The princely state of Kalat in Balochistan acceded to the Dominion of Pakistan on 27 March 1948, [1] after having declared independence earlier on 15 August 1947. [2] It was accepted by the Governor General Muhammad Ali Jinnah on 31 March, making Kalat an integral part of Pakistan. The accession was a stormy affair. [3] Whether it had the consensus of its subjects remains disputed and Insurgencies against the state of Pakistan continue till the present day.
Balochistan is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southwestern region of the country, Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan by land area but is the least populated one. It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the north-east, Punjab to the east and Sindh to the south-east; shares international borders with Iran to the west and Afghanistan to the north; and is bound by the Arabian Sea to the south. Balochistan is an extensive plateau of rough terrain divided into basins by ranges of sufficient heights and ruggedness. It has the world's largest deep sea port, the Port of Gwadar lying in the Arabian Sea.
A princely state was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to a subsidiary alliance and the suzerainty or paramountcy of the British crown.
Nawab Nauroz (Nowroz) Khan (1868?–1965), also known by Balochs as Dada Nowroz, was the head of the Zarakzai (Zehri), a subject to the Khan of Kalat in Balochistan, British India. After his unsuccessful insurgency against the government of that time he was imprisoned in Kohlu jail where he died in 1965.
The history of Balochistan refers to the history of the Balochistan region of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. Vague allusions to the region were found in Greek historical records of around 650 BCE. Prehistoric Balochistan dates to the Paleolithic.
The State of Kharan was an autonomous princely state in British India covering what is part of the present-day province of Balochistan, in the southwest of Pakistan.
The former administrative units of Pakistan are states, provinces and territories which mainly existed between 1947 and 1975 when the current provinces and territories were established. The former units have no administrative function today but some remain as historical and cultural legacies. In some cases, the current provinces and territories correspond to the former units – for example the province of Punjab includes almost all the territory of the former province of West Punjab.
The Baluchistan States Union or Balochistan States Union (BSU) was an administrative division of Pakistan that existed between 3 October 1952 and 14 October 1955 in the southwestern part of West Pakistan. It was formed by the four princely states of Kalat, Kharan, Las Bela and Makran with the capital at the town of Kalat. The area of the Union was roughly the south-western half of the modern province of Balochistan. The Union was separate from the Chief Commissioners Province of Baluchistan which comprised areas to the northeast of the Union. The Union did not include the enclave of Gwadar which was part of the Muscat and Oman. The four state rulers continued in office and retained autonomy.
The Khanate of Kalat was a Brahui Khanate that originated in the modern-day Kalat region of Pakistan. Formed in 1666 due to the threat of Mughal expansion in the region, it controlled the wider Balochistan at its greatest extent in the mid-18th century, extending from Kerman in the west to Sindh in the east and from Helmand River in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south. The Khanate of Kalat lost considerable area to Qajar Iran and the Emirate of Afghanistan in the early 19th century, and the city of Kalat was itself sacked by the British in 1839. Kalat became a self-governing state in a subsidiary alliance with British India after the signature of the Treaty of Kalat by the Khan of Kalat and the Brahui Sardars in 1875, and the supervision of Kalat became a task of the Baluchistan Agency. Kalat was briefly independent from 12 August 1947 until 27 March 1948, when its ruler Ahmad Yar Khan acceded to Pakistan, making it one of the Princely states of Pakistan.
Las Bela was a princely state in a subsidiary alliance with British India which existed until 1955. The state occupied an area of 18,254 km2 (7,048 sq mi) in the extreme southeast of the Balochistan region, with an extensive coastline on the Arabian Sea to the south. Las Bela was bordered by the princely states of Kalat and Makran to the north and west. To the east lay the province of Sind and to the southeast lay the Federal Capital Territory around the city of Karachi.
Makran was an autonomous princely state in a subsidiary alliance with British India until 1947, before being absorbed as an autonomous princely state of Pakistan. It ceased to exist in 1955. It was located in the extreme southwest of present-day Pakistan, an area now parts of the districts of Gwadar, Kech and Panjgur. The state did not include the enclave of Omani Gwadar, which was under Omani rule until 1958.
The Insurgency in Balochistan is an insurgency or revolt by Baloch separatist insurgents and various Islamist militant groups against the governments of Pakistan and Iran in the Balochistan region, which covers the Pakistani province of Balochistan, Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan, and Balochistan of southern Afghanistan. Rich in natural resources, this is the largest, least populated and least developed province in Pakistan and Iran, and armed groups demand greater control of the province's natural resources and political autonomy. Baloch separatists have attacked civilians from other ethnicities throughout the province. In the 2010s, attacks against the Shia community by sectarian groups—though not always directly related to the political struggle—have risen, contributing to tensions in Balochistan. In Pakistan, the ethnic separatist insurgency is low-scale but ongoing mainly in southern Balochistan, as well as sectarian and religiously motivated militancy concentrated mainly in northern and central Balochistan.
The Baluchistan Agency was one of the agencies of British India during the colonial era. It was located in the present-day Pakistani Balochistan province.
Jhalawan was an administrative division of the Khanate of Kalat, a princely state of Brahui that acceded to Pakistan in 1947. It was established in the 17th century and its boundary was fixed with Sindh in 1853. It was located in the southeastern part of Kalat State, north of Las Bela, west of the Kachi and Sindh and east of the Kharan and Makran.
Lasbela District is a coastal district of Balochistan province of Pakistan. It is also called Sassi-Punnu Garh among locals.
Gul Khan Naseer also known as Malek o-Sho'arā Balochistan ; 14 May 1914 – 6 December 1983) was a Pakistani politician, poet, historian, and journalist from Balochistan. Most of his work is in Balochi language, but he also wrote in English, Urdu, Brahui and Persian.
Human rights abuses in the province ofBalochistan refers to the human rights violations that are occurring in the ongoing insurgency in Balochistan. The situation has drawn concern from the international community, The human rights situation in Balochistan is credited to the long-running conflict between Baloch nationalists and Pakistani security forces.
The princely states of Pakistan were princely states of the British Indian Empire which acceded to the new Dominion of Pakistan between 1947 and 1948, following the partition of British India and its independence.
Mir Ahmad Yar Khan Ahmedzai (1902–1979), commonly referred to as Ahmad Yar Khan, was the last Khan of Kalat, a princely state in a subsidiary alliance with British India and the Dominion of Pakistan, serving from 10 September 1933 to 14 October 1955.
The First Balochistan Conflict was a rebellion instigated by Prince Agha Abdul Karim and Prince Muhammad Rahim of Kalat in response to the accession of Kalat and with the aim of establishing Kalat as an independent state from Pakistan. With the arrest of the princes and loss of a lot of manpower, the rebellion ultimately came to an end in 1950 with Pakistan recapturing all territories.
The Second Balochistan Conflict refers to a rebellion by Nawab Nauroz Khan who took up arms in resistance to the One Unit policy, which decreased government representation for tribal leaders, from 1958 to 1959. He and his followers started a guerrilla war against Pakistan, and were arrested, charged with treason, and imprisoned in Hyderabad. Five of his family members, sons and nephews, were subsequently hanged on charges of treason and aiding in the murder of Pakistani troops. Nawab Nauroz Khan later died in captivity.