Indus Basin

[3][4] The Indus Basin spans the length of Pakistan, constitutes a majority (65%) of its area and forms part of all provinces and territories of the country: Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Azad Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan, with all except Sindh and Balochistan located entirely within the basin.

In India, the Indus Basin forms less than 14% of the territory but makes up the bulk of the northwestern part of the country including the states and union territories of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Haryana, and Rajasthan, constituting the whole or major portion of all of them except for the last.

[1] A majority of the runoff in the Indus drainage basin comes from meltwater—glacial melt contributing 41% and snowmelt providing 22%—of the Himalaya, Hindu Kush and Karakorum mountains.

On average, a little over half of the entire annual flow is received within the three months from July to September, when monsoonal rains combine with meltwater.

Pakistan contains a majority of the people living in the Indus Basin (around 61% of total) most of whom heavily depend on its rivers for their water needs.