The Pakistan Army has recently initiated a month-long operation known as ‘Jidar-ul-Hadeed’ in the Thar Desert. The exercise is designed to equip the army with skills needed for conflicts in severe desert environments. Concurrently, Pakistan has also kick-started a multinational naval exercise named ‘Aman-2021’ in the Arabian Sea, involving 45 countries including the USA, Russia, China, and Turkey.
Desert Name and Location
The Thar Desert, also known as ‘Thul’, gets its name from the local term for the area’s sand ridges. Located partly in Rajasthan, northwestern India, and partly in Punjab and Sindh provinces, eastern Pakistan, it plays a vital role in defining the topography of the region.
About the Thar Desert
Covering an expansive area of over 200,000 square kilometers, the Thar Desert forms a natural border between India and Pakistan. The surface of this arid region comprises aeolian (wind-deposited) sand, accumulated over the past 1.8 million years. The landscape is dotted with high and low sand dunes, separated by sandy plains and low barren hills, commonly referred to as ‘bhakars’. These dunes are always in motion and display an array of shapes and sizes. Crescent-shaped sand dunes, also known as ‘Barchan’ or ‘Barkhan’, are a common sight in this sandy desert.
Geographical Boundaries
Thar Desert shares its borders with the irrigated Indus River plain to the west, the Punjab Plain in the north and northeast, the Aravalli Range towards the southeast, and the Rann of Kachchh on the southern end.
Climate of the Thar Desert
The Thar Desert experiences a subtropical desert climate, resulting from the persistent high pressure and subsidence in that latitude. Interestingly, the prevailing southwest monsoon winds, which bring rainfall to most of the subcontinent in the summer, usually bypasses the Thar to the east.
Saline Lakes of Thar
Several saline lake beds, or playas, locally known as ‘dhands’, are scattered across the region, adding to the distinctive features of the terrain.
Flora and Fauna of the Region
The Thar Desert is home to a variety of herbaceous plants including cactus, neem, khejri, and acacia nilotica, which have adapted to extreme temperatures and difficult climatic conditions. It also supports a rich wildlife base including leopards, the Asiatic wild cat (Felis silvestris ornata), chousingha (Tetracerus quadricornis), chinkara (Gazella bennettii), the Bengal desert fox (Vulpes bengalensis), the Blackbuck (antelope), and numerous species of reptiles. All these species have uniquely adapted themselves to thrive in such challenging climatic conditions.