The Sindh plain comprises mainly the province of Sindh and stretches
between the Punjab plain and the arabian Sea. River Indus flows here
as a single river and the plain comprises a vast fertile tract
stretching westward from the narrow strip of flood plain on the
right bank of River Indus, and a vast expanse of desert stretching
eastward from the left bank. The desert area is dry and desolate
like Cholistan in the Punjab plain. But, the plain area right of
River Indus is green with a vast stretches of vegetation lined
everywhere with avenues of trees.
It is the heart of the Indus Valley Civilization dating back
to 3rd millennium B.C. Thousands of tourists from all over the world
are attracted every year to visit the ruins of Moenjodaro near
Larkana. An elaborate canal system taken from Sukkur Barrage at
Sukkur, Upper Sindh Barrage north of Sukkur at Guddu, and Lower
Sindh Barrage (Ghulam Muhammad Barrage) at Hyderabad, irrigate
together in this area over 10,000,0000 acres and account for about
40 per cent of Pakistan's irrigated land. The fertile area yields
abundant crops of rice, wheat and cotton and contains the bulk of
the population and most of the major commercial and industrial
centres of Sindh such as Hyderabad(795,000), Sukkur (193,000),
Larkana (123,000), Nawabshah (102,000), Shikarpur (88,000) and Dadu
(39,000).
However, its southern part is one of the worst areas of Pakistan for
waterlogging
and salinity. There are many lakes in Sindh,which attract thousands
of migratory birds during the winter season from Central Asia.
Manchhar lake with its highly pulsating expanse of about 200
sq.miles of area is the largest lake. With its foliage of towering
grasses, its meadows of floating lotus, its inhabitants in their
floating habitations, the lake presents an attractive look. Further
south, stretches the Indus Delta, which is a savage waste. An
important feature is the Kinjhar Lake near Thatta, which acts as a
great reservoir for feeding canals in the adjacent areas. During
winter, it is an ideal spot for fishing and duck shooting. South of
the Kinjhar Lake, the surface is broken and littered with abandoned
channels of distributaries, sandy beaches, ridges and mangrove
swamps, all merging into the dead creeks, grate and salt water of
the coast of Rann of Kutch. At the extreme north-western end of the
delta stands Karachi, the largest city and the industrial and
commercial hub of Pakistan. It is also the port for Pakistan and
terminal of Pakistan's railway system and the site of the country's
principal international airport. Climate and Seasons As Pakistan is
located on a great landmass north of Tropic of Cancer, between
latitudes 24 and 37 N, it has a continental type of climate,
characterized by extreme variations of temperature.
The areas closer to the snow-covered northern mountains are cold.
Temperatures on the Balochistan Plateau are comparatively high.
Along the coastal strop, the climate is modified by sea breezes. In
the rest of the country, temperature rises steeply in the summer and
hot winds, called "loo", blow across the plains during the day, dust
storms and thunder storms occasionally lower the temperature. The
diurnal variation in temperature may be as much as 11 to 17 oC.
Winters are cold with minimum temperature of about 4 oC in January.
Rainfall Pakistan experiences a general deficiency of rainfall.