The Khetrans are an ethnolinguistic group primarily native to Barkhan in Balochistan and Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab, Pakistan. The total population was estimated to be about 150,000 in 2017, at least two-thirds of which are speakers of their native Khetrani, an Indo-Aryan language. A sizeable population in Barkhan can speak Balochi, while Khetrans who have settled to the east in the Dera Ghazi Khan speak Saraiki. [1] [2]
According to the 1st edition of Encyclopedia of Islam , Khetrans pre-date Baloch migrations into their native hilly tract of the Sulaiman Mountains. Khetrans were already going through assimilation by the Baloch in the 19th century, a process slowed down only by the advent of British rule, and were organized in a similar way to a Baloch tuman . [2] Conversely, Khetrans have assimilated several other peoples in their vicinity as well, including Jats, Baloch and Pashtuns. [3] [2]
In 1845 under the command of Sir Charles James Napier 7,000 men attacked the Bugtis, killing many of them. Khetrans provided sanctuary to hundreds of Bugtis who took refuge in their lands. [4]
In 1847 Sir William attacked the Bugtis with full strength; this time the Bugtis lost 500 fighting men and 120 were arrested. Marris took the opportunity and also attacked the Bugtis, seizing much of their area. The Bugtis went to the Khetran Sardar and asked for his help; that same year a combined attack of Khetrans and Bugtis drove the Marris off, killing more than 70 of their men and taking possession of their cattle. [4] [5]
Operations against the Marri and Khetran tribes (also known as the Marri Punitive Expedition) was the British name for a punitive expedition carried out against the Marri and Khetran tribes of Balochistan, British India between February and April 1918. The Marri rose against the British authorities around 18 February, encouraged by rumours that the British were short of manpower due to the First World War. British attempts at conciliation were repulsed and, on 20 February, a major attack was made by 1,000 – 3,000 Marri upon the British post at Gumbaz. This attack was repulsed by a much smaller British force that inflicted heavy losses upon the Marri. A subsequent withdrawal of British forces from Kohlu and its occupation by the Marri led the Khetrans to join the rising. The town of Barkhan was occupied by Marri-Khetran forces and raids were made upon villages in the Sibi and Loralai districts; railways in the area were also attacked.
The British assembled the Marri Field Force of British Army and British Indian Army troops under Major-General Richard Wapshare to combat the rising. Two columns under Brigadier-Generals T. H. Hardy and Philip Miles went on the offensive into territory occupied by the tribes. Miles inflicted a heavy defeat upon a Marri-Khetran force at Fort Munro on 15 March and then captured Barkhan, ending Khetran involvement in the rising. Hardy defeated a large Marri force at Hadb on 3 April and afterwards, assisted by bombing by the Royal Flying Corps, captured the Marri capital of Kahan. The Marri sardar Khair Bux Mari surrendered to the British on 8 April.
The campaign caused a significant reduction in tax revenue from the area and damage to private and government property. A council of elders was assembled after the campaign which recommended compensation payments be made by the Marri and the imprisonment of members of both tribes. The rising inspired rebellions by the Mengal and Gurgnari tribes, who killed their own sardars, and by the Musakhel, which was put down by part of the Marri Field Force.The Baloch or Baluch are a nomadic, pastoral, ethnic group which speaks the Western Iranic Balochi language and is native to the Balochistan region of South and Western Asia, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There are also Baloch diaspora communities in neighbouring regions, including in Central Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula.
Bugti is a Baloch tribe found in eastern Balochistan, Pakistan. As of 2008, it was estimated to comprise over 180,000 people, mostly living in the Dera Bugti region of Pakistan. They are in turn divided into the Rahija, Marhita, Nothani, Perozani, Masori, Mondarani and Kalpar sub-tribes. Their neighbours to the north are the Marri, who were the Bugti's traditional enemies.
Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti was a Pakistani politician and the Tumandar (head) of the Bugti tribe of Baloch people who served as the Minister of State for Interior and Governor of Balochistan Province in Pakistan. He also became minister of state for defence in the cabinet of Feroz Khan Noon. Earlier, he had also served as the Minister of State for Interior.
Barkhan is a district in the province of Balochistan in Pakistan. It shares its borders with the province of Punjab to the east and the Balochistan districts of Dera Bugti to the south, Kohlu to the west, Loralai to the northwest and Musakhel to the north. The town of Barkhan serves as the district's headquarters. It was granted the status of a separate district on 31 December 1991, prior to which it was a tehsil of Loralai District.
Sibi is a district in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The climate and topography of Sibi District is quite varied compared to the other districts of Balochistan. It is also known as the "hotspot" of Pakistan where the temperatures in the summer exceeded 52.6 °C (126.7 °F). Until 2002 the district had two sub-divisions, Sibi and Harnai, further organized into Tehsils and sub-tehsils: Sibi, Kutmandi and Sangan. Lehri was joined with Sibi district in 2002 and Harnai was made a separate district. Sibi tehsil is predominately inhabited by Pashtun tribes of Panni, Khajjaks and Tareens. Town of sibi is chiefly built upon lands of Marghazani and Dehpal.
The Marri are a Balochi-speaking tribe of the Baloch people, who inhabit a large arid region in northeastern Balochistan, Pakistan. The Marri area is bounded to the west by the plains of Sibi. To the north are the Kakar and Loni tribes of the Pashtuns; to the east lie the lands of the Khetrans, to the south the Bugti tribe.
Sibi is a city situated in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The city serves as the administrative headquarters of the district and tehsil of the same name.
Buzdar is a clan of Baloch tribe of Rind, living in Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan. They mostly live in the mountainous areas of Koh Suleiman.The estimated population of the tribe is 300,000 people. The word, literally meaning one who keeps or tends the goats, a shepherd, is a reference to the traditional occupation of Buzdars. Usman Buzdar is current Tumandar of the tribe.
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.
Kahan is a village and tehsil in Kohlu District in Pakistan's Balochistan province.
Marri-Bugti Country was a tribal region during the period of British colonial rule in Baluchistan. Marris and Bugtis are the strongest Baloch tribes in the Balochistan. The Marris occupied 8,460 square kilometres (3,268 sq mi) in the north, while the Bugtis occupied 10,000 square kilometres (3,861 sq mi) in the south. Today, the region is divided into three districts: Kohlu, Dera Bugti and Sibi.
Jarwar is a sub-tribe from the Gazini branch of Marri Baloch.
Khetrānī, or Khetranki, is an Indo-Aryan language of north-eastern Balochistan. It is spoken by the majority of the Khetrans, an ethnolinguistic tribe that occupies a hilly tract in the Sulaiman Mountains comprising the whole of Barkhan District as well as small parts of neighbouring Kohlu District to the south-west, and Musakhel District to the north. Alternative names for the language attested at the start of the 20th century are Barāzai and Jāfaraki.
The Anglo-Marri Wars is the name given to three major military conflicts between the Marri Baloch tribesmen and the British Empire in the independent eastern Baloch tribal belt. The conflicts took place in the 19th and 20th centuries, specifically in 1840, 1880, and 1917.
Luni is one of the tribes of Pashtuns, mainly living in Pakistan with its minority in Afghanistan.
The Pitafis (پتافي) are an ethnic Baloch tribe found in Pakistan, especially in the Dera Ghazi Khan district.
United Baloch Army was a militant group, fighting for the separation of Balochistan. The group has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the Pakistani government. The government of Pakistan banned the group on 15 March 2013. The group has also been classified as a terrorist organisation by Switzerland's government.
Operations against the Marri and Khetran tribes was the British name for a punitive expedition carried out against the Marri and Khetran tribes of Balochistan, British India between February and April 1918. The Marri rose against the British authorities around 18 February, encouraged by rumours that the British were short of manpower due to the First World War. British attempts at conciliation were repulsed and, on 20 February, a major attack was made by 1,000 – 3,000 Marri upon the British post at Gumbaz. This attack was repulsed by a much smaller British force that inflicted heavy losses upon the Marri. A subsequent withdrawal of British forces from Kohlu and its occupation by the Marri led the Khetrans to join the rising. The town of Barkhan was occupied by Marri-Khetran forces and raids were made upon villages in the Sibi and Loralai districts; railways in the area were also attacked.
The Barkhan triple killing refers to the finding of the bodies of a woman and her two sons, who had been shot and burned, in a well located near Barkhan District in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. This event caused members of the Marri tribe to protest outside the Red Zone in Quetta, the provincial capital. The victims were identified as Granaz, Muhammad Anwar, and Abdul Qadir, and it was believed that they had been held captive in a private prison by Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran, who was the Balochistan Minister for Communication and Works. The incident sparked widespread outrage on social media and in the Balochistan Assembly. As a result, the Balochistan Minister for Home Affairs, Mir Ziaullah Langau, wrote a letter to law enforcement agencies requesting the safe return of the remaining members of Khan Muhammad Marri's family, who were still missing.