Mountains of Pakistan

K2 (8611)

K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth (after Mount Everest). With a peak elevation of 8,611 metres (28,251 ft), K2 is part of the Karakoram range, and is located between the border of province Xinjiang, China and the Northern Areas, Pakistan, the portion of the disputed Kashmir region under the administration of Pakistan.K2 is known as the Savage Mountain due to the difficulty of ascent and the 2nd highest fatality rate among the 'eight thousanders' for those who climb it. For every four people who have reached the summit, one has died trying. Unlike Annapurna, the mountain with highest fatality rate, K2 has never been climbed in winter.

Nanga Parbat (8126 )

Nanga Parbat is the ninth highest mountain on Earth. Nanga Parbat means "Naked Mountain" in English, parbat deriving from the Sanskrit word parvata meaning "mountain, rock", and nanga from the Sanskrit word nagna meaning "naked, bare". Known as the "Killer Mountain," Nanga Parbat was one of the deadliest of the eight-thousanders for climbers in the first half of the twentieth century; since that time it has been less so, though still an extremely serious climb. It is also an immense, dramatic peak that rises far above its surrounding terrain.

Gasherbrum I (K5) (8080 )

Gasherbrum I is the 11th highest peak on Earth, located on the Pakistan-China border. Gasherbrum I is part of the Gasherbrum massif, located in the Karakoram region of the Himalaya. Gasherbrum is often claimed to mean "Shining Wall", presumably a reference to the highly visible face of the neighboring peak Gasherbrum IV; but in fact it comes from "rgasha" (beautiful) + "brum" (mountain) in Balti, hence it actually means "beautiful mountain."

Gasherbrum I was designated K5 (meaning the 5th peak of the Karakoram) by T.G. Montgomery in 1856 when he first spotted the peaks of the Karakoram from more than 200 km away during the Great Trigonometric Survey of India. In 1892, William Martin Conway provided the alternate name, Hidden Peak, in reference to its extreme remoteness.

Gasherbrum I was first climbed on July 5, 1958 by Pete Schoening and Andy Kauffman of an eight-man American expedition led by Nicholas B. Clinch. Richard K. Irvin, Tom Nevison, Tom McCormack, Bob Swift and Gil Roberts were also members of the team.

Broad Peak (K3) (8047)

Broad Peak (originally named K3), known locally as Faichan Kangri, is the 12th highest mountain on Earth. The literal translation of "Broad Peak" to Phalchan Kangri is not accepted among the Baltis.

Broad Peak is part of the Gasherbrum massif on the border of Pakistan-China. It is located about 8 kilometres (5 miles) from K2. Broad Peak was originally named K3 right after the naming of K2 but on closer inspection by a later party, it was discovered that the summit was over 1½ kilometres (1 mile) long, thus "Broad Peak".

Gasherbrum II (K4) (8035)

Gasherbrum II (also known as K4) is the 13th highest mountain on Earth, located on the border of Pakistan-China. Gasherbrum II is the third highest peak of the Gasherbrum massif, located in the Karakoram range of the Himalaya.

The standard route is via the SW ridge as it is relatively free of objective hazards such as ice falls and avalanches. A typical expedition lasts 7 to 8 weeks.

Founder of the nation.......Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Born: 25 December 1876
Birthplace: Karachi, India (now Pakistan)

Died: 11 September 1948
Best Known As: Founder of Pakistan

Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a lawyer and politician who fought for the cause of India's independence from britain, then moved on to found a Muslim state in Pakistan in 1947. Jinnah entered politics in India in 1905 and by 1917 his charisma and diplomacy had made him a national leader and the most visible supporter of Hindu-Muslim unity. His strong belief in gradual and peaceful change was in contrast to the civil disobedience strategies of Mohandas Gandhi, and in the '20s Jinnah broke from the Indian National Congress to focus on an independent Muslim state. In 1940 he demanded a separate nation in Pakistan and by 1947 he somehow managed to get it from the British and India. Through civil wars, a rotten economy and millions of displaced refugees, Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah ("great leader") pretty much built a country from scratch.

Jinnah was educated at the Sind Madrassa and Lincoln's Inn, London, where he qualified as a barrister. The future founder of Pakistan was first known as the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity. Indeed Jinnah only resigned from Congress in 1920 when he became disillusioned with the violence and communal passions unleashed by Gandhi's Congress-Khilafat civil disobedience campaigns. The division widened in 1928 when the Nehru Report rejected Jinnah's "fourteen points" constitutional proposals.

During 1921 – 35, Jinnah's political career was in the doldrums. He returned to India in October 1935 after a five-year British exile to reorganize the Muslim League. It nevertheless lost heavily in the 1937 provincial elections. The Congress ministries' insensitivity to Muslim demands rescued it from oblivion, although Jinnah's leadership was equally crucial to its dramatic transformation. From 1940 onwards, he propounded the two-nation theory justification for Pakistan and increasingly embodied the aspirations of the Indian Muslim community which acclaimed him as the Quaid-i-Azam, the great leader. Within the fractious politics of the Muslim League, he exerted an unquestioned moral authority which underpinned his formal power as President. Simultaneously he deployed his forensic skills in the complex constitutional negotiations with the British and the Congress.

Through the 1940s, Jinnah suffered from tuberculosis; only his sister and a few others close to him were aware of his condition. In 1948, Jinnah's health began to falter, hindered further by the heavy workload that had fallen upon him following Pakistan's independence from British Rule. Attempting to recuperate, he spent many months at his official retreat in Ziarat. According to his sister, he suffered a hemorrhage on September 1, 1948; doctors said the altitude was not good for him and that he should be taken to Karachi. Jinnah agreed, but he died in Quetta on September 11, 1948 (just over a year after independence) from a combination of tuberculosis and lung cancer.

Thar Coal Reserve

1. Location and Accessibility

Thar coalfield is approximately located between Latitudes 24¼15»N and 25¼45»N and Longitudes 69¼ 45»E and 70¼ 45»E in the southern part of Sindh Province in Pakistan opo-sheet Nos. 40 L/2,5 and 6. Based on available infrastructure and favourable geology, the Geological Survey of Pakistan selected four blocks near Islamkot for exploration and assessment of coal resources. The blocks with names, area and coordinates are given in Table-1. The area is accessible by a 410 kilometers metalled road form Karachi up to Islamkot via Hyderabad-Mirpur Khas- Naukot and Thatta-Badin-Mithi-Islamkot. Two more blocks were also explored by the Government of Sindh. A road network connecting all the major towns with Thar Coalfield have been developed. The rail link from Hyderabad is up to Naukot, which is about 100 kilometers from Islamkot.

2. Relief, Topography and Climate

Thar coalfield is a part of the Thar Desert of Pakistan and is the 9th largest desert of the world. It is bounded in the north, east and south by India, in the west by flood plains of the Indus River. The terrain is sandy and rough with sand dunes forming the topography. The relief in the area varies between near sea level to more than 150 meters AMSL. The climate is essentially that of an arid to semi arid region with scorching hot summers and relatively cold winters. It is one of the most densely populated deserts of the world with over 91 thousand inhabitants. The livelihood of the population is dependent on agriculture and livestock.

3. Water Resources

The area is a part of the desert where precipitation is very little with a high rate of evaporation. As such, limited water resources are of great significance.

a). Surface Water
The water is scanty and found in a few small ÒtaraisÓ and artificially dug depressions where rain water collects. These depressions generally consist of silty clay and caliche material.

b). Groundwater
The hydro-geological studies and drill hole geology shows the presence of three possible aquifer zones at varying depths: (i) above the coal zone (ii) within the coal zone and (iii) below the coal zone.

4. Coal

The coal beds of variable thickness ranging from 0.20 Ð 22.81 meters are developed. The maximum number of coal seams found in some of the drill holes is 20. The cumulative thickness of the coal beds range from 0.2 to 36 meters. Claystone invariabley forms the roof and the floor rock of the coal beds. The coal is brownish black, black and grayish black in colour. It is poorly to well cleared and compact. The quality of coal is better where percentage of clay is nominal.


5. Reserves

As a result of wide spread drilling over an area of 9000 km2, a total of 175 billion tons of coal resource potential has been assessed.

source www.sindhmines.gov.pk/

Major Crops of Pakistan

Wheat

Pakistan is the world’s sixth largest producer of wheat, according to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, with an annual production of over 21 million metric tonnes (MT). The US Department of Agriculture estimates Pakistan’s rice consumption to be over 2.5 million MT. With exports of about the same quantity, Pakistan is capable of feeding its own population. Faced with such positive facts, we all wonder about the exact reasons for the prevailing wheat crises, which has existed in varied degrees for over a year now.

Before delving into the crisis, it is important to present an overview of the prevailing Government wheat policy (also known as Food Security policy).

The Government is obliged under the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for the provision of essential food at affordable prices to the population throughout the country (please hold back that snicker and eye-roll).

Rice

Rice occupies 2.5 million hectare that is 10.9% of the total cultivated area with production of 5.1 million tonnes of milled rice (Table I). In Pakistan’s agrarian economy rice plays multifarious roles. Firstly, it is second staple food and contributes more than 2 million tonnes to our national food requirement. Secondly, rice industry is an important source of employment and income for rural people. Thirdly, it contributes in the country’s foreign exchange exchequer. For instance, during 1999-2000 about 2 million tonnes rice of worth 26 billion rupees was exported. The barter trade on Afghanistan border was in addition to this export. The significance of this commodity in our economy is evident from the above facts. Therefore, it is imperative to focus on the efforts needed to further improve its competitiveness in the international market.

In Pakistan, rice is grown under diverse climatic and geographic conditions. Basmati predominates in traditional rice tracts of Punjab (zone 2). In Swat (zone 1) at high altitude mountain valleys, temperate Japonica rices are grown. In the South of NWFP, Sindh and Balochistan (zones 3 and 4) IRRI type long grain heat tolerant tropical rices are grown.


Cotton

Cotton is a natural fiber that finds use in many products. These range from clothing to home furnishings to medical products. As a result, cotton is always in demand though its use is subject to the strengths and weaknesses of the overall economy. It accounts for 8.2 percent of the value added in agriculture and about 2 percent to GDP.

Pakistan is the fifth largest producer of cotton in the world, the third largest exporter of raw cotton, the fourth largest consumer of cotton, and the largest exporter of cotton yarn. 1.3 million farmers (out of a total of 5 million) cultivate cotton over 3 million hectares, covering 15 per cent of the cultivable area in the country. Cotton and cotton products contribute about 10 per cent to GDP and 55 per cent to the foreign exchange earnings of the country. Taken as a whole, between 30 and 40 per cent of the cotton ends up as domestic consumption of final products. The remaining is exported as raw cotton, yarn, cloth, and garments.

Cotton production supports Pakistan’s largest industrial sector, comprising some 400 textile mills, 7 million spindles, 27,000 looms in the mill sector (including 15,000 shuttle less looms), over 250,000 looms in the non-mill sector, 700 knitwear units, 4,000 garment units (with 200,000 sewing machines), 650 dyeing and finishing units (with finishing capacity of 1,150 million square meters per year), nearly 1,000 ginneries, 300 oil expellers, and 15,000 to 20,000 indigenous, small scale oil expellers (kohlus). It is by any measure Pakistan’s most important economic sector. Not surprisingly, government policy has generally been used to maintain a
stable and often relatively low domestic price of cotton, especially since 1986-87 through the imposition of export duties, in order to support domestic industry.

Sugarcane

Sugarcane is an important industrial and cash crop in Pakistan and in many countries of the world. It is grown in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world in a range of climates from hot dry environment near sea level to cool and moist environment at higher elevations. Besides sugar production, sugarcane produces numerous valuable byproducts like, alcohol used by pharmaceutical industry, ethanol used as a fuel, bagasse used for paper, and chip board manufacturing and press mud used as a rich source of organic matter and nutrients for crop production.

Pakistan occupies an important position in cane producing countries of the world. It ranks at the fifth position in cane acreage and production and almost 15th position in sugar production. A comparison of cane yield and sugar recovery in some cane growing countries is given in the table below.

Cities Of Pakistan

Karachi

Karachi, city (1998 pop. 9,269,265), largest city and former capital of Pakistan, SE Pakistan, on the Arabian Sea near the Indus River delta. The capital of Sind prov., it is Pakistan's chief seaport and industrial centre, a transportation, commercial, and financial hub, and a military headquarters. It has a large automobile assembly plant, an oil refinery, a steel mill, shipbuilding, railroad yards, jute and textile factories, printing and publishing plants, media and entertainment industries, food processing plants, and chemical and engineering works. Karachi airport is one of the busiest in Asia. Karachi has a university and other educational institutions; the national museum, with a fine archaeological collection; and the tomb of Muhammad Ali Jinnah , founder of Pakistan.

An old settlement, Karachi was developed as a port and trading centre by Hindu merchants in the early 18th cent. In 1843 it passed to the British, who made it the seat of the Sind government. Steady improvements in harbour facilities made Karachi a leading Indian port by the late 19th cent., while agricultural development of the hinterland gave it a large export trade. Karachi served as Pakistan's capital from 1947, when the country gained independence, until 1959, when Rawalpindi became the interim capital pending completion of Islamabad.




Lahore

Lahore, city (1998 pop. 5,063,499), capital of Punjab prov., E central Pakistan, on the Ravi River. It is the second largest city of Pakistan. A railway and air transport centre near the Indo-Pakistani border, Lahore is a banking and commercial city that markets the products of the surrounding fertile agricultural area. The city is home to c.20% of Pakistan's industrial producers; manufactures include textiles, rubber, iron, and steel. Handicrafts, especially gold and silver work, also flourish. According to Hindu legend, Lahore was founded by Loh, or Lava, son of Rama, the hero of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana. In 1036 it was conquered from a Brahman dynasty by the Muslim Turkish Ghaznavids, who made it the capital of their empire in 1106. It passed in 1186 to the Ghori sultans, also from Afghanistan. India's first Muslim emperor, Kutb-ud-din Aibak, was crowned in Lahore in 1206 and is buried there. The city, which suffered Mongol raids in the 13th and 14th cent., entered the period of its greatest glory in the 16th cent., when it became one of the capitals of the Mughal empire. Lahore declined after the reign of Aurangzeb; it was annexed in 1767 by the Sikhs, who, under Ranjit Singh, made it their capital. It passed to the British in 1849.

When Pakistan won independence in 1947, Lahore became the capital of its West Punjab; from 1955 to 1970 it was the capital of the entire province of West Pakistan, composed of all provinces in the western wing; and upon the province's dissolution it became the capital of Punjab prov. The architectural remains of the Mughal period, although imperfectly preserved, are among the most splendid of Mughal art . Especially notable are the palace and mausoleum of Emperor Jahangir and the Shalimar gardens, just outside the city; only three sections of the gardens remain of the original seven that had symbolized the divisions of the Islamic paradise. Other landmarks include the Pearl and Golden mosques, the tomb of Ranjit Singh, and the Wazir Khan mosque, which contains the finest known examples of khashi, or inlaid pottery. Lahore's museum of Indian antiquities, which figures in Rudyard Kipling's Kim, is among the most noted in the East. The city's educational facilities include the Univ. of the Punjab (1882), Pakistan's oldest university; several affiliated colleges; and a university of engineering and technology. Lahore also has an atomic research institute.

Islamabad

Islamabad, city (1998 pop. 524,500), capital of Pakistan, NE Pakistan, just NE of Rawalpindi, the former interim capital. Construction of Islamabad [city of Islam] as the capital, replacing Karachi, began in 1960. There are light manufacturing industries. Points of interest include Pakistan House, the home of the president; the national assembly building; the National Univ.; the Grand National Mosque; and the botanical gardens. The nearby Murree Hills serve as a summer resort as well as summer headquarters for many diplomatic missions. Also near the city are the historical ruins of Taxila.

Quetta

Quetta, city (1998 pop. 560,307), capital of Baluchistan prov., W central Pakistan, at an altitude of c.5,500 ft (1,675 m), ringed by mountains. Deriving its name from the Pashto word kawkot [fort], it commands the entrance through the strategic Bolan Pass into Afghanistan and is a trade centre for Afghanistan, Iran, and much of central Asia. The city's cottage industries produce textiles, foodstuffs, and carpets.

The city was occupied (1876) by the British following the Second Afghan War, and it gained prominence as the seat of British resident Sir Robert Sandeman. It became a strongly garrisoned British military station. Much of the present city was rebuilt after a disastrous earthquake in 1935. Quetta has a military staff college (est. 1907) and a geophysical observatory. Like many major Pakistani border cities, Quetta was a magnet for some of the millions of Afghan refugees who fled after the 1979 Soviet invasion; the refugees who remain have swelled the local population to an estimated 2 million people. As a result of war and ongoing fighting in Afghanistan, Quetta has become a centre for arms and drug smuggling and a base for ousted Taliban leaders.

Peshawar

Peshawar, city (1998 pop. 988,005), capital of the North-West Frontier Province, NW Pakistan. A road and rail centre near the famed Khyber Pass, Peshawar is an important military and communications centre, the historical terminus of the Grand Trunk Road of India, and the major depot for trade with Afghanistan. Local handicrafts and farm produce from the surrounding fertile agricultural valley are sold in the many bazaars of the city. Industries include food processing and the manufacture of steel, cigarettes, firearms, textiles, pharmaceuticals, furniture, and paper.

The city, once called Purushapura, was the capital of the ancient Greco-Buddhist centre of Gandhara . The Kushan leader Kanishka (2d cent. AD) made it his capital. For centuries, it was the target of successive Afghan, Persian, and Mongol invaders. It was named Peshawar [frontier town] by the Mughal emperor Akbar . A favourite residence (18th cent.) of the Afghan Durrani rulers, it was taken by the Sikhs (early 19th cent.), from whom the British captured it in 1848. It became an important outpost of British India and was a base for British military operations against Pathan tribes. During the decade-long Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979-89) it was the centre of relief operations for Afghan refugees and the command centre of the coalition of guerrilla groups intent on expelling the Soviet forces from Afghanistan.

Peshawar has a museum containing Buddhist relics and Gandhara sculpture, a 2d-century Buddhist stupa bearing an inscription by Kanishka, and a university (1950) with several affiliated colleges. The Bala Hisar fort, still used as military headquarters in the early 21st century, dates to at least the 15th century.

Country Profile

The Islamic republic of Pakistan emerged as an independent sovereign state on 14th August 1947, as a result of the division of former British India. It lies between 23-35 to 37- 05 north latitude and 60-50 to 77- 50 east longitude touching the Hindukush Mountains in the north and extending from the Pamirs to the Arabian Sea.
Pakistan covers 796,095 sq.km with a population of 132.35 million according to population census 1998. It is divided into four provinces:

• Sindh,
• Punjab,
• North West Frontier Province
• Balochistan.

Climatically, Pakistan enjoys a considerable measure of variety. North and north western high mountainous ranges are extremely cold in winter while the summer months of April to September are very pleasant.

The country has an agricultural economy with a network of canals irrigating a major part of its cultivated land. Wheat, cotton, rice, millet and sugar cane are the major crops. Among fruits: mangos, oranges, bananas and apples are grown in abundance in different parts of the country. The main natural resources are natural gas, coal, salt and iron. The country has an expanding industry. Cotton, Textiles, sugar, cement, and chemicals play an important role in its economy.
The country comprises of a vast area that was the great center of ancient civilizations of the world. Its historical sites beginning with stone-age to Twentieth Century A.D are a mirror of the life of its people who were, by nature, simple, virile, hospitable and hard working. Ancient sites excavated in Taxila, Harappa, and Moenjodaro speak volumes for Pakistan’s rich cultural background dating back to 3,000 B.C.

courtesy www.pakistan.gov.pk