Rivers in Pakistan

Indus River, Kalabagh Bridge, Pakistan

Pakistan’s river system consists of more than 60 small and large rivers. Indus River is the largest and longest among all, after originating in the highlands of Kailas mountains of Tibetan Plateau, it runs from north to south through the entire length of the Pakistan and finally unloads in the Arabian Sea near Karachi. Other famous rivers flowing through Pakistan includes Jhelum River, Chenab River, Ravi River, Sutlej River, Kabul River etc. See Map of Pakistan Rivers below;

All of Pakistan’s major rivers originate in northern highlands of Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindukush mountain ranges and pour one by one into each other and finally into Indus River creating the Indus River Basin, which covers an area of more than 0.6 million square km.

Historically these rivers have been witness to the rise and fall of subsequent civilizations, which flourished along its banks including the famous Indus valley civilization, dating back to 3300 BC. These rivers have always provided ideal conditions for human settlement and growth of politics, arts and culture.

River Swat, under the Chakdara bridge, Malakand

It continues to provide key water resources, especially for large scale agricultural irrigation in the valleys of the north and fertile plains of the south of the country. River waters are also an important source for generating large scale hydro power and industrial and domestic use.

Nevertheless these river waters also provide unique ecological environments, where flourish a great variety of plants and animal species. However the continued demand for rive

River Neelam, near Muzaferabad, Azad Kashmir

r waters on one hand and careless use on the other hand, is putting these important resources and its environment under extreme pressure and its quality and ecosystem is fast degrading.

Many of these rivers originate or pass through Indian territories before entering Pakistan. Since partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, river water use and distribution remained an important issue. In 1960 the Indus Water Treaty was signed with India, according to which all water of the eastern rivers (Sutlej, Bias and Ravi rivers) shall be available for the use of India. On the other hand, the three western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab rivers) shall be available for the use of Pakistan.

To utilize these river resources, over the years a number of reservoirs, dams, barrages and canals have been developed to regulate irrigation water and produce electricity in Pakistan. These include 3 major storage reservoirs, 19 Barrages, 82 Small dams, 57 major canals etc, making one of the largest contiguous irrigation systems in the world. Turbela Dam, Pakistan’s largest, is also believed to be second largest in the world in terms of structural volume with a surface area of 240 square km, and is generating around 3500 megawatts of electricity. Following is the brief list of major rivers of Pakistan;

Indus River, Jehlum River, Chenab River, Ravi River, Sutlej River , Kunhar River, Neelum River, Gilgit River, Hunza River, Shigar River, Shyok River, Kabul River, Swat River, Chitral River, Gomal River, Kurrum River etc.