Indus River

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The Indus, near Skardu

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The Indus River is one of the seven sacred rivers of Pakistani Hindus. Now the river flows through China (Tibet), into Indian occupied Kashmir and the rest of Pakistan. It was an important river of Ancient India (now Pakistan). The name of the British Empire, India and now the Republic of India is based on Indus River. The river, said the ancient Hindus from present-day Pakistan and not India, flowed from Sinhkabab, that is, the mouth of a lion. The river itself they descibed in Sanskrit as the Sindhu. The ancient Greeks called it Sinthus, the Romans Sindhus, the Chinese Sintow and the Persians Abisindh. It was Piny who first called it Indus and the name stuck. The Indus in turn gave it name to India (now Bharat) and the Indian Ocean where it empties out and through accidents in navigation to East Indies and to the West Indies, to the "Red Indians" and now to the world's leading and largest single water development programme. Over 60% of the total area of the Indus basin lies in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, India-Occupied Kashmir, has about 15%, Tibet has about 10% and the Republic of India and Afghanistan each have about 7% of the Indus basin catchment area. The Indus water system of rivers comprises the main Indus and its major tributaries: the Kabul and Kurram on the right bank, and the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and the Sutlej on the left. The first two join the indus soon after it debouches from the mountains, and the others lower down in the plains. The whole of the Beas and the head reaches of the Ravi and Sutlej are in the Republic of India, while those of the Chenab and Jhelum lie mostly in the disputed Kashmir state. The entire basin covers an area of about 384,000 square miles of open land, of which 204,000 lie in Pakistan. In addition, there are about 29,000 square miles which lie outside the Indus basin but are dependent on the Indus river system for their water requirements and irrigation supplies. But for the Indus waters, the fate of agriculture in Pakistan would have been very uncertain. Even now when Pakistan is being rapidly industrialised, it cannot do without its water resources, for a very big percentage of its existing and proposed industry has to draw upon the agriculture produce for its raw materials. Almost all of the basin in Pakistan receieves an overall rainfull of less than 15 inches, 60% of its area receiving less than 10 inches, while, 16% receives less than 5 inches. The rainfull is not evenly distributed throughout the year but is concentrated during the monsoons. Rising in western Tibet in China, the Indus runs at first across a high plateau, then the ground falls away and the river, dropping rapidly, gathering momentum and rushing north-west, collects the waters from innumerable glacier-fed streams, and runs north-west between the world's greatest mountain ranges, the Karakoram and the Himalayas. In Kashmir it crosses the United Nations cease-fire line and, in Baltistan District, enters Pakistani Kashmir or Pakistan-Administered Kashmir. From here on it is Pakistan's river; Pakistan's first town on the upper Indus, Skardu, at 7,500 feet above sea-level, stands on a bluff near the junction of the Indus and one of its great right-bank tributaries, the Shigar. The majority of the people live in Skardu town; others inhabit small and scattered villages along the Indus and Shigar valleys, or tiny hamlets high on the surrounding mountains beside tributary streams or springs. Walnuts grow along the Indus near Skardu, and poplars and apples; there are delicious melons and nectarines and apricots in the valley of Shigar, but it is difficult to send them "down-country" because they are easily spoilt in transit. Potatoes, maize and other crops need unremitting attention; the patchwork of fields must be fed by small water-channels led off from the upper streams of the Indus, sometimes for hundreds of yards. This means endless, back-breaking work in moving boulders to dam icy water, in continually checking, adjusting and repairing the flimsy clay dykes. Strong winds funnel along the river, and the fine soil blows away and must be replaced. At this height, the growing season is short, and everyman, woman and child is pressed into service. Below Skardu, the Karakorams and Himalayas close in towards the Indus. A deep, relentless, dark grey torrent, it hurls itself through ravines of naked rock. In a brief widening of its valley, the clear, jade-green Gigit River foams down to meet it from the Hindu Kush. These mountains stand across the Indus's path, and the river is forced to turn to the south-west. The Astor joins it from the east. Reinforced, the Indus twists and swirls down a trough between the Hindu Kush to the west, and the huge rampart of Nanga Parbat to the east.