Indus Queen

The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent. It is bounded by the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang to the northeast and the Tibet Autonomous Region to the east (both parts of China), by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south, by Pakistan to the west, and by Afghanistan to the northwest. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, ... The southern and southeastern portions constitute the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian- and Pakistani-administered portions are divided by a "line of control" agreed to in 1972, although neither country recognizes it as an international boundary. In addition, China became active in the eastern area of Kashmir in the 1950s and since 1962 has controlled the northeastern part of Ladakh (the easternmost portion of the region)." bends sharply to the left after the Nanga Parbat massif, and flows south-by-southwest through Pakistan, before emptying into the Arabian Sea near the port city of Karachi.

The river has a total drainage area of circa . Its estimated annual flow is around , making it one of the 50 largest rivers in the world in terms of average annual flow. Its left-bank tributary in Ladakh is the Zanskar River, and its left-bank tributary in the plains is the Panjnad River which is formed by the successive confluences of the five Punjab rivers, namely the Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej rivers. Its principal right-bank tributaries are the Shyok, Gilgit, Kabul, Kurram, and Gomal rivers. Beginning in a mountain spring and fed with glaciers and rivers in the Himalayan, Karakoram, and Hindu Kush ranges, the river supports the ecosystems of temperate forests, plains, and arid countryside.

The northern part of the Indus Valley, with its tributaries, forms the Punjab region of South Asia, while the lower course of the river ends in a large delta in the southern Sindh province of Pakistan. The river has historically been important to many cultures of the region. The 3rd millennium BC saw the rise of Indus Valley civilisation, a major urban civilization of the Bronze Age. During the 2nd millennium BC, the Punjab region was mentioned in the Rigveda hymns as ''Sapta Sindhu'' and in the Avesta religious texts as ''Saptha Hindu'' (both terms meaning " seven rivers"). Early historical kingdoms that arose in the Indus Valley include Gandhāra, and the Ror dynasty of Sauvīra. The Indus River came into the knowledge of the Western world early in the classical period, when King Darius of Persia sent his Greek subject Scylax of Caryanda to explore the river, c. 515 BC.

Etymology and names

This river was known to the ancient Indians in Sanskrit as ''Sindhu'' and the Persians as ''Hindu'' which was regarded by both of them as "the border river". The variation between the two names is explained by the Old Iranian sound change ''*s'' > ''h'', which occurred between 850 and 600 BCE according to Asko Parpola. From the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the name passed to the Greeks as ''Indós'' (Ἰνδός). It was adopted by the Romans as ''Indus''. The name India is derived from Indus. The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are commonly called "Indians" or "Indios", a misnaming that dates to Christopher Columbus's erroneous belief that he had landed near India in 1492, when he actually landed in the Americas.

In Sindhi, this river is also known as ''Mehran''. The Ladakhis and Tibetans call it ''Senge Tsangpo'' (སེང་གེ་གཙང་པོ།), Baltis call it ''Gemtsuh'' and ''Tsuh-Fo'', Pashtuns call it ''Nilab'', ''Sher Darya'' and ''Abbasin'', while Sindhis call it ''Purali'' and ''Samundar''.

The modern name in Urdu'', ''Salmophasia'', ''Securicula'' and ''Systomus''), true loaches (''Botia'' and ''Lepidocephalus''), stone loaches (''Acanthocobitis'' and ''Nemacheilus''), ailiid catfish (''Clupisoma''), bagridae catfish (''Batasio'', ''Mystus'', ''Rita'' and ''Sperata''), airsac catfish (''Heteropneustes''), schilbid catfish (''Eutropiichthys''), silurid catfish (''Ompok'' and ''Wallago''), sisorid catfish (''Bagarius'', ''Gagata'', ''Glyptothorax'' and ''Sisor''), gouramis (''Trichogaster''), nandid leaffish (''Nandus''), snakeheads (''Channa''), spiny eel (''Macrognathus'' and ''Mastacembelus''), knifefish (''Notopterus''), glassfish (''Chanda'' and ''Parambassis''), clupeids ('' Gudusia''), needlefish (''Xenentodon'') and gobies (''Glossogobius''), as well as a few introduced species. As the altitude further declines the Indus basin becomes overall quite slow-flowing as it passes through the Punjab Plain. Major carp become common, and chameleonfish ('' Badis''), mullet (''Sicamugil'') and swamp eel (''Monopterus'') appear. In some upland lakes and tributaries of the Punjab region snowtrout and mahseer are still common, but once the Indus basin reaches its lower plain the former group is entirely absent and the latter are rare. Many of the species of the middle sections of the Indus basin are also present in the lower. Notable examples of genera that are present in the lower plain but generally not elsewhere in the Indus River basin are the ''Aphanius'' pupfish, ''Aplocheilus'' killifish, palla fish (''Tenualosa ilisha''), catla (''Labeo catla''), rohu (''Labeo rohita'') and ''Cirrhinus mrigala''. The lowermost part of the river and its delta are home to freshwater fish, but also a number of brackish and marine species. This includes pomfret and prawns. The large delta has been recognized by conservationists as an important ecological region. Here, the river turns into many marshes, streams and creeks and meets the sea at shallow levels.

Palla fish (''Tenualosa ilisha'') of the river is a delicacy for people living along the river. The population of fish in the river is moderately high, with Sukkur, Thatta, and Kotri being the major fishing centres – all in the lower Sindh course. As a result, damming and irrigation has made fish farming an important economic activity.

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 since rainfall is meagre in the lower Indus valley. Irrigation canals were first built by the people of the Indus Valley civilisation, 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 long – irrigating Sukkur, Jacobabad, Larkana and Kalat. The Sukkur Barrage serves over .

After Pakistan came into existence, a water control treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 guaranteed that Pakistan would receive water from the Indus River and its two tributaries the Jhelum River & the Chenab River independently of upstream control by India.

The 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. 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 long and high, with an long reservoir. It supports the Chashma Barrage near Dera Ismail Khan for irrigation use and flood control and the Taunsa Barrage which also produces 100,000 kilowatts of electricity. The Kotri Barrage near Hyderabad is long and provides additional water supplies for Karachi. The extensive linking of tributaries with the Indus has helped spread water resources to the valley of Peshawar, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 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 centers.

People

Indus river is sacred to Hindus. Sindhu Darshan Festival is held on every Guru Purnima on the banks of Indus.

The ethnicities of the Indus Valley (Pakistan and Northwest India) have a greater amount of ANI (or West Eurasian) admixture than other South Asians, including inputs from Western Steppe Herders, with evidence of more sustained and multi-layered migrations from the west.

Modern issues

Indus delta

Originally, the delta used to receive almost all of the water from the Indus river, which has an annual flow of approximately , and is accompanied by of silt. Since the 1940s, dams, barrages and irrigation works have been constructed on the river. The Indus Basin Irrigation System is the "largest contiguous irrigation system developed over the past 140 years" anywhere in the world. This has reduced the flow of water and by 2018, the average annual flow of water below the Kotri barrage was , and annual amount of silt discharged was estimated at . As a result, the 2010 Pakistan floods were considered "good news" for the ecosystem and population of the river delta as they brought much needed fresh water. Any further utilization of the river basin water is not economically feasible.

Vegetation and wildlife of the Indus delta are threatened by the reduced inflow of fresh water, along with extensive deforestation, industrial pollution and global warming. Damming has also isolated the delta population of Indus river dolphins from those further upstream.

Large-scale diversion of the river's water for irrigation has raised far-reaching issues. Sediment clogging from poor maintenance of canals has affected agricultural production and vegetation on numerous occasions. Irrigation itself is increasing soil salinization, reducing crop yields and in some cases rendering farmland useless for cultivation.

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 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 of the Indus River. Once they vanish, water supplies in Pakistan will be in peril.

"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 here 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."

U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke said, shortly before his death in 2010, that he believed that falling water levels in the Indus River "could very well precipitate World War III."

Pollution

Over the years factories on the banks of the Indus River have increased levels of water pollution in the river and the atmosphere around it. High levels of pollutants in the river have led to the deaths of endangered Indus river dolphin. The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency has ordered polluting factories around the river to shut down under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997. Death of the Indus river dolphin has also been attributed to fishermen using poison to kill fish and scooping them up. As a result, the government banned fishing from Guddu Barrage to Sukkur.

The Indus is second among a group of ten rivers responsible for about 90% of all the plastic that reaches the oceans. The Yangtze is the only river contributing more plastic.

2010 floods

Frequently, Indus river is prone to moderate to severe flooding. In July 2010, following abnormally heavy monsoon rains, the Indus River rose above its banks and started flooding. The rain continued for the next two months, devastating large areas of Pakistan. In Sindh, the Indus burst its banks near Sukkur on 8 August, submerging the village of Mor Khan Jatoi. In early August, the heaviest flooding moved southward along the Indus River from severely affected northern regions toward western Punjab, where at least of cropland was destroyed, and the southern province of Sindh. , over two thousand people had died and over a million homes had been destroyed since the flooding began.

2011 floods

The 2011 Sindh floods began during the Pakistani monsoon season in mid-August 2011, resulting from heavy monsoon rains in Sindh, eastern Balochistan, and southern Punjab. The floods caused considerable damage; an estimated 434 civilians were killed, with 5.3 million people and 1,524,773 homes affected. Sindh is a fertile region and often called the "breadbasket" of the country; the damage and toll of the floods on the local agrarian economy was said to be extensive. At least of arable land were inundated. The flooding followed the previous year's floods, which devastated a large part of the country. Unprecedented torrential monsoon rains caused severe flooding in 16 districts of Sindh.Government of Pakistan Pakmet.com.pk Retrieved on 19 September 2011

Barrages, bridges, levees and dams

In Pakistan currently there are six barrages on the Indus: Guddu Barrage, Sukkur Barrage, Kotri Barrage (also called Ghulam Muhammad barrage), Taunsa Barrage and Jinnah Barrage. Another new barrage called "Sindh Barrage" is planned as a terminal barrage on the Indus River. There are some bridges on river Indus, such as, Dadu Moro Bridge, Larkana Khairpur Indus River Bridge, Thatta-Sujawal bridge, Jhirk-Mula Katiar bridge and recently planned Kandhkot-Ghotki bridge.

The entire left bank of Indus river in Sind province is protected from river flooding by constructing around 600 km long levees. The right bank side is also leveed from Guddu barrage to Lake Manchar. In response to the levees construction, the river has been aggrading rapidly over the last 20 years leading to breaches upstream of barrages and inundation of large areas.

Tarbela Dam in Pakistan is constructed on the Indus River, while the controversial Kalabagh dam is also being constructed on Indus river. Pakistan is also building Munda Dam.

Gallery

File:River Indus at Kotri Barrage Jamshoro.webm, Video of River Indus at Kotri Barrage, Sindh, Pakistan.
File:Rohri.jpg, Lansdowne Bridge and Ayub Bridge connecting the cities of Rohri and Sukkur in Sindh, Pakistan.
File:Frozen Indus, Near Nyoma.jpg, Frozen Indus, Near Nyoma
File:Indus at Skardu (1).jpg, Indus at Skardu
File:Indus River Dera Ismail Khan.jpg, Indus near Dera Ismail Khan

See also

*Baglihar Dam
*Geology of the Himalayas
*Ghaggar-Hakra River
*HMS Indus
*Indus River Delta
*Indus Sagar Doab
*Indus Valley Civilisation
*Indus Waters Treaty
*List of rivers of Pakistan
*Rigvedic rivers
*Rivers of Jammu and Kashmir
*Sarasvati River
*Sindhology
*Sindhu Darshan Festival
*Sindhu Pushkaram

Explanatory notes

Citations

General and cited references

* Albinia, Alice. (2008) ''Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River''. First American Edition (20101) W. W. Norton & Company, New York. .
* Alexander Burnes, ''A voyage on the Indus'', London, 1973
* Philippe Fabry, ''Wandering with the Indus'', with Yusuf Shahid (text) Lahore, 1995
* Jean Fairley, ''The Lion River: The Indus'', London, 1975
*
* D. Murphy, ''Where the Indus is Young'', London, 1977
* Samina Quraeshi, ''Legacy of the Indus'', New York, 1974
* Schomberg, ''Between Oxus and Indus'', London, 1935
* Francine Tissot, ''Les Arts anciens du Pakistan et de l'Afghanistan'', Paris, 1987
* Sir M. Wheeler, ''Civilisations of the Indus Valley and Beyond'', London, 1966
* World Atlas, Millennium Edition, p. 265.

External links

* The origins of Indus:
**
**
Northern Areas Development Gateway
* - covered parts of the Indus River
Indus River watershed map (World Resources Institute)

*
*

{{Authority control

History of Sindh
Indus Valley civilisation
International rivers of Asia
Rigvedic rivers
Rivers of China
Rivers of Gilgit-Baltistan
Rivers of India
Rivers of Jammu and Kashmir
Rivers of Pakistan
Rivers of Sindh
Rivers of Tibet
Sacred rivers
Rivers in Buddhism
Rivers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Rivers of Punjab (Pakistan)