CENTRAL BRAHUI RANGE

southern offshoot of the Himalayas, lying in the centre of the Balochistan plateau, Pakistan. It extends southward for about 225 miles (360 km) from the Pishin Lora and Zhob rivers to the Mula River. The range is a series of parallel limestone ridges covered with juniper forests and hemming in narrow valleys, and its trend is north-south between Mula and Quetta but turns sharply east-southeast just north of Quetta to meet the Sulaiman Range. Summits generally exceed 6,000 feet (1,800 m) and gradually decline toward the south; the highest peaks are Khalifat (11,440 feet ) and Zarghun (11,738 feet ) north of Quetta. The Bolan, Harnai, and Mula are the principal passes. Brahui tribes are predominant in the south, as are Pashtuns, with chiefly Kakars in the north.