Gomal River

The name Gomal is thought to have derived from the river Gomati, which is mentioned in the Rigveda.{{cite book |last1=Sinha |first1=Ram Nandan Prasad |title=Environment and Human Response: Selected Essays in Geography |date=1990 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |isbn=978-81-7022-243-9 |page=296}}

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.[http://www.ecogeodb.com/ECO_Detail.asp?P=Hydrology&CN=Pakistan&C=PAK "Natural Geography of Pakistan: 5- Hydrology: 5-1- Rivers: Gomal River"]{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722170057/http://www.ecogeodb.com/ECO_Detail.asp?P=Hydrology&CN=Pakistan&C=PAK|date=22 July 2011}} ECO Geoscience Database The Gomal's other branch, the "Second Gomal", joins the main channel about 14 miles below its source.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 The Gomal flows southeast through the eastern Ghilji country before entering Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.MacGregor, pp. 308-9Gazetteer of Afghanistan VI (Farah), fourth ed., Calcutta, 1908, p. 238

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.

File:Construction of Gomal Zam Dam.jpg was inaugurated in 2013.]]

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.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 while it was opened and inaugurated in 2013.

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

• Gomal Zam Dam
• Gomal Pass
• Gomal District
• Gomal University
• Zhob River
• South Waziristan
• Paktika Province

{{reflist}}

• {{citation |first=Shah Mahmoud |last=Hanifi |chapter=Gōmal |title=Encyclopaedia Iranica |chapter-url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gomal-gomal}}

{{Wikisource1911Enc|Gomal}}

• [https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/8698763#map=9/32.0356/69.8199 Gomal River] marked on the OpenStreetMap
• https://web.archive.org/web/20071026033718/http://www.khyber.org/places/2005/TheGomalRiver.shtml

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{{Waters of Pakistan}}

{{Ghazni Province}}

{{Paktika Province}}

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Category:Rivers of Afghanistan

Category:Rivers of Balochistan (Pakistan)

Category:Rivers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Category:Tributaries of the Indus River

Category:International rivers of Asia

Category:Rigvedic rivers

Category:Landforms of Ghazni Province

Category:Landforms of Paktika Province

Category:Rivers of Pakistan