>Danre98 at 18:55, 13 September 2021

2021-09-13T18:55:57Z

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{{Short description|River in Afghanistan and Pakistan}}
{{Infobox river
| name = Gomal
| name_native =
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| name_etymology =

| image = File:Niazi.JPG
| image_size =
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| map = Gomal (rivière).png
| map_size = 280px
| map_caption = Course of the Gomal
| pushpin_map =
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| subdivision_type1 = Countries
| subdivision_name1 = [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]]
| subdivision_type2 = Provinces
| subdivision_name2 = {{hlist|[[Paktika Province|Paktika]]|[[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan]]|[[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]]}}
| subdivision_type3 =
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| length = {{convert|400|km|mi|abbr=on}}
| width_min =
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| source1 =
| source1_location = [[Katawaz]] Region, [[Gomal District]], [[Paktika Province]], [[Afghanistan]]
| source1_coordinates= {{coord|32.502974|N|68.901294|E}}
| source1_elevation =
| mouth = [[Indus River]]
| mouth_location = [[Dera Ismail Khan]], [[Dera Ismail Khan District]], [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]], [[Pakistan]]
| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|31|36|53|N|70|50|46|E}}
| mouth_elevation =
| progression =
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| tributaries_left = Wana Khwar
| tributaries_right = [[Zhob River]]
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}}

'''Gomal River''' ({{lang-ur|{{Nastaliq|دریائے گومل}}}}, {{lang-ps|ګومل سیند، ګومل دریاب}}, {{lang-sa|गोमती}}) is a {{convert|400|km|mi|adj=mid|-long}} river in [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]].

The river was described in [[Ramayana]], as Gomatī River (2.49.11).

The river lends its name to the [[Gomal University]] in Dera Ismail Khan and the like-named [[Gomal District]] in [[Paktika]] Province of [[Afghanistan]].

==Etymology==
The name ''Gomal'' is thought to have derived from the river ''Gomati'', which is mentioned in the ''[[Rigveda]]'', an ancient Hindu text.<ref name="Sinha1990">{{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}}</ref>

==Course==
Gomal River's headwaters are located south-east of [[Ghazni]]. The springs which form the headwaters of the Gomal's main branch emerge above the fort at Babakarkol in [[Katawaz]], a district inhabited by [[Ghilji]] Pashtuns from the [[Kharoti]] and [[Sulaimankhel]] clans, in [[Paktika Province]].<ref>[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</ref> The Gomal's other branch, the "Second Gomal", joins the main channel about 14 miles below its source.<ref>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</ref> The Gomal flows southeast through eastern Ghilji country before entering Pakistan.<ref name="MacGregor, pp. 308-9">MacGregor, pp. 308-9</ref><ref name="Farah">''Gazetteer of Afghanistan VI'' (Farah), fourth ed., Calcutta, 1908, p. 238</ref>

Within Pakistan, the Gomal River forms the boundary between [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan]] and the [[South Waziristan Agency]] (formerly part of the [[Federally Administered Tribal Areas]], but now part of [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]]). After approximately 110 miles from its source, it merges with the [[Zhob River]], its major tributary, near Khajuri Kach.<ref name="MacGregor, pp. 308-9"/><ref name="Farah"/>

It is about 100 miles from the Zhob River to the [[Indus River]]. From South Waziristan, the river enters the Gomal Valley in the district of [[Tank, Pakistan]] at a place known as Girdavi, Murtuza which is inhabited by the Miani Pashtuns. It is mainly here that the water of Gomal is used to cultivate the lands in Gomal Valley through [[Zam System]] ([[Rod Koh]]i). The river passes then through the Damaan plain in [[Kulachi]] Tehsil and later on through [[Dera Ismail Khan]] Tehsil, It then joins the Indus River 20 miles south of Dera Ismail Khan.<ref name="Farah"/>

==Gomal Zam Dam==
[[File:Construction of Gomal Zam Dam.jpg|thumb|The [[Gomal Zam Dam]] was inaugurated in 2013.]]
The daming of this river at Khajuri Kachh was envisaged as 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]].<ref>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</ref> while it was opened in 2013.

There is also a street in E-7, [[Islamabad]] called the "Gomal Road".

==See also==
*[[Gomal Zam Dam]]
*[[Gomal Pass]]
*[[Gomal District]]
*[[Gomal University]]
*[[Zhob River]]
*[[South Waziristan]]
*[[Paktika Province]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

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

==External links==
{{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

{{coord|31|36|53|N|70|50|46|E|region:PK-NW_type:waterbody_source:kolossus-dewiki|display=title}}

{{Waters of Pakistan}}
{{Ghazni Province}}
{{Paktika Province}}

{{Authority control}}

{{-}}

[[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]]

Gomal River - Revision history

>Danre98 at 18:55, 13 September 2021