pakistan geographical review 1954 - University of the Punjab

Vicinal
Relations.
The geographical position of the two regions makes the foreign policy
of Pakistan and her international relations very broad based. West Pakistan
lies on the eastern end of the bloc of the Muslim countries which stretches
upto the Atlantic. As such, she has an abiding interest in the Near and
Middle Eastern and Mediterranean problems. Common frontiers with
Russia and China through Kashmir give an added importance to this wing,
even though the contact is not effective owing to mountain ramparts. On
account of its Eastern wing, 'Pakistan takes interest in the policies of the
Far-East and extends her relations across the Phillippines and Indonesia to
Australia
Relief.
and Newzeland.
West Pakistan is diversified in relief. About half the area consists of
a plain of varying fertility in the provinces of Punjab, Sind and parts of
Baluchistan and N. W.F.P. Of the remaining half there is a wide belt of
mountain region in the north and north-west in Kashmir and N. W. F.P.
These latter mountains fan out westward on the plateau in the interior of
Baluchistan. They present a varied landscape according to their position and
the amount of rainfall, wet and forest clad along the border of the plains in
the north
and dry in the far north and in the west.
In contrast, East Bengal, excluding a small area of about 7,500 sq.
miles in the Chittagong Hill Tract and the district in the south-east, consists of
a humid fertile plain. By far the larger part of it consists of the delta and
the flood plains of numerous rivers over which fertile silt is renewed every
year. Regular annual renewal of silt over such a large area makes it
agriculturally so productive without expenses on manures. There is no area
of equal size in the world where nature
Hydrography.
has been so bountiful.
West Pakistan is a land of a few big rivers which are spread out in the
northern mountains and the upper part of the Punjab plains but converge into a
single stream in the lower part of the plain. In the rest of the country the
rivers are small, few and distantly spaced, and carry very uneven and
unreliable supplies of water. There are numerous 'nullahs' in the sub-montane
region which are suddenly swollen after rains and quickly get dry when the
rain stops. During the rainy monsoon season some of the principal rivers,
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