchi Settlements. There they lived in peace for about fifty years, when the Marwat Lohanis, a younger branch of the Lodi group, swarmed into the country after them, defeated them in battle, and drove them across the Kurram at Tang Darra, in the valley beyond which they found a final home. At the time of the Niazai irruption, Marwat seems to have been almost uninhabited, except by a sprinkling of pastoral Jats; but the bank of the Indus apparently supported a considerable Jat and Awan population. The most important sections of the expelled Niazais were the Isakhel, Mushanis and a portion of the Sarhangs. The first named took root in the south of their new country and shortly developed into agriculturists ; the second settled farther to the north roundabout Kamar Mushani, and seem for a time to have led a pastoral life ; of the Sarhangs, some took up their abode at Sultan Khel, while others, after drifting about for several generations, permanently established themselves cis-Indus on the destruction of the Ghakkar stronghold of Muazzam Nagar by one of Ahmad Shah's lieutenants. That event occurred about 1748, and with it terminated the long connection of the Ghakkars with Mianwali.They seem to have been dominant in the northern parts of the country even before the emperor Akbar presented it in jagir to two of, their chiefs. During the civil commotions of Jehangir's reign the Niazais are said to have driven the Ghakkars across the Salt Range, and though, in the following reign, the latter recovered their position, still their hold on the country was precarious, and came to an end about the middle of the 18th century as stated above. The remains of Muazzam Nagar, their local capital, were visible on the left high bank of the Indus about six miles south of Mianwali, until the site was eroded by the river about the year 1870. The Niazais thus established themselves in Isa Khel over three hundred years ago, but their Sarhang branch did not finally obtain its present possessions in Mianwali, until nearly 150 years later. The acquisition of their cis-Indus possessions was necessarily gradual, the country having a settled, though weak Government, and being inhabited by Awans and Jats.
Immigrations - The Niazais, Khattaks and Bhangi Khels
A few of the Khattaks, who had preceded the Niazais into the Isa Khel Tahsil, clung to the foot of the Maidani Range. The Bhangi Khels, a strong little section of Khattaks, spread up into the Bhangi Khel tract some 400 years ago, and remain there to this day. Trag is one of the biggest village of Tehsil Isa Khel(Tarna, an old name),District Mianwali.Trag came into being in between 1660-1685. It is populated by one of the significant clan “Shado Khel” hailing from Niazi Pathan.These people are basically Afghan in origin and adventured Hindustan along with their main tribe i.e. Niazi. Their entry route was Wana----Tank----Dera Ismail Khan and Paniala/ Kundal. They finally settled at present location. Background: Trag is named after his notable elder, literally meaning an “Iron Helmet”. He was an adventurous and brave combatant. He was famous for his ever readiness, most of the times seen in combatior outfit. Hence his real name is not traceable. And he became well known as Trag. The family tree of Trag is Trag bin Amir Khan bin Jehangir Khan bin Shado Khel bin Khir bin Jam bin Tor bin Habib bin Wagan bin Jamal Niazi. He had three sons Ako, Bako and Khero. Descendants of these sons of Trag occupy main bulk of the village and are known as Akwal, Ibrahim Khel and Kherowal. Syeds, Quereshis, Arayans,Bhambs, Buchas,Awans, Mohanas, Dheor and Jats etc hold significant number in local population and contributing their role in the social development of their beloved soil.
Biluchch Pashtuns
A few families of Biluchch Pashtuns came across the Indus . from the Paniala Hills .Of these, one became dominant at Piplan, while the others moved on into the Thal and took up their abode eventually in and about Jandanwala.
Turkhel
A tribe occupying few villages near Kalabagh. According to some traditions, they are Jat and not Pashtun.
Wirali
Is a tribe living in Pai Khel,Mianwali.Hundred years ago there was a great sufi saint, named "Mian Muhammad Wirali".He was a philanthropist with much regard among the masses.He distributed his land to the poor.Now a days his shrine is at Pai Khel,in the base of a mountain from where dolomite is extracted for steel mills. After him, his tribe is known as "Wirali".
www.wildlifeofpakistan.com/sanctuaries.html
The Chashma and Taunsa Barrage are declared Wildlife Sanctuaries by the Punjab government. A very important breeding, staging and wintering area for a wide variety of waterfowl, including at least one threatened species (Marmaronetta angustirostris). Mid-winter waterfowl counts in recent years have regularly exceeded 20,000 birds. The endangered Indus Dolphin (Platanista indi) occurs in the river both upstream and downstream of the barrage. Since the 1970s, the population of the Indus Dolphin has significantly increased here.
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"Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum is located in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Its name means Job's well, due to the legend in which Job (Ayub) visited this place and made a well by striking the ground with his staff. The water of this well is still pure and is considered healing. The current building was constructed during the reign of Timur and features a Khwarazm-style conical dome uncommon in Bukhara."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chashma-Ayub_Mausoleum
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River
The Indus River (Sanskrit सिन्धु Sindhu,; Urdu: سندھ Sindh; Sindhi: سندھو Sindhu; Punjabi سندھ Sindh; Hindko سندھ Sindh; Avestan: حندو Harahauvati; Pashto: ّآباسن Abasin "Father of Rivers"; Persian: Nilou (رود سند) "Hindu"; Arabic: السند "Al-Sind"; Tibetan: Sênggê Zangbo (སེང་གེ།་གཙང་པོ་) "Lion River"; Chinese: 森格藏布/狮泉河/印度河, Sēngé Zàngbù/Shīquán Hé/Yìndù Hé; Greek: Ινδός Indos;Turki: Nilab) is the longest river in Pakistan and the twenty-first largest river in the world in terms of annual flow. It is often considered the life-line of Pakistan. The Europeans used the name "India" for the entire South Asian subcontinent based on Indos, the Greek appellation of this river. Historically significant, the river is at the crux of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization.
Originating in the Tibetan plateau in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the National River runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and then enters Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan), flowing through the North in a southerly direction along the entire length of the country, to merge into the Arabian Sea near Pakistan's port city of Karachi in Sindh. The total length of the river is 3,180 kilometers (1,976 miles). The river has a total drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 square kilometers (450,000 square miles). The river's estimated annual flow stands at around 207 cubic kilometers. Beginning at the heights of the world with glaciers, the river feeds the ecosystem of temperate forests, plains and arid countryside. Together with the rivers Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, Jhelum, Beas and two tributaries from the North West Frontier and Afghanistan, the Indus forms the Sapta Sindhu (Seven Rivers) delta of Pakistan.
Description
The Indus provides the key water resources for the economy of Pakistan - especially the Breadbasket of Punjab province, which accounts for most of the nation's agricultural production, and Sindh. The word Punjab is a combination of the Sanskrit words panj meaning Five, and āb meaning Water, giving the literal meaning of the Land of the Five Rivers. The Five rivers after which Punjab is named are the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and the Sutlej. The river also supports many heavy industries and provides the main supply of potable water in Pakistan.
The ultimate source of the Indus is in Tibet; it begins at the confluence of the Sengge and Gar rivers that drain the Nganglong Kangri and Gangdise Shan mountain ranges. The Indus then flows northwest through Ladakh and Baltistan into Gilgit, just south of the Karakoram range. The Shyok River, Shigar and Gilgit streams carry glacial waters into the main river. It gradually bends to the south, coming out of the hills between Peshawar and Rawalpindi. The Indus passes gigantic gorges 4,500-5,200 metres (15,000-17,000 feet) high near the Nanga Parbat massif. It flows swiftly across Hazara, and is dammed at the Tarbela Reservoir. The Kabul River joins it near Attock. The remainder of its route to the sea is in plains of the Punjab and Sindh, and the river becomes slow-flowing and highly braided. It is joined by Panjnad River at Mithankot. Beyond this confluence, the river, at one time, was named Satnad River (Sat = seven, Nadi = river), as the river was now carrying the waters of the Kabul River, the Indus River and the five Punjab rivers. Passing by Jamshoro, it ends in a large delta to the east of Thatta.
The Indus is one of the few rivers in the world that exhibit a tidal bore. The Indus system is largely fed by the snows and glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakoram and the Hindu Kush ranges of Tibet, the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the Northern Areas of Pakistan respectively. The flow of the river is also determined by the seasons - it diminishes greatly in the winter, while flooding its banks in the monsoon months from July to September. There is also evidence of a steady shift in the course of the river since prehistoric times - it deviated westwards from flowing into the Rann of Kutch and adjoining Banni grasslands after the 1816 earthquake[1][2].
Effects of climate change on the river
The Tibetan Plateau contains the world's third-largest store of ice. Qin Dahe, the former head of the China Meteorological Administration, said that the recent fast pace of melting and warmer temperatures will be good for agriculture and tourism in the short term; but issued a strong warning:
"Temperatures are rising four times faster than elsewhere in China, and the Tibetan glaciers are retreating at a higher speed than in any other part of the world.... In the short term, this will cause lakes to expand and bring floods and mudflows. . . . In the long run, the glaciers are vital lifelines for Asian rivers, including the Indus and the Ganges. Once they vanish, water supplies in those regions will be in peril."[3]
“There is insufficient data to say what will happen to the Indus,” says David Grey, the World Bank’s senior water advisor in South Asia. “But we all have very nasty fears that the flows of the Indus could be severely, severely affected by glacier melt as a consequence of climate change,” and reduced by perhaps as much as 50 percent. “Now what does that mean to a population that lives in a desert [where], without the river, there would be no life? I don’t know the answer to that question,” he says. “But we need to be concerned about that. Deeply, deeply concerned.” [4]
History
Paleolithic sites have been discovered in Pothohar near Pakistan's capital Islamabad, with the stone tools of the Soan Culture. In ancient Gandhara, near Islamabad, evidence of cave dwellers dated 15,000 years ago has been discovered at Mardan.
The major cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, date back to around 3300 BC, and represent some of the largest human habitations of the ancient world. The Indus Valley Civilization extended from Balochistan to Gujarat, with an upward reach from east of Jhelum River to Ropar on the upper Sutlej. The coastal settlements extended from Sutkagan Dor at the Iranian border to Lothal in Gujarat. There is an Indus site on the Amu Darya at Shortughai in northern Afghanistan, and the Indus site Alamgirpur at the Hindon River is located only 28 km from Delhi. To date, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the Ghaggar-Hakra River and its tributaries. Among the settlements were the major urban centers of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, as well as Lothal, Dholavira, Ganeriwala, and Rakhigarhi. Only 90-96 of the over-800 known Indus Valley sites have been discovered on the Indus and its tributaries. The Sutlej, now a tributary of the Indus, in Harappan times flowed into the Ghaggar-Hakra River, in the watershed of which were more Harappan sites than along the Indus.
Most scholars believe that settlements of Gandhara grave culture of the early Indo-Aryans flourished in Gandhara from 1700 BC to 600 BC, when Mohenjo-daro and Harappa had already been abandoned.
The name Indus is a Latinization of Hindu, in turn the Iranian variant of Sindhu, the name of the Indus in the Rigveda. The Sanskrit Sindhu generically means river, stream, ocean, probably from a root sidh meaning to keep off; Sindhu is attested 176 times in the Rigveda, 95 times in the plural, more often used in the generic meaning. Already in the Rigveda, notably in the later hymns, the meaning of the word is narrowed to refer to the Indus river in particular, for example in the list of rivers of the Nadistuti sukta. This resulted in the anomaly of a river with masculine gender: all other Rigvedic rivers are female, not just grammatically, being imagined as goddesses and compared to cows and mares yielding milk and butter.
The Indus has formed a natural boundary between the Indian Subcontinent hinterland and its frontier with the Iranian Plateau, a region which includes Pakistan's Balochistan, North West Frontier Province as well as Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Iran. It has been crossed by the armies of Alexander the Great - His Macedonian forces retreated along the southern course of the river at the end of the Asian campaign after conquering what is now Pakistan and joining it to the Hellenic Empire. The Indus plains have also been under the domination of the Persian empire and the Kushan empire. The Muslim armies of Muhammad bin Qasim, Mahmud of Ghazni, Mohammed Ghori, Tamerlane and Babur also crossed the river to strike into the inner regions of Punjab , Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The word "India" is derived from the Indus River. In ancient times, "India" initially referred to the region of modern-day Pakistan along the Indus river, but by 300 BC, Greek writers like Megasthenes applied the term to the entire subcontinent.[5] :)
Geography
Tributaries
•Astor River
•Balram River
•Gar River
•Ghizar River
•Gilgit River
•Gumal River
•Kabul River
•Panjnad
•Shigar River
•Shyok River
•Suru River
•Swaan River
•Tanubal River
•Zanskar River
Geology
The Indus River feeds the Indus submarine fan located in the Indian Ocean, which is the second largest sediment body on the Earth at around 5 million cubic kilometres of material eroded from the mountains. Studies of the sediment in the modern river indicate that the Karakoram Mountains in northern Pakistan are the single most important source of material, with the Himalayas providing the next largest contribution, mostly via the large rivers of the Punjab (i.e., the Jhelum, Ravi, Chenab, Beas and the Sutlej). Analysis of sediments from the Arabian Sea has demonstrated that prior to five million years ago the Indus was not connected to these Punjab rivers which instead flowed east into the Ganga and were captured after that time[6]. Earlier work showed that sand and silt from western Tibet was reaching the Arabian Sea by 45 million years ago, implying the existence of an ancient Indus River by that time[7]. The delta of this proto-Indus river has subsequently been found in the Katawaz Basin, on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Most recently the Indus was paralleled by the ancient Saraswati River, which the Rigveda suggests flowed from the Himalayas between the Sutlej and the Yamuna Rivers, close to modern day Chandigarh.
In the Nanga Parbat region, the massive amounts of erosion due to the Indus river following the capture and rerouting through that area is thought to bring middle and lower crustal rocks to the surface[8].
Wildlife
Accounts of the Indus valley from the times of Alexander's campaign indicate a healthy forest cover in the region, which has now considerably receded. The Mughal Emperor Babur writes of encountering rhinoceroses along its bank in his memoirs (the Baburnama). Extensive deforestation and human interference in the ecology of the Shivalik Hills has led to a marked deterioration in vegetation and growing conditions. The Indus valley regions are arid with poor vegetation. Agriculture is sustained largely due to irrigation works.
The Blind Indus River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) is a sub-species of Dolphins found only in the Indus River. It formerly also occurred in the tributaries of the Indus river. Palla fish (Hilsa) of the river is a delicacy for people living along the river. The population of fishes in the river is moderately high, with Sukkur, Thatta and Kotri being the major fishing centres - all in the lower Sindh course. But damming and irrigation has made fish farming an important economic activity. Located southeast of Karachi, the large delta has been recognised by conservationists as one of the world's most important ecological regions. Here the river turns into many marshes, streams and creeks and meets the sea at shallow levels. Here marine fishes are found in abundance, including Pomfret and Prawns
Economy
The Indus is the most important supplier of water resources to the Punjab and Sindh plains - it forms the backbone of agriculture and food production in Pakistan. The river is especially critical as rainfall is meagre in the lower Indus valley. Irrigation canals were first built by the people of the Indus valley civilization, and later by the engineers of the Kushan Empire and the Mughal Empire. Modern irrigation was introduced by the British East India Company in 1850 - the construction of modern canals accompanied with the restoration of old canals. The British supervised the construction of one of the most complex irrigation networks in the world. The Guddu Barrage is 1,350 metres (4,450 ft) long - irrigating Sukkur, Jacobabad, Larkana and Kalat. The Sukkur Barrage serves over 20,000 square kilometres (5,000,000 acres).
After the independence of Pakistan, a water control treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 guaranteed that Pakistan would receive water from the Indus River and its two western tributaries, the Jhelum River & the Chenab River independent of upstream control by India.[9] The project, Indus Basin Project, consisted primarily of the construction of two main dams, the Mangla Dam built on the Jhelum River and the Tarbela Dam constructed on the Indus River, together with their subsidiary dams.[10] The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority undertook the construction of the Chashma-Jhelum link canal - linking the waters of the Indus and Jhelum rivers - extending water supplies to the regions of Bahawalpur and Multan. Pakistan constructed the Tarbela Dam near Rawalpindi - standing 2743 metres (9,000 ft) long and 143 metres (470 ft) high, with an 80 kilometre (50 mile) long reservoir. The Kotri Barrage near Hyderabad is 915 metres (3,000 ft) long and provides additional supplies for Karachi. The Taunsa Barrage near Dera Ghazi Khan produces 100,000 kilowatts of electricity. The extensive linking of tributaries with the Indus has helped spread water resources to the valley of Peshawar, in the North-West Frontier Province. The extensive irrigation and dam projects provide the basis for Pakistan's large production of crops such as cotton, sugarcane and wheat. The dams also generate electricity for heavy industries and urban centres.
People
The inhabitants of the regions through whom the Indus river passes and forms a major natural feature and resource are diverse in ethnicity, religion, national and linguistic backgrounds. On the northern course of the river in the state of Jammu and Kashmir live the Buddhist people of Ladakh, of Tibetan stock, and the Dards of Indo-Aryan or Dardic stock and practising Buddhism and Islam. Then it descends into Baltistan, northern Pakistan passing the main Balti city of Skardu. As it continues through Pakistan, the Indus river forms a distinctive boundary of ethnicity and cultures - upon the western banks the population is largely Pashtun, Baloch, and of other Iranian stock, with close cultural, economic and ethnic ties to Afghanistan and Iran. The eastern banks are largely populated by peoples of Indo-Aryan stock, such as the Punjabis, the Sindhis and the Seraikis. In northern Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province, ethnic Pashtun tribes live alongside Dardic people in the hills (Khowar, Kalash, Shina, etc.), Burushos (in Hunza), and Punjabi people. In the southern portion of the Punjab province, the Saraiki peoples speak a distinctive tongue and practise distinctive traditions. In the province of Sindh, peoples of Sindhi backgrounds form the local populations. Upon the western banks of the river live the Baloch and Pashtun peoples of Balochistan.
Modern issues
The Indus is a strategically vital resource for Pakistan's economy and society. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the use of the waters of the Indus and its five eastern tributaries became a major dispute between India and Pakistan. The irrigation canals of the Sutlej valley and the Bari Doab were split - with the canals lying primarily in Pakistan and the headwork dams in India disrupting supply in some parts of Pakistan. The concern over India building large dams over various Punjab rivers that could undercut the supply flowing to Pakistan, as well as the possibility that India could divert rivers in the time of war, caused political consternation in Pakistan. Holding diplomatic talks brokered by the World Bank, India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. The treaty gave India control of the three easternmost rivers of the Punjab, the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi, while Pakistan gained control of the three western rivers, the Jhelum, the Chenab and the Indus. India retained the right to use of the western rivers for non irrigation projects. (See discussion regarding a recent dispute about a hydroelectric project on the Chenab (not Indus) known as the Baglihar Project).
Hindu pilgrimage to holy sites alongside the river has been a source of conflict between the two nations. Pakistan and India do not generally allow each others' citizens to cross borders for religious pilgrimages, other than Sikhs who travel to Pakistan for their annual pilgrimage.
There are concerns that extensive deforestation, industrial pollution and global warming are affecting the vegetation and wildlife of the Indus delta, while affecting agricultural production as well. There are also concerns that the Indus river may be shifting its course westwards - although the progression spans centuries. On numerous occasions, sediment clogging owing to poor maintenance of canals has affected agricultural production and vegetation. In addition, extreme heat has caused water to evaporate, leaving salt deposits that render lands useless for cultivation.
More recently and within Pakistan, the province of Punjab is seeking to cut off the flow of the river downstream to Sindh by building dams within its provincial limits in the face of opposition from the people of Sindh, storage reservoirs used to produce the bulk of food consumed by millions of Pakistanis nationwide as well as providing cheap hydel power to the country's national electric grid system.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River
The Indus River (Sanskrit सिन्धु Sindhu,; Urdu: سندھ Sindh; Sindhi: سندھو Sindhu; Punjabi سندھ Sindh; Hindko سندھ Sindh; Avestan: حندو Harahauvati; Pashto: ّآباسن Abasin "Father of Rivers"; Persian: Nilou (رود سند) "Hindu"; Arabic: السند "Al-Sind"; Tibetan: Sênggê Zangbo (སེང་གེ།་གཙང་པོ་) "Lion River"; Chinese: 森格藏布/狮泉河/印度河, Sēngé Zàngbù/Shīquán Hé/Yìndù Hé; Greek: Ινδός Indos;Turki: Nilab) is the longest river in Pakistan and the twenty-first largest river in the world in terms of annual flow. It is often considered the life-line of Pakistan. The Europeans used the name "India" for the entire South Asian subcontinent based on Indos, the Greek appellation of this river. Historically significant, the river is at the crux of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization.
Originating in the Tibetan plateau in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the National River runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and then enters Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan), flowing through the North in a southerly direction along the entire length of the country, to merge into the Arabian Sea near Pakistan's port city of Karachi in Sindh. The total length of the river is 3,180 kilometers (1,976 miles). The river has a total drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 square kilometers (450,000 square miles). The river's estimated annual flow stands at around 207 cubic kilometers. Beginning at the heights of the world with glaciers, the river feeds the ecosystem of temperate forests, plains and arid countryside. Together with the rivers Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, Jhelum, Beas and two tributaries from the North West Frontier and Afghanistan, the Indus forms the Sapta Sindhu (Seven Rivers) delta of Pakistan.
Description
The Indus provides the key water resources for the economy of Pakistan - especially the Breadbasket of Punjab province, which accounts for most of the nation's agricultural production, and Sindh. The word Punjab is a combination of the Sanskrit words panj meaning Five, and āb meaning Water, giving the literal meaning of the Land of the Five Rivers. The Five rivers after which Punjab is named are the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and the Sutlej. The river also supports many heavy industries and provides the main supply of potable water in Pakistan.
The ultimate source of the Indus is in Tibet; it begins at the confluence of the Sengge and Gar rivers that drain the Nganglong Kangri and Gangdise Shan mountain ranges. The Indus then flows northwest through Ladakh and Baltistan into Gilgit, just south of the Karakoram range. The Shyok River, Shigar and Gilgit streams carry glacial waters into the main river. It gradually bends to the south, coming out of the hills between Peshawar and Rawalpindi. The Indus passes gigantic gorges 4,500-5,200 metres (15,000-17,000 feet) high near the Nanga Parbat massif. It flows swiftly across Hazara, and is dammed at the Tarbela Reservoir. The Kabul River joins it near Attock. The remainder of its route to the sea is in plains of the Punjab and Sindh, and the river becomes slow-flowing and highly braided. It is joined by Panjnad River at Mithankot. Beyond this confluence, the river, at one time, was named Satnad River (Sat = seven, Nadi = river), as the river was now carrying the waters of the Kabul River, the Indus River and the five Punjab rivers. Passing by Jamshoro, it ends in a large delta to the east of Thatta.
The Indus is one of the few rivers in the world that exhibit a tidal bore. The Indus system is largely fed by the snows and glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakoram and the Hindu Kush ranges of Tibet, the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the Northern Areas of Pakistan respectively. The flow of the river is also determined by the seasons - it diminishes greatly in the winter, while flooding its banks in the monsoon months from July to September. There is also evidence of a steady shift in the course of the river since prehistoric times - it deviated westwards from flowing into the Rann of Kutch and adjoining Banni grasslands after the 1816 earthquake[1][2].
Effects of climate change on the river
The Tibetan Plateau contains the world's third-largest store of ice. Qin Dahe, the former head of the China Meteorological Administration, said that the recent fast pace of melting and warmer temperatures will be good for agriculture and tourism in the short term; but issued a strong warning:
"Temperatures are rising four times faster than elsewhere in China, and the Tibetan glaciers are retreating at a higher speed than in any other part of the world.... In the short term, this will cause lakes to expand and bring floods and mudflows. . . . In the long run, the glaciers are vital lifelines for Asian rivers, including the Indus and the Ganges. Once they vanish, water supplies in those regions will be in peril."[3]
“There is insufficient data to say what will happen to the Indus,” says David Grey, the World Bank’s senior water advisor in South Asia. “But we all have very nasty fears that the flows of the Indus could be severely, severely affected by glacier melt as a consequence of climate change,” and reduced by perhaps as much as 50 percent. “Now what does that mean to a population that lives in a desert [where], without the river, there would be no life? I don’t know the answer to that question,” he says. “But we need to be concerned about that. Deeply, deeply concerned.” [4]
History
Paleolithic sites have been discovered in Pothohar near Pakistan's capital Islamabad, with the stone tools of the Soan Culture. In ancient Gandhara, near Islamabad, evidence of cave dwellers dated 15,000 years ago has been discovered at Mardan.
The major cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, date back to around 3300 BC, and represent some of the largest human habitations of the ancient world. The Indus Valley Civilization extended from Balochistan to Gujarat, with an upward reach from east of Jhelum River to Ropar on the upper Sutlej. The coastal settlements extended from Sutkagan Dor at the Iranian border to Lothal in Gujarat. There is an Indus site on the Amu Darya at Shortughai in northern Afghanistan, and the Indus site Alamgirpur at the Hindon River is located only 28 km from Delhi. To date, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the Ghaggar-Hakra River and its tributaries. Among the settlements were the major urban centers of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, as well as Lothal, Dholavira, Ganeriwala, and Rakhigarhi. Only 90-96 of the over-800 known Indus Valley sites have been discovered on the Indus and its tributaries. The Sutlej, now a tributary of the Indus, in Harappan times flowed into the Ghaggar-Hakra River, in the watershed of which were more Harappan sites than along the Indus.
Most scholars believe that settlements of Gandhara grave culture of the early Indo-Aryans flourished in Gandhara from 1700 BC to 600 BC, when Mohenjo-daro and Harappa had already been abandoned.
The name Indus is a Latinization of Hindu, in turn the Iranian variant of Sindhu, the name of the Indus in the Rigveda. The Sanskrit Sindhu generically means river, stream, ocean, probably from a root sidh meaning to keep off; Sindhu is attested 176 times in the Rigveda, 95 times in the plural, more often used in the generic meaning. Already in the Rigveda, notably in the later hymns, the meaning of the word is narrowed to refer to the Indus river in particular, for example in the list of rivers of the Nadistuti sukta. This resulted in the anomaly of a river with masculine gender: all other Rigvedic rivers are female, not just grammatically, being imagined as goddesses and compared to cows and mares yielding milk and butter.
The Indus has formed a natural boundary between the Indian Subcontinent hinterland and its frontier with the Iranian Plateau, a region which includes Pakistan's Balochistan, North West Frontier Province as well as Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Iran. It has been crossed by the armies of Alexander the Great - His Macedonian forces retreated along the southern course of the river at the end of the Asian campaign after conquering what is now Pakistan and joining it to the Hellenic Empire. The Indus plains have also been under the domination of the Persian empire and the Kushan empire. The Muslim armies of Muhammad bin Qasim, Mahmud of Ghazni, Mohammed Ghori, Tamerlane and Babur also crossed the river to strike into the inner regions of Punjab , Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The word "India" is derived from the Indus River. In ancient times, "India" initially referred to the region of modern-day Pakistan along the Indus river, but by 300 BC, Greek writers like Megasthenes applied the term to the entire subcontinent.[5] :)
Geography
Tributaries
•Astor River
•Balram River
•Gar River
•Ghizar River
•Gilgit River
•Gumal River
•Kabul River
•Panjnad
•Shigar River
•Shyok River
•Suru River
•Swaan River
•Tanubal River
•Zanskar River
Geology
The Indus River feeds the Indus submarine fan located in the Indian Ocean, which is the second largest sediment body on the Earth at around 5 million cubic kilometres of material eroded from the mountains. Studies of the sediment in the modern river indicate that the Karakoram Mountains in northern Pakistan are the single most important source of material, with the Himalayas providing the next largest contribution, mostly via the large rivers of the Punjab (i.e., the Jhelum, Ravi, Chenab, Beas and the Sutlej). Analysis of sediments from the Arabian Sea has demonstrated that prior to five million years ago the Indus was not connected to these Punjab rivers which instead flowed east into the Ganga and were captured after that time[6]. Earlier work showed that sand and silt from western Tibet was reaching the Arabian Sea by 45 million years ago, implying the existence of an ancient Indus River by that time[7]. The delta of this proto-Indus river has subsequently been found in the Katawaz Basin, on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Most recently the Indus was paralleled by the ancient Saraswati River, which the Rigveda suggests flowed from the Himalayas between the Sutlej and the Yamuna Rivers, close to modern day Chandigarh.
In the Nanga Parbat region, the massive amounts of erosion due to the Indus river following the capture and rerouting through that area is thought to bring middle and lower crustal rocks to the surface[8].
Wildlife
Accounts of the Indus valley from the times of Alexander's campaign indicate a healthy forest cover in the region, which has now considerably receded. The Mughal Emperor Babur writes of encountering rhinoceroses along its bank in his memoirs (the Baburnama). Extensive deforestation and human interference in the ecology of the Shivalik Hills has led to a marked deterioration in vegetation and growing conditions. The Indus valley regions are arid with poor vegetation. Agriculture is sustained largely due to irrigation works.
The Blind Indus River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) is a sub-species of Dolphins found only in the Indus River. It formerly also occurred in the tributaries of the Indus river. Palla fish (Hilsa) of the river is a delicacy for people living along the river. The population of fishes in the river is moderately high, with Sukkur, Thatta and Kotri being the major fishing centres - all in the lower Sindh course. But damming and irrigation has made fish farming an important economic activity. Located southeast of Karachi, the large delta has been recognised by conservationists as one of the world's most important ecological regions. Here the river turns into many marshes, streams and creeks and meets the sea at shallow levels. Here marine fishes are found in abundance, including Pomfret and Prawns
Economy
The Indus is the most important supplier of water resources to the Punjab and Sindh plains - it forms the backbone of agriculture and food production in Pakistan. The river is especially critical as rainfall is meagre in the lower Indus valley. Irrigation canals were first built by the people of the Indus valley civilization, and later by the engineers of the Kushan Empire and the Mughal Empire. Modern irrigation was introduced by the British East India Company in 1850 - the construction of modern canals accompanied with the restoration of old canals. The British supervised the construction of one of the most complex irrigation networks in the world. The Guddu Barrage is 1,350 metres (4,450 ft) long - irrigating Sukkur, Jacobabad, Larkana and Kalat. The Sukkur Barrage serves over 20,000 square kilometres (5,000,000 acres).
After the independence of Pakistan, a water control treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 guaranteed that Pakistan would receive water from the Indus River and its two western tributaries, the Jhelum River & the Chenab River independent of upstream control by India.[9] The project, Indus Basin Project, consisted primarily of the construction of two main dams, the Mangla Dam built on the Jhelum River and the Tarbela Dam constructed on the Indus River, together with their subsidiary dams.[10] The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority undertook the construction of the Chashma-Jhelum link canal - linking the waters of the Indus and Jhelum rivers - extending water supplies to the regions of Bahawalpur and Multan. Pakistan constructed the Tarbela Dam near Rawalpindi - standing 2743 metres (9,000 ft) long and 143 metres (470 ft) high, with an 80 kilometre (50 mile) long reservoir. The Kotri Barrage near Hyderabad is 915 metres (3,000 ft) long and provides additional supplies for Karachi. The Taunsa Barrage near Dera Ghazi Khan produces 100,000 kilowatts of electricity. The extensive linking of tributaries with the Indus has helped spread water resources to the valley of Peshawar, in the North-West Frontier Province. The extensive irrigation and dam projects provide the basis for Pakistan's large production of crops such as cotton, sugarcane and wheat. The dams also generate electricity for heavy industries and urban centres.
People
The inhabitants of the regions through whom the Indus river passes and forms a major natural feature and resource are diverse in ethnicity, religion, national and linguistic backgrounds. On the northern course of the river in the state of Jammu and Kashmir live the Buddhist people of Ladakh, of Tibetan stock, and the Dards of Indo-Aryan or Dardic stock and practising Buddhism and Islam. Then it descends into Baltistan, northern Pakistan passing the main Balti city of Skardu. As it continues through Pakistan, the Indus river forms a distinctive boundary of ethnicity and cultures - upon the western banks the population is largely Pashtun, Baloch, and of other Iranian stock, with close cultural, economic and ethnic ties to Afghanistan and Iran. The eastern banks are largely populated by peoples of Indo-Aryan stock, such as the Punjabis, the Sindhis and the Seraikis. In northern Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province, ethnic Pashtun tribes live alongside Dardic people in the hills (Khowar, Kalash, Shina, etc.), Burushos (in Hunza), and Punjabi people. In the southern portion of the Punjab province, the Saraiki peoples speak a distinctive tongue and practise distinctive traditions. In the province of Sindh, peoples of Sindhi backgrounds form the local populations. Upon the western banks of the river live the Baloch and Pashtun peoples of Balochistan.
Modern issues
The Indus is a strategically vital resource for Pakistan's economy and society. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the use of the waters of the Indus and its five eastern tributaries became a major dispute between India and Pakistan. The irrigation canals of the Sutlej valley and the Bari Doab were split - with the canals lying primarily in Pakistan and the headwork dams in India disrupting supply in some parts of Pakistan. The concern over India building large dams over various Punjab rivers that could undercut the supply flowing to Pakistan, as well as the possibility that India could divert rivers in the time of war, caused political consternation in Pakistan. Holding diplomatic talks brokered by the World Bank, India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. The treaty gave India control of the three easternmost rivers of the Punjab, the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi, while Pakistan gained control of the three western rivers, the Jhelum, the Chenab and the Indus. India retained the right to use of the western rivers for non irrigation projects. (See discussion regarding a recent dispute about a hydroelectric project on the Chenab (not Indus) known as the Baglihar Project).
Hindu pilgrimage to holy sites alongside the river has been a source of conflict between the two nations. Pakistan and India do not generally allow each others' citizens to cross borders for religious pilgrimages, other than Sikhs who travel to Pakistan for their annual pilgrimage.
There are concerns that extensive deforestation, industrial pollution and global warming are affecting the vegetation and wildlife of the Indus delta, while affecting agricultural production as well. There are also concerns that the Indus river may be shifting its course westwards - although the progression spans centuries. On numerous occasions, sediment clogging owing to poor maintenance of canals has affected agricultural production and vegetation. In addition, extreme heat has caused water to evaporate, leaving salt deposits that render lands useless for cultivation.
More recently and within Pakistan, the province of Punjab is seeking to cut off the flow of the river downstream to Sindh by building dams within its provincial limits in the face of opposition from the people of Sindh, storage reservoirs used to produce the bulk of food consumed by millions of Pakistanis nationwide as well as providing cheap hydel power to the country's national electric grid system.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River
The Indus River (Sanskrit सिन्धु Sindhu,; Urdu: سندھ Sindh; Sindhi: سندھو Sindhu; Punjabi سندھ Sindh; Hindko سندھ Sindh; Avestan: حندو Harahauvati; Pashto: ّآباسن Abasin "Father of Rivers"; Persian: Nilou (رود سند) "Hindu"; Arabic: السند "Al-Sind"; Tibetan: Sênggê Zangbo (སེང་གེ།་གཙང་པོ་) "Lion River"; Chinese: 森格藏布/狮泉河/印度河, Sēngé Zàngbù/Shīquán Hé/Yìndù Hé; Greek: Ινδός Indos;Turki: Nilab) is the longest river in Pakistan and the twenty-first largest river in the world in terms of annual flow. It is often considered the life-line of Pakistan. The Europeans used the name "India" for the entire South Asian subcontinent based on Indos, the Greek appellation of this river. Historically significant, the river is at the crux of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization.
Originating in the Tibetan plateau in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the National River runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and then enters Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan), flowing through the North in a southerly direction along the entire length of the country, to merge into the Arabian Sea near Pakistan's port city of Karachi in Sindh. The total length of the river is 3,180 kilometers (1,976 miles). The river has a total drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 square kilometers (450,000 square miles). The river's estimated annual flow stands at around 207 cubic kilometers. Beginning at the heights of the world with glaciers, the river feeds the ecosystem of temperate forests, plains and arid countryside. Together with the rivers Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, Jhelum, Beas and two tributaries from the North West Frontier and Afghanistan, the Indus forms the Sapta Sindhu (Seven Rivers) delta of Pakistan.
Description
The Indus provides the key water resources for the economy of Pakistan - especially the Breadbasket of Punjab province, which accounts for most of the nation's agricultural production, and Sindh. The word Punjab is a combination of the Sanskrit words panj meaning Five, and āb meaning Water, giving the literal meaning of the Land of the Five Rivers. The Five rivers after which Punjab is named are the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and the Sutlej. The river also supports many heavy industries and provides the main supply of potable water in Pakistan.
The ultimate source of the Indus is in Tibet; it begins at the confluence of the Sengge and Gar rivers that drain the Nganglong Kangri and Gangdise Shan mountain ranges. The Indus then flows northwest through Ladakh and Baltistan into Gilgit, just south of the Karakoram range. The Shyok River, Shigar and Gilgit streams carry glacial waters into the main river. It gradually bends to the south, coming out of the hills between Peshawar and Rawalpindi. The Indus passes gigantic gorges 4,500-5,200 metres (15,000-17,000 feet) high near the Nanga Parbat massif. It flows swiftly across Hazara, and is dammed at the Tarbela Reservoir. The Kabul River joins it near Attock. The remainder of its route to the sea is in plains of the Punjab and Sindh, and the river becomes slow-flowing and highly braided. It is joined by Panjnad River at Mithankot. Beyond this confluence, the river, at one time, was named Satnad River (Sat = seven, Nadi = river), as the river was now carrying the waters of the Kabul River, the Indus River and the five Punjab rivers. Passing by Jamshoro, it ends in a large delta to the east of Thatta.
The Indus is one of the few rivers in the world that exhibit a tidal bore. The Indus system is largely fed by the snows and glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakoram and the Hindu Kush ranges of Tibet, the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the Northern Areas of Pakistan respectively. The flow of the river is also determined by the seasons - it diminishes greatly in the winter, while flooding its banks in the monsoon months from July to September. There is also evidence of a steady shift in the course of the river since prehistoric times - it deviated westwards from flowing into the Rann of Kutch and adjoining Banni grasslands after the 1816 earthquake[1][2].
Effects of climate change on the river
The Tibetan Plateau contains the world's third-largest store of ice. Qin Dahe, the former head of the China Meteorological Administration, said that the recent fast pace of melting and warmer temperatures will be good for agriculture and tourism in the short term; but issued a strong warning:
"Temperatures are rising four times faster than elsewhere in China, and the Tibetan glaciers are retreating at a higher speed than in any other part of the world.... In the short term, this will cause lakes to expand and bring floods and mudflows. . . . In the long run, the glaciers are vital lifelines for Asian rivers, including the Indus and the Ganges. Once they vanish, water supplies in those regions will be in peril."[3]
“There is insufficient data to say what will happen to the Indus,” says David Grey, the World Bank’s senior water advisor in South Asia. “But we all have very nasty fears that the flows of the Indus could be severely, severely affected by glacier melt as a consequence of climate change,” and reduced by perhaps as much as 50 percent. “Now what does that mean to a population that lives in a desert [where], without the river, there would be no life? I don’t know the answer to that question,” he says. “But we need to be concerned about that. Deeply, deeply concerned.” [4]
History
Paleolithic sites have been discovered in Pothohar near Pakistan's capital Islamabad, with the stone tools of the Soan Culture. In ancient Gandhara, near Islamabad, evidence of cave dwellers dated 15,000 years ago has been discovered at Mardan.
The major cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, date back to around 3300 BC, and represent some of the largest human habitations of the ancient world. The Indus Valley Civilization extended from Balochistan to Gujarat, with an upward reach from east of Jhelum River to Ropar on the upper Sutlej. The coastal settlements extended from Sutkagan Dor at the Iranian border to Lothal in Gujarat. There is an Indus site on the Amu Darya at Shortughai in northern Afghanistan, and the Indus site Alamgirpur at the Hindon River is located only 28 km from Delhi. To date, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the Ghaggar-Hakra River and its tributaries. Among the settlements were the major urban centers of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, as well as Lothal, Dholavira, Ganeriwala, and Rakhigarhi. Only 90-96 of the over-800 known Indus Valley sites have been discovered on the Indus and its tributaries. The Sutlej, now a tributary of the Indus, in Harappan times flowed into the Ghaggar-Hakra River, in the watershed of which were more Harappan sites than along the Indus.
Most scholars believe that settlements of Gandhara grave culture of the early Indo-Aryans flourished in Gandhara from 1700 BC to 600 BC, when Mohenjo-daro and Harappa had already been abandoned.
The name Indus is a Latinization of Hindu, in turn the Iranian variant of Sindhu, the name of the Indus in the Rigveda. The Sanskrit Sindhu generically means river, stream, ocean, probably from a root sidh meaning to keep off; Sindhu is attested 176 times in the Rigveda, 95 times in the plural, more often used in the generic meaning. Already in the Rigveda, notably in the later hymns, the meaning of the word is narrowed to refer to the Indus river in particular, for example in the list of rivers of the Nadistuti sukta. This resulted in the anomaly of a river with masculine gender: all other Rigvedic rivers are female, not just grammatically, being imagined as goddesses and compared to cows and mares yielding milk and butter.
The Indus has formed a natural boundary between the Indian Subcontinent hinterland and its frontier with the Iranian Plateau, a region which includes Pakistan's Balochistan, North West Frontier Province as well as Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Iran. It has been crossed by the armies of Alexander the Great - His Macedonian forces retreated along the southern course of the river at the end of the Asian campaign after conquering what is now Pakistan and joining it to the Hellenic Empire. The Indus plains have also been under the domination of the Persian empire and the Kushan empire. The Muslim armies of Muhammad bin Qasim, Mahmud of Ghazni, Mohammed Ghori, Tamerlane and Babur also crossed the river to strike into the inner regions of Punjab , Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The word "India" is derived from the Indus River. In ancient times, "India" initially referred to the region of modern-day Pakistan along the Indus river, but by 300 BC, Greek writers like Megasthenes applied the term to the entire subcontinent.[5] :)
Geography
Tributaries
•Astor River
•Balram River
•Gar River
•Ghizar River
•Gilgit River
•Gumal River
•Kabul River
•Panjnad
•Shigar River
•Shyok River
•Suru River
•Swaan River
•Tanubal River
•Zanskar River
Geology
The Indus River feeds the Indus submarine fan located in the Indian Ocean, which is the second largest sediment body on the Earth at around 5 million cubic kilometres of material eroded from the mountains. Studies of the sediment in the modern river indicate that the Karakoram Mountains in northern Pakistan are the single most important source of material, with the Himalayas providing the next largest contribution, mostly via the large rivers of the Punjab (i.e., the Jhelum, Ravi, Chenab, Beas and the Sutlej). Analysis of sediments from the Arabian Sea has demonstrated that prior to five million years ago the Indus was not connected to these Punjab rivers which instead flowed east into the Ganga and were captured after that time[6]. Earlier work showed that sand and silt from western Tibet was reaching the Arabian Sea by 45 million years ago, implying the existence of an ancient Indus River by that time[7]. The delta of this proto-Indus river has subsequently been found in the Katawaz Basin, on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Most recently the Indus was paralleled by the ancient Saraswati River, which the Rigveda suggests flowed from the Himalayas between the Sutlej and the Yamuna Rivers, close to modern day Chandigarh.
In the Nanga Parbat region, the massive amounts of erosion due to the Indus river following the capture and rerouting through that area is thought to bring middle and lower crustal rocks to the surface[8].
Wildlife
Accounts of the Indus valley from the times of Alexander's campaign indicate a healthy forest cover in the region, which has now considerably receded. The Mughal Emperor Babur writes of encountering rhinoceroses along its bank in his memoirs (the Baburnama). Extensive deforestation and human interference in the ecology of the Shivalik Hills has led to a marked deterioration in vegetation and growing conditions. The Indus valley regions are arid with poor vegetation. Agriculture is sustained largely due to irrigation works.
The Blind Indus River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) is a sub-species of Dolphins found only in the Indus River. It formerly also occurred in the tributaries of the Indus river. Palla fish (Hilsa) of the river is a delicacy for people living along the river. The population of fishes in the river is moderately high, with Sukkur, Thatta and Kotri being the major fishing centres - all in the lower Sindh course. But damming and irrigation has made fish farming an important economic activity. Located southeast of Karachi, the large delta has been recognised by conservationists as one of the world's most important ecological regions. Here the river turns into many marshes, streams and creeks and meets the sea at shallow levels. Here marine fishes are found in abundance, including Pomfret and Prawns
Economy
The Indus is the most important supplier of water resources to the Punjab and Sindh plains - it forms the backbone of agriculture and food production in Pakistan. The river is especially critical as rainfall is meagre in the lower Indus valley. Irrigation canals were first built by the people of the Indus valley civilization, and later by the engineers of the Kushan Empire and the Mughal Empire. Modern irrigation was introduced by the British East India Company in 1850 - the construction of modern canals accompanied with the restoration of old canals. The British supervised the construction of one of the most complex irrigation networks in the world. The Guddu Barrage is 1,350 metres (4,450 ft) long - irrigating Sukkur, Jacobabad, Larkana and Kalat. The Sukkur Barrage serves over 20,000 square kilometres (5,000,000 acres).
After the independence of Pakistan, a water control treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 guaranteed that Pakistan would receive water from the Indus River and its two western tributaries, the Jhelum River & the Chenab River independent of upstream control by India.[9] The project, Indus Basin Project, consisted primarily of the construction of two main dams, the Mangla Dam built on the Jhelum River and the Tarbela Dam constructed on the Indus River, together with their subsidiary dams.[10] The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority undertook the construction of the Chashma-Jhelum link canal - linking the waters of the Indus and Jhelum rivers - extending water supplies to the regions of Bahawalpur and Multan. Pakistan constructed the Tarbela Dam near Rawalpindi - standing 2743 metres (9,000 ft) long and 143 metres (470 ft) high, with an 80 kilometre (50 mile) long reservoir. The Kotri Barrage near Hyderabad is 915 metres (3,000 ft) long and provides additional supplies for Karachi. The Taunsa Barrage near Dera Ghazi Khan produces 100,000 kilowatts of electricity. The extensive linking of tributaries with the Indus has helped spread water resources to the valley of Peshawar, in the North-West Frontier Province. The extensive irrigation and dam projects provide the basis for Pakistan's large production of crops such as cotton, sugarcane and wheat. The dams also generate electricity for heavy industries and urban centres.
People
The inhabitants of the regions through whom the Indus river passes and forms a major natural feature and resource are diverse in ethnicity, religion, national and linguistic backgrounds. On the northern course of the river in the state of Jammu and Kashmir live the Buddhist people of Ladakh, of Tibetan stock, and the Dards of Indo-Aryan or Dardic stock and practising Buddhism and Islam. Then it descends into Baltistan, northern Pakistan passing the main Balti city of Skardu. As it continues through Pakistan, the Indus river forms a distinctive boundary of ethnicity and cultures - upon the western banks the population is largely Pashtun, Baloch, and of other Iranian stock, with close cultural, economic and ethnic ties to Afghanistan and Iran. The eastern banks are largely populated by peoples of Indo-Aryan stock, such as the Punjabis, the Sindhis and the Seraikis. In northern Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province, ethnic Pashtun tribes live alongside Dardic people in the hills (Khowar, Kalash, Shina, etc.), Burushos (in Hunza), and Punjabi people. In the southern portion of the Punjab province, the Saraiki peoples speak a distinctive tongue and practise distinctive traditions. In the province of Sindh, peoples of Sindhi backgrounds form the local populations. Upon the western banks of the river live the Baloch and Pashtun peoples of Balochistan.
Modern issues
The Indus is a strategically vital resource for Pakistan's economy and society. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the use of the waters of the Indus and its five eastern tributaries became a major dispute between India and Pakistan. The irrigation canals of the Sutlej valley and the Bari Doab were split - with the canals lying primarily in Pakistan and the headwork dams in India disrupting supply in some parts of Pakistan. The concern over India building large dams over various Punjab rivers that could undercut the supply flowing to Pakistan, as well as the possibility that India could divert rivers in the time of war, caused political consternation in Pakistan. Holding diplomatic talks brokered by the World Bank, India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. The treaty gave India control of the three easternmost rivers of the Punjab, the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi, while Pakistan gained control of the three western rivers, the Jhelum, the Chenab and the Indus. India retained the right to use of the western rivers for non irrigation projects. (See discussion regarding a recent dispute about a hydroelectric project on the Chenab (not Indus) known as the Baglihar Project).
Hindu pilgrimage to holy sites alongside the river has been a source of conflict between the two nations. Pakistan and India do not generally allow each others' citizens to cross borders for religious pilgrimages, other than Sikhs who travel to Pakistan for their annual pilgrimage.
There are concerns that extensive deforestation, industrial pollution and global warming are affecting the vegetation and wildlife of the Indus delta, while affecting agricultural production as well. There are also concerns that the Indus river may be shifting its course westwards - although the progression spans centuries. On numerous occasions, sediment clogging owing to poor maintenance of canals has affected agricultural production and vegetation. In addition, extreme heat has caused water to evaporate, leaving salt deposits that render lands useless for cultivation.
More recently and within Pakistan, the province of Punjab is seeking to cut off the flow of the river downstream to Sindh by building dams within its provincial limits in the face of opposition from the people of Sindh, storage reservoirs used to produce the bulk of food consumed by millions of Pakistanis nationwide as well as providing cheap hydel power to the country's national electric grid system.