Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed - PDMA

SECTION-1
TERRAIN AND CLIMIATE
24. Pakistan is the 36 th largest country with unique geographic location,
situated on 30°00'N & 70°00'E, ‘and a profound blend of landscapes called ‘a
junction point of history and pivot of geography’, varying from plains to deserts,
forests, hills, and plateaus ranging from the coastal areas of the Arabian Sea in
the south, to the confluence of the Karakoram, Himalayas and the Hindu Kush
mountain Ranges in the north. More than one-half of the summits are over 4,500
meters, and more than fifty peaks reach above 6,500 meters; highest are Nanga
Parbat and K2 (8,613.3 meters). Our geology overlaps both with the Indian and
the Eurasian tectonic plates that cover most Pakistan. It spreads over 880,940
km 2 (340,132.8 sq miles); 97.13% is land and 2.87 % is under water. Its northern
mountains are in proximity of Mackinder's Heartland, whereas southern coastline
is washing Spemann’s Rim land. The Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and
Kashmir lie mainly “along the edge of the Indian plate prone to violent
earthquakes as the two tectonic plates often collide. It is prone to natural
disasters’, is also well established: The October 2005 earthquake, and July-
August 2010 floods wrought unprecedented havoc and loss on the fledgling
economy, particularly its most vulnerable groups in the least developed areas.
25. “Pakistan has 6,975 km of international and some disputed borders:
Afghanistan (2,643 km) to the north-west that include the Khyber Pass and Bolan
Pass, the traditional migration routes between Central Eurasia and South Asia,
Iran (912 km) is in the west, the People's Republic of China (510 km) is on our
north and India (2,910 km) to the east bordering most controversial boundaries.
The climate varies from tropical to temperate. Arid conditions exist in the coastal
south, characterized by a monsoon season and a dry season with lesser rainfall,
while abundant rainfall is received in the Punjab, with wide variations between
extremes of temperature. Rainfall varies from as little as 10 to 150 inches/year,
also, with extreme location based variations; coastal belt along the Arabian Sea
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