RIVERS OF PAKISTAN
The main rivers of Pakistan are the Indus (2,749 kilometers within Pakistan) and its tributaries: the Chenab (730.6 kilometers), Ravi (680.6 kilometers), Jhelum (611.3 kilometers), and Sutlej (530.6 kilometers). The navigable portions of these rivers are generally small and unconnected as a result of seasonal variations in water flows and the presence of substantial irrigation structures. The short Panjnad River, about 121 kilometers (75 miles) long, is actually the combined input of the "five rivers of the Punjab": the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej. [Source: Library of Congress, February 2005 **]
All of Pakistan's major rivers — the Kabul, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej — flow into the Indus. The upper Indus Basin includes Punjab; the lower Indus Basin begins at the Panjnad River (the confluence of the eastern tributaries of the Indus) and extends south to the coast. In Punjab (meaning the "land of five waters") are the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej rivers. The Sutlej, however, is mostly on the Indian side of the border.
The principal river of Balochistan is the Zhob, running along the southern slopes of the Toba Kakar Range and north into the Gumal River. In southern Balochistan, several minor rivers flow into the Arabian Sea; these include the Dasht, Mashkai, Nal, and Porali. [Source: Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Physical Geography, 2003]
Major watersheds (area square kilometers (square miles)): Indian Ocean drainage: Indus (1,081,718 square kilometers (417,654 square miles)); Internal (endorheic basin) drainage: Tarim Basin (1,152,448 square kilometers (444,962 square miles)), (Aral Sea basin) Amu Darya (534,739 square kilometers (206,463 square miles)). Major aquifers: Indus Basin. [Source: CIA World Factbook]
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Irrigation, Dams and the Rivers of Southern Pakistan
Less than a one-fifth of Pakistan's land area has the potential for intensive agricultural use. Nearly all of the arable land is actively cultivated, but outputs are low by world standards. Cultivation is sparse in the northern mountains, the southern deserts, and the western plateaus, but the Indus River basin in Punjab and northern Sindh has fertile soil that enables Pakistan to feed its population under usual climatic conditions. [Source: Peter Blood, Library of Congress, 1994 *]
In the southern part of the province of Punjab, the British attempted to harness the irrigation power of the water over 100 years ago when they established what came to be known as the Canal Colonies. The irrigation project, which facilitated the emergence of intensive cultivation despite arid conditions, resulted in important social and political transformations. *
Pakistan has two great river dams: the Tarbela Dam on the Indus, near the early Buddhist site at Taxila, and the Mangla Dam on the Jhelum, where Punjab borders Azad Kashmir. The Warsak Dam on the Kabul River near Peshawar is smaller. These dams, along with a series of headworks and barrages built by the British and expanded since independence, are of vital importance to the national economy and played an important role in calming the raging floodwaters of 1992, which devastated large areas in the northern highlands and the Punjab plains.*
According to the “Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Physical Geography”: Dams on the Indus River, built for hydropower or agricultural water diversion, have been extremely controversial. The provincial governments of Sindh and Balochistan believe that Punjab Province is diverting too much water from the Indus. Intensive irrigation has led to a crisis of water-logging and salinity throughout the farmlands of the Indus Basin. In this geological syndrome, salty water seeps from canals into surrounding soil, which the salt renders useless for farming as the water evaporates.” [Source: Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Physical Geography, 2003]
Indus River
Indus River is Pakistan's largest and most important river. Flowing southward from the Himalayan-Karakorum range to the Indian Ocean, it is 3,600 kilometers (1,900 miles) long and drains an area of 971,245 square kilometers (375,000 square miles). The broad valleys of the Indus and its tributaries defines Pakistan’s heartland. South Asia's greatest civilization was founded along its banks and much of Pakistan's population relies on food irrigated by its waters.
Rising in the Tibetan Himalayas of China, the Indus River flows through Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir before entering Pakistan. The Indus has five principal tributaries of Himalayan origin that are important to India: the Sutlej, the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab and the Jhelum. These rivers drain part of the Indian state of Punjab, whose name is derived from 'panch ab', meaning 'five waters' or 'five rivers'. [Source: Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Physical Geography, Gale Group, Inc., 2003]
The Indus is Pakistan’s lifeline. Flowing the length of the country , it is mainly fed by the combined waters of three of the five rivers of Punjab—the Chenab, Jhelum, and Ravi. The waters of the other two rivers, the Beas and the Sutlej, are largely withdrawn for irrigation in India. Along the Indus and its tributaries are found most of Pakistan's population, its chief agricultural areas, and its major hydroelectric power stations.. The name Indus comes from the Sanskrit word sindhu, meaning ocean, from which also come the words Sindh, Hindu, and India. The Indus gave India its name. In the A.D. first century, Roman historian Pliny used the name. In Pakistan the Indus sometimes called the Lion River.
The Indus is at its lowest in February, when water in the Himalayas and Karakorums is locked up in snow and ice. The river is at its highest in June when it is swollen from snow, ice and glacier melting from these ranges. It is not as influenced by the June-October monsoon rains as other rivers but is influenced some.
The Indus is a brilliant blue green color along much of its length. When the brown muddy Kabul River merges into it, the two colors are clearly visible as two distinct streams. After that it is often muddy brown in color. The Indus carries great amounts of silt, sand and gravel, which is deposited on its bottom, causing the river to rise. The Indus is prone to flooding and has unleashed some catastrophic floods.. Embankments and dams have largely tamed the floods.
Route and Catchment of the Indus River
The source of the Indus River is in in southwestern Tibet only about 160 kilometers west of the source of the Sutlej River, which joins the Indus in Punjab, and the Brahmaputra, which runs eastward before turning southwest and flowing through Bangladesh. Fed by streams comprised of melted snow and glaciers, it follows the disputed Pakistani-Indian border through Ladakh and Kashmir. After it enters Pakistan it passes flows through spectacular gorges, near some of the highest mountains in the world, including K2 and Nanga Parbat, and follows a section of the Karakorum Highway.
The Indus flows the Karakoram range, which is home to eight of the world's highest peaks, including the breathtaking K2. It separates 8,126 meter (26,660 foot) Nanga Parbat, the world’s ninth highest mountain, from the rest of the Karakorams. The giant glaciers of the Karakorams inch down the mountain slopes and deposit their melt water in the Indus and its tributaries and filling deep gorges with raging torrents of water that are crossed in some places by dizzying wire and rope foot bridges with wooden planks to step on. This is also the home of the 'Mouth of the Lion' spring. from where the Indus flows down, cutting its way through barren, forbidding terrain. Near Islamabad, the Indus River rushes through steep Attock Gorge. [Source: Ministry of Culture, Pakistan pakistanculture.org ]
After crossing the Indian-administered portion of Jammu and Kashmir, the Indus enters Pakistan and flows southwest for 1,609 kilometers (1,000 miles) to the Arabian Sea. At Attock, the Indus receives the waters of the Kabul River from the west. After being joined by the Gumal River, the Indus continues south to Mithanhot, where it is joined by its major tributary, the Panjnad.
After flowing out of the mountains, the Indus River joins its main tributaries—the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej—and enters the Punjab, which means "five rivers." By the time the river reaches the rich alluvial plain of the Punjab it has matured.In the Punjab, the Indus is harnesses to irrigate the breadbasket of Pakistan. Huge irrigation project harness the waters of the Indus to grow rice, grain and vegetables. The Punjab is the only part of Pakistan you could is say is really green.
Leaving the Punjab, the Indus enters the Sindh, flowing slower and slower as it meanders and braids Sindh before ending in the warm waters of the Arabian Sea near the port of Karachi. On its final leg to the Arabian Sea the Indus River passes through the Sind, near the ancient Indus Valley cites. This area is also heavily irrigated. The Indus empties into the Arabian Sea via a 200-kilometer (130-mile) -wide delta.
The catchment area of the Indus is estimated at almost 1 million square kilometers,and all of Pakistan's major rivers — the Kabul, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej — flow into it. The Indus River basin is a large, fertile alluvial plain formed by silt from the Indus. This area has been inhabited by agricultural civilizations for at least 5,000 years. The upper Indus Basin includes Punjab; the lower Indus Basin begins at the Panjnad River (the confluence of the eastern tributaries of the Indus) and extends south to the coast. In Punjab (meaning the "land of five waters") are the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej rivers. The Sutlej, however, is mostly on the Indian side of the border. In the southern part of the province of Punjab, the British attempted to harness the irrigation power of the water over 100 years ago when they established what came to be known as the Canal Colonies. The irrigation project, which facilitated the emergence of intensive cultivation despite arid conditions, resulted in important social and political transformations.*
Dams on the Indus River
The Indus is of great value to both Pakistan and India. A 1960 water agreement between the two countries gives Pakistan water from the west tributaries (the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) while India gets water from the eastern tributaries (Beas, Ravi and Sutlej). Both countries have built massive dams to harness the river for irrigation water and hydroelectric power.
The Indus River is an irrigation lifeline for much of Pakistan. The river and its tributaries support the largest system of irrigation canals in the world. These canals flow through areas, namely the Punjab, where the soil is fertile but the rain is often unpredictable.
The chief dams, or barrages, are: 1) the Sukkur Barrage, headworks of the largest canal-irrigation system in the world; 2) the Jinnah Barrage, upstream from the Sukkur Barrage, irrigating the Thaka reclamation area; and 3) the Lower Sindh project at Kotri down stream. Irrigated upstream, areas are called “doabs”.
The Tarbela dam is the largest dam on the Indus River. It was planned in the 1960s and completed in 1976. A report in 2000 by the World Commission on Dams stated: the ecological impacts of the dam were not considered at the inception state as the international agencies involved in water resources development had not realized the need at the time.”
Ecological Problems on the Indus River
So many canals and dams have been built on the Indus and it tributaries in the Punjab and Sindh that the Indus River carries no fresh water for 130 kilometers (80 miles) before it reaches the sea. Instead it is filled with salt water that flows in from the Arabian Sea. Millions of farmers have fallen into poverty because there is not enough water for their crops. Even drinking water is in short supply. Once thriving cattle-rasing and agricultural towns have become ghost towns.
The broad fertile delta is facing ecological collapse. More than 1.2 million acres of farmland has been covered by advancing seawater. Millions of acres have been damaged by salt deposits from advancing and retained water or simply dried up. Some farms have dried out so completely even obtaining drinking water is a problem. Thousands of river fishermen have lost their way of making a living. Mangrove swamps are dying and large areas of land have been turned into salty deserts. This is damaging the coastal ecosystems and harming spawning areas for shrimp and fish.
The Punjab which has received most of the benefits from the dams but few of its problems wants new large scale dam and canal projects. This is causing friction between the Punjab and Sindh provinces, which has suffered many of problems from the development of the Indus .
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (tourism.gov.pk), Official Gateway to the Government of Pakistan (pakistan.gov.pk), “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Hockings, 1992, National Geographic,, CIA World Factbook, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Encyclopedia.com, Library of Congress, Live Science, The Conversation, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Google AI, Wikipedia, The Guardian and various websites, books and other publications.
Last updated June 2026