Proud of Balochistan

THE LAND AND PEOPLE OF BALUCHISTAN.

In spite of the intrinsic hostility of its landscape and climate, archaeological discoveries have confirmed that Baluchistan was already inhabited in the Stone Age, and the important neolithic site at Mehrgarh is the earliest (7000-3000 B.C.) on the subcontinent. Until its overthrow by Alexander the Great, Baluchistan was part of the Persian Empire, whose records refer to it as "Maka".

Islam was brought to Baluchistan in 711 when Muhammad bin Qasim led the army which was to conquer Sind across the Makran route, but the area was always too remote for firm control to be exerted by any of the later local dynasties. It accordingly receives only very passing mention in the court histories of the time. The connections of the inland areas were variously with Iran, Afghanistan and India, those of coastal Makran rather across the Arabian Sea with Oman and the Gulf.

The name "Baluchistan" only came into existence later with the arrival from Iran of the tribes called Baluch (usually pronounced "Baloch" in Pakistan). Just how and when they arrived remains a matter of hot debate, since the traditional legends of their Middle Eastern origins, supposed to have been in the Aleppo region of Syria have been further confused by cranky theories either that like the Pathans they may descend from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, or that they originated from Babylon, since "Baluch" is phonetically similar to the names of the god Baal or the Babylonian ruler Belos.

Better evidence is suggested by the Baluchi language which beIongs to the same Iranian group of Indo-European as Persian and Kurdish. This suggests that the Baluch originated from the area of the Caspian Sea, making their way gradually across Iran to reach their present homeland in around A.D. 1000, when they are mentioned with the equally warlike Kuch tribes in Firdausi's great Persian epic, the Book of Kings:

Heroic Baluches and Kuches we saw, Like battling rams all determined on war. Warlike the history of the Baluch has certainly always been. As the last to arrive of the major ethnic groups of Pakistan they were faced with the need to displace the peoples already settled in Baluchistan. Some they more or less successfully subjugated or assimilated, like the Meds of Makran and other now subordinate groups. From others they faced a greater challenge, notably from the Brahui tribes occupying the hills around Kalat.

The origins of the Brahuis are even more puzzling than those of the Baluch, for their language is not Indo-European at all, but belongs to the same Dravidian family as Tamil and the other languages of south India spoken over a thousand miles away. One theory has it that the Brahuis are the last northern survivors of a Dravidian-speaking population which perhaps created the Indus Valley civilisation, but it seems more likely that they too arrived as the result of a long tribal migration, at some earlier date from peninsular India.

As they moved eastwards, the Baluch were initially successful in overcoming the Brahuis. Under Mir Chakar, who established his capital at Sibi in 1487, a great Baluch kingdom briefly came into existence before being destroyed by civil war between Mir Chakar's Rind tribe and the rival Lasharis, whose battles are still celebrated in heroic ballads. Although the Baluch moved forward into Panjab and Sind, the authority of the Moghuls stopped them establishing permanent kingdoms there, although the names of Dera Ghazi Khan in Panjab and Dera Ismail Khan in NWFP are still reminders of the Baluch chiefs who conquered these lands in the 16th century. The Baluch who settled in the plains gradually became largely detribalised, forgetting their native language and increasingly assimilated to the local population, with their tribal origins remaining little more than a proud memory.

In Baluchistan itself, which came only briefly under the authority of the Moghuls, the tables were turned on the Baluch by the Brahuis who succeeded in re-establishing their power in Kalat. Throughout the 18th century, the Khans of Kalat were the dominant local power, with the Baluch tribes settled to the west and to the east of them being forced to acknowledge their suzerainty.

The greatest of the Khans was Mir Nasir Khan (1749-1817), whose military success owed much to the regular organisation of his army, with its separate divisions recruited from the Sarawan and Jhalawan areas which constitute the northern and southern parts of the Brahui homeland. The Khanate of Kalat became the nearest thing there has ever been to an independent Baluchistan. This extended beyond the modern boundaries, since Mir Nasir Khan's authority ran as far as the then insignificant town of Karachi. Although dominated by the Brahuis, they themselves became increasingly "Baluchified". Today, for instance, the Brahui language only keeps the first three of its old Dravidian numbers. From "four" upwards Brahuis count in Baluchi, in which most are anyway bilingual.

With the British expansion into northwestern subcontinent and their disastrous first Afghan war (1839-41), internal power struggles within Kalat prompted the first British military interference, and the signing of a treaty in 1841. The British annexation of Sind in 1843 from the Talpur Mirs, themselves a dynasty of Baluch descent, and the subsequent annexation of Panjab meant that Kalat and the other regions of Baluchistan were now part of the sensitive western borderlands of British India, where the possibility of Russian interference induced a permanent state of imperial neurosis. Although the eastern Baluch tribes were partially pacified by the efforts of Sir Robert Sandeman, it was thought easiest to leave the Khan and his subordinate chiefs in control of most of the rest of Baluchistan.

A further treaty was signed in 1876, which forced the Khan to 'lease" the strategic Quetta region to the British but left him in control of the rest of his territories with the aid of a British minister. Granted the rank of a 19-gun salute to mark the size if not the wealth of Kalat, the Khans were for a while content to pursue the eccentric Life style characteristic of so many south Asian princes of the time. One Khan became legendary as a passionate collector of shoes, and made sure no pair would ever be stolen by locking up all the left shoes in a dungeon below the Fort at Kalat.

With the last ruler of Kalat, Mir Ahmad Yar Khan (1902-79), the Khanate again briefly entered the political arena. Exploiting the opaque clauses of the 1876 treaty, which left some doubt as to just how independent Kalat was supposed to be, he hesitated to join Pakistan in 1947. The brief independence of Kalat finally ended in 1948 when the Khan signed the necessary merger documents, followed by his formal removal from power and the abolition of the state's boundaries in 1955. The present shape of Baluchistan was finally rounded out in 1958 when the Sultan of Oman sold Gwadar, given to one of his ancestors by the Khan of Kalat, back to Pakistan.

Baluchistan states

3 Oct 1952 - 14 Oct 1955 the four Baluchistan states form the Baluchistan States Union, with the Waali of Kalat as Khan-e A`zam of the Union

Kalat
1666 Kalat State founded
31 Mar 1948 Kalat accedes to Pakistan
3 Oct. 1952 joins Baluchistan States Union
14 Oct. 1955 state extinguished

Rulers (titles Wali, Begler Begi Khan)
- Kambarani dynasty, Ahmadzay segment -
1795 - 1817 Mahmud Khan I
1817 - 13 Nov 1839 Mohammad Mehrab Khan II
1839 - 1840 Shah Nawaz Khan
1840 - 1857 Hosayn Nasir Khan II
1857 - Mar 1863 Khodadad Khan (1st time)
Mar 1863 - May 1864 Shirdil Khan
May 1864 - 15 Aug 1893 Khodadad Khan (2nd time)
10 Nov 1893 - 3 Nov 1931 Mahmud Khan II
1931 - 10 Sep 1933 A`zam Khan
10 Sep 1933 - 14 Oct 1955 Ahmad Yar Khan

Las Bela
1742 Las Bela State refounded
17 Mar 1948 Las Bela accedes to Pakistan
3 Oct 1952 joins Baluchistan States Union
14 Oct 1955 state extinguished

Rulers (title Jam Saheb)
- Jamot dynasty, Kathuria segment -
1742 - 1765 `Ali Khan I
1765 - 1776 Gholam Shah
1776 - 1818 Mir Khan I
1818 - 1830 `Ali Khan II
1830 - 1869 Mir Khan II (1st time)
1869 - 1886 `Ali Khan III (1st time)
1886 - 1888 Mir Khan II (2nd time)
21 Jan 1888 - Jan 1896 `Ali Khan III (2nd time)
May 1896 - 1921 Kamal Khan
1921 - 1937 Gholam Mohammad Khan
1937 - 14 Oct 1955 Gholam Qader Khan

Sign in Guest Book

Makran
... Makran established as a vassal state of Kalat
1917 - 1922 no rulers
17 Mar 1948 Makran ceases being a vassal of Kalat and accedes to Pakistan
3 Oct 1952 joins Baluchistan States Union
14 Oct 1955 state extinguished

Ruler (title Nazem)
1898 - 1917 Mehr Allah Khan
Rulers (title Nawwab)
1922 - 19.. A`zam Jan
19.. - 14 Oct 1955 Bai Khan Baloch Gikchi

Kharan
bf.1697 Kharan established as a vassal state of Kalat
1940 Kharan ceases being a vassal of Kalat
17 Mar 1948 Kharan accedes to Pakistan
3 Oct 1952 joins Baluchistan States Union
14 Oct 1955 state extinguished

Rulers (title Mir; from 1921, Sardar Bahador Nawwab)
- Nowsherwani dynasty -
*1810* `Abbas Khan
1833 - 1885 Azad Khan
1885 - Jun 1909 Nowruz Khan
1909 - 19 Apr 1911 Mohammad Ya`qub Khan
1911 - 14 Oct 1955 Habib Allah Khan

Developer's

Muhammad Suleman Raees

Being a baloch, I feel it is our responsibility to explore our culture and bases on media. Internet is a huge platform to show us in front of Intentional Society. I have started to experiment on web pages. Maybe you found it not very attractive. But your comments, criticize and appreciation will be very helpful to re-polish my imaginations on this page and others I have created for my society.

Your comments and suggestions are most welcome