Gomal River

Etymology

The name Gomal is thought to have derived from the river Gomati, which is mentioned in the Rigveda.

Course

Gomal River's headwaters are located in the northern part of Paktika Province, southeast of the city of Ghazni. The springs which form the headwaters of the Gomal's main branch emerge above the fort at Babakarkol in Katawaz, a district in Paktika inhabited by Ghilji Pashtuns from the Kharoti and Sulaimankhel clans. The Gomal's other branch, the "Second Gomal", joins the main channel about 14 miles below its source. The Gomal flows southeast through the eastern Ghilji country before entering Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Within Pakistan, the Gomal River forms the boundary between South Waziristan and Balochistan. Approximately 110 miles from its source, it merges with the Zhob River, its major tributary, near Khajuri Kach.

It is about 100 miles from the Zhob River to the Indus River. The river enters the Gomal Valley in Tank District at a place known as Girdavi, which is inhabited by the Miani Pashtuns. It is mainly here that the water of Gomal is used to cultivate the lands in the Gomal Valley through Zam System (Rod Kohi). The river passes then through the Damaan plain in Kulachi Tehsil and later on through Dera Ismail Khan Tehsil. It joins the Indus River 20 miles south of the city of Dera Ismail Khan.

Gomal Zam Dam

The damming of this river at Khajuri Kachh was envisaged as far back as 1898, even after its administrative approval by the Government of Pakistan in 1963. Work on the Gomal Zam Dam was stopped in 1965; not to restart till 2001 during the rule of Pervez Musharraf. It was opened and inaugurated in 2013.

A street in E-7 sector, Islamabad, is called Gomal Road.

Notes

References

1. (1990). "Environment and Human Response: Selected Essays in Geography". Concept Publishing Company.
2. link. (22 July 2011 ECO Geoscience Database)
3. MacGregor, Charles Metcalfe (1871) ''Central Asia, pt. 2: A Contribution Toward the Better Knowledge of the Topography, Ethnology, Resources, and History of Afghanistan'' Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, [http://worldcat.org/oclc/48604589 OCLC 48604589] reprinted by Barbican Publishing Co., Petersfield, England, in 1995, p. 308
4. MacGregor, pp. 308-9
5. ''Gazetteer of Afghanistan VI'' (Farah), fourth ed., Calcutta, 1908, p. 238
6. The Nation, Lahore, August 28; 2001 and Tareekh i Sarzameen i Gomal {{ISBN. 978-969-37-0270-5; National Book Foundation Islamabad P- 433-34
7. (2013-09-13). "Gomal Zam dam in South Waziristan inaugurated".