WESTERN

MOUNTAINS
 GENERAL FACTS
a) The Western Mountains consist of the following mountain ranges:
 Safed Koh ranges (located in East West direction, South of River Kabul. They are called Safed Koh
because their peaks are often covered with snow.
 Waziristan hills (located between the Kurram and Gomal Rivers. They lie in a highly mineralized zone)
 Suleiman ranges (located towards the west of the River Indus)
 Kirthar ranges (West of River Indus in Sindh)

b)Koh-e-Safed and Waziristan hills cover large part of KPK and are on the western side of the province.
Suleiman and Kirthar ranges cover eastern part of Baluchistan.
c)Peaks: Sikeram is the highest peak of Koh-e-Safed and Takht-i-Sulaiman is the highest peak of the
Suleiman Range.
d)Passes: Gomal, Tochi, Kurram, Khyber and Bolan pass
 PHYSICAL FEATURES
 Mountains have steep sided peaks and most of the peaks are conical and cliff shaped.
 Not as high as the Northern mountains
 Dry mountains with patches of forests
 Barren, rocky or rugged mountains e.g. Waziristan, Suleiman and Kirthar
 No glaciers or snowfields in these mountains.
 DRAINAGE OF WESTERN MOUNTAINS

 River Kabul is the largest river of the Western Mountains. It joins River Indus at Attock
 Other important rivers are Kurram, Tochi and Gomal
 These rivers have narrow channels while flowing through the mountains, but water flows swiftly
and makes rapids.
 Rivers are fed by rain and melting of snow
 ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES AND LIFESTYLE
 Nomadic lifestyle is common on rugged landscape and sheep and goat rearing is the main
occupation.
 The climate and the relief do not support farming in the mountains and canal irrigation is not
possible in large areas because of mountainous terrain and rugged landscape.
 There are plentiful resources e.g. marble etc. in the Western mountains but due to the difficulty of
extracting them, they have not been explored and exploited.
 Poor means of transport and communication
 The cost of supplying infrastructure – water supply, transport facilities, electricity, telephone lines
etc. is much higher than in the plains. As a consequence developmental projects e.g. mining
activities, industries, educational facilities, have not been established.