pakistan geographical review 1954 - University of the Punjab

REGIONAL BALANCE IN PAKISTAN
BY
Dr.
University
Kazi S. AHMAD,
of the Panjab, Lahore.
Pakistan consists of two great tracts of land on the flanks of the
sub-continent of Indo-Pakistan, commonly known as West Pakistan and
East Pakistan (East Bengal), the former includes the whole of the Indus Plain
with bordering mountains and the plateau of Baluchistan, comprising an
area of 310, 236 sq. miles. almost equal to that o~ Italy. Austria, Hungary and
Belgium put together, while the latter consists mainly of the combined deltas
of the Ganges (Padma), the Brahamputra (Jamuna) and the Meghna and has
an,area of 54, 501 sq. miles, greater than that of Czechoslovakia or Greece.
These two wings present a great diversity of natural environment which
has led to a very different type of human and economic probloms in the
two regions. At the same time both these regions taken together provide a
great balance to our economy and socio-political relations.
Position;
West Pakistan is located between 23.45° and 37° Nand 61° and 74° E
while East Pakistan lies between 21° and 26.3° Nand 88.5° and 92.oE. Thus
while West Pakistan stretches up into much higher latitudes East Pakistan
extends down to lower and warmer latitudes. The effect of the latitudinal
position is intensified by the shape of the two regions and the alignment of
the bordering mountains. In East Pakistan the east-west running Assam
hills in the north at a distance of less than 200 miles from the Bay and the
north-south Lushai-Chittagong hills in the east in the face of the inflowing
winds make this region quite warm and moist with conditions resembling
those of moist tropical regions. In contrast to this, the great elongation,'
north and south, with a belt of high mountains of varying width in the
north and north-west and a narrow front of the lowland on the Arabian Sea
make the land influence to be more prominent in West Pakistan. In other
words while East Pakistan is distinctly oceanic in character, West Pakistan
is markedly continental.