The North-West

West of the Indus, the mountain rim confining South Asia from the central mass turns south-west in a series of parallel ranges. This great bend, the western syntax, commences around Batura (7,785m) above Hunza and continues west and south. These can be described in three sections: the Hindu Kush, Northwest Frontier, and Balochistan Ranges. The Hindu Kush (Hindu Killer) turns south-west from the Pamir and forms the watershed between the Wakhan Corridor and the Chitral Valley. This used to be the great frontier where once the British, Chinese, and Russian imperial interests converged (Keay 1977). The highest peak in the Hindu Kush is Tirich Mir (7,690m) which, according to legend, is guarded by giant frogs (boguzai) and phantom maidens who meet climbers with bowls of milk or blood: drinking the blood leads to certain death. The lower slopes have grasslands and forests and the tree-line is between 3,600 to 4,000m. The economy of Chitral is based on animal husbandry and fruit trees. The astonishing variety of people here includes descendants of Alexander's Greek army to newly arrived Afghan refugees. The inaccessible areas are the home of the Kafirs (infidels) with Indo-Aryan speech and a pagan religion. The range continues west as Koh-i-Baba (Grandfather), the central highlands of Afghanistan along the Kabul-Herat axis. These highlands, including well-wooded Nurestan, are conventionally considered to be part of South Asia. However, their geological structure and xerophytic environment are more in line with the features of West Asia.

The highlands of the North-West Frontier commence first as a watershed between the Gilgit and Yarkhun rivers in the extreme north. These highlands trend south-west as the Mohmand Hill and Malakand Ridge. This mountain area, mostly of gneiss and granite, has been eroded into deep narrow valleys. Local vegetation includes forests of pine and deodar as well as grasslands under the influence of the western precipitation. The people belong to at least a dozen tribes who speak Pushtu and practice transhumance. South of the Khyber Pass (1,067m), the north-east/south-west frontier ridge turns sharply east-west as the Safed Koh, culminating at Sikaram (4,761m). The hills trending south between Safed Koh and Bannu are mostly arid and are composed of bare lime stones and sandstones. Further south, as far as the Gumal Gorge, the border range becomes arcuate and convex to the west. The sinuous strikes of the area between the Kabul and Gomal rivers express the buckling caused by the meeting of the alpine crust movement with the rigid peninsular block. The area is the habitat of ever-warring tribes whose political fragmentation corresponds to the extremely broken terrain (Spate et al. 1972, pp 490-491).

The mountain ranges of Balochistan are knotted together into the complex of the Quetta node where Zargun attains a height of 3,578m. The bifurcating ranges are the Toba Kakkar to the north-east, Sulaiman to the east, and Central Brahui to the south. The Toba Kakkar with Tanishpa (2,964m) demonstrates a slight convexity to the south-east. The Sulaiman Range is a series of north-south trending ridges that finally turn west towards Quetta as the Bugti hills. South of Quetta, the prominent north-south trending ranges are the Central Brahui adjoining the Kalat plateau and the Kirthar further south. The western half of Balochistan is traversed by two ranges with an east-west alignment: the Chagai in the north and Makran in the south. The leading features of the climate are aridity and great variation in temperature. The vegetation, mainly xerophytic, has been much reduced by overgrazing. In drier areas, water is brought down from the adjacent hills to settlements and fields by means of karez (underground channelled irrigation system) tunnels.

Annex A: Ranges of South Asia
S.N.	Range (Subsidiary)	Prominent Peak (Metres)	Location
1.	Arakan Yoma	Pauksa Taong (1,708)	India/ Myanmar
2.	Aravalli Range	Guru Sikhar (1,722)	India
3.	Central Highlands	Pidurutalagala (2,524)	Sri Lanka
4.	Chin Hills	Mt. Victoria (3,053)	India
5.	Ghats, Eastern	Mahandragiri (1,501)	India
6.	Ghats, Western	Anai Mudi (2,695)	India
7.	Himalaya, East	Namcha Barwa (7,756)	China
8.	, , Central	Mt. Everest (8,848)	China/ Nepal
9.	, , West	Nanga Parbat (8,126)	Pakistan
10.	Hindu Kush	Tirich Mir (7,690)	Pakistan
11.	Karakoram Range	K-2 (8,611)	China/ Pakistan
12.	Malakand Range	Falaksir (6,257)	Pakistan
13.	Meghalaya	Shillong Peak (1,961)	India
14.	Mishmi Hills	Kadusam (5,108)	India/ China
15.	Naga Hills	Saramati (3,826)	India/ Myanmar
16.	Patkai Hills	Dalpha Bum (4,578)	India/ Myanmar
17.	Safed Koh	Sikaram (4,761)	Afghanistan/ Pakistan
18.	Satpura-Maikal Range	Dhupgarh (1,350)	India/ China
19.	Toba-Kakar (Makran, Kirthar, Sulaiman)	Zargun (3,578)	Pakistan