Balochistan, Pakistan: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Province of Pakistan}}

{{About|the province of Pakistan|the geographic region|Balochistan|other uses|Balochistan (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox settlement

| name                    = Balochistan

| footnotes                =  

}}

Balochistan shares borders with [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]] and the [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] to the northeast, [[Sindh]] to the east and southeast, the [[Arabian Sea]] to the south, [[Iran]] to the west and [[Afghanistan]] to the north and northwest.

{{more citations needed section|date=September 2012}}

[[File:IVC-major-sites-2.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Map showing the sites and extent of the [[Indus Valley civilisation]]. [[Mohenjo-Daro]] and [[Mehrgarh]] were among the centres of the Indus Valley Civilisation in the modern-day province. Balochistan marked the westernmost territory of the civilisation, which was one of the most developed in the old [[Bronze Age]] in the world.]]

The Hindu Sewa Dynasty ruled parts of Balochistan, chiefly [[Kalat, Pakistan|Kalat]].<ref name="FowleRai1923">{{cite book |last1=Fowle |first1=T. C. |last2=Rai |first2=Diwan Jamiat |title=Baluchistan |date=1923 |publisher=Directorate of Archives, Government of Balochistan |page=100 |quote=The Hindus of Kalat town may indeed be far more indigenous, since they claim descent from the ancient Sewa dynasty that ruled Kalat long before the Brahuis came to Baluchistan.}}</ref><ref name="Nisa1979">{{cite book |title=Balochistan Through the Ages: Geography and history |date=1979 |publisher=Nisa Traders |page=316 |quote=The country up to and including Multan was conquered by the Arabs and the Hindu dynasty of Sind and probably also the Sewa dynasty of Kalat came to an end.}}</ref> The [[Sibi Division]], which was carved out of [[Quetta Division]] and [[Kalat Division]] in 1974, derives its name from Rani Sewi, the queen of the Sewa dynasty.<ref name="Quddus1990">{{cite book |last1=Quddus |first1=Syed Abdul |title=The Tribal Baluchistan |date=1990 |publisher=[[Ferozsons]] |isbn=978-969-0-10047-4 |page=49 |quote=The Sibi division was carved out of the Quetta and Kalat Divisions in April, 1974, and comprises districts of Sibi, Kachhi, Nasirabad, Kohlu and Dera Bugti. The Division derives its name from the town of Sibi or Sewi. The local tradition attributes the origin of this name to Rani Sewi of the Sewa dynasty which ruled this part of the country in ancient times.}}</ref>

In 1876, [[Baluchistan (Chief Commissioner's Province)|northern Baluchistan]] became one of the [[Presidencies and provinces of British India]] in [[colonial India]].<ref name="Henige1970">{{cite book |last1=Henige |first1=David P. |title=Colonial Governors from the Fifteenth Century to the Present: A Comprehensive List |date=1970 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |page=89 |quote=The British began to assume control over the rough desert region in extreme western India known as Baluchistan in the 1870s.}}</ref> During this time from the fall of the [[Durrani Empire]] in 1823, four [[princely state]]s were recognised and reinforced in Balochistan: [[Makran (princely state)|Makran]], [[Kharan (princely state)|Kharan]], [[Las Bela (princely state)|Las Bela]] and [[Kalat (princely state)|Kalat]]. In 1876, [[Robert Groves Sandeman|Robert Sandeman]] negotiated the [[Treaty of Kalat]], which brought the Khan's territories, including Kharan, Makran, and Las Bela, under British protection, even though they remained independent princely states.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Naseer |last1=Dashti |title=The Baloch and Balochistan: A Historical Account from the Beginning to the Fall of the Baloch State |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xIjyLNpusbAC |year=2012 |publisher=Trafford Publishing |isbn=978-1-4669-5896-8 |page=247}}</ref> After the [[Second Afghan War]] was ended by the [[Treaty of Gandamak]] in May 1879, the [[Mohammad Yaqub Khan|Afghan Emir]] ceded the districts of Quetta, [[Pishin District|Pishin]], [[Harnai District|Harnai]], Sibi and [[Thal Chotiali]] to British control. On 1 April 1883, the British took control of the [[Bolan Pass]], south-east of Quetta, from the [[Khan of Kalat]]. In 1887, small additional areas of Balochistan were declared British territory.<ref>{{cite book |author=Peter R. Blood |title=Pakistan: A Country Study |publisher=DIANE Publishing |year=1996 |page=20}}</ref> In 1893, Sir [[Mortimer Durand]] negotiated an agreement with the [[Amir]] of Afghanistan, [[Abdur Rahman Khan]], to fix the [[Durand Line]] running from [[Chitral]] to Balochistan as the boundary between the [[Emirate of Afghanistan]] and British-controlled areas.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} Two devastating earthquakes occurred in Balochistan during British colonial rule: the [[1935 Quetta earthquake]], which devastated [[Quetta]], and the [[1945 Balochistan earthquake]] with its epicentre in the Makran region.<ref>{{cite book |title=Foreign Affairs Pakistan, Volume 32, Issues 11–12 |publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs |year=2005 |page=257}}</ref> During the time of the [[Indian independence movement]], "three pro-Congress parties were still active in Balochistan's politics", such as the [[Anjuman-i-Watan Baluchistan]], which [[Opposition to the partition of India|favoured a united India and opposed its partition]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Afzal |first1=M. Rafique |title=Pakistan: History and Politics 1947-1971 |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=40 |isbn=978-0-19-579634-6 |quote=Besides the Balochistan Muslim League, three pro-Congress parties were still active in Balochistan's politics: the Anjuman-i Watan, the Jamiatul Ulama u Hind, and the Qalat State National Party.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ranjan |first1=Amit |title=Partition of India: Postcolonial Legacies |date=2018 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9780429750526 |quote=Furthermore, Congress leadership of Balochistan was united and there was no disagreement over its president, Samad Khan Achakzai. On the other hand, Qazi Isa was the president of the League in Balochistan. Surprisingly, he was neither a Balochi nor a Sardar. Consequently, all Sardars except Jaffar Khan Jamali, were against Qazi Isa for contesting this seat.}}</ref>

[[File:Quetta Railway Station - 40311.jpg|thumb|[[Quetta Railway Station]]]]

In British-ruled Colonial India, Baluchistan contained a [[Balochistan (Chief Commissioner's Province)|Chief Commissioner's province]] and [[princely state]]s (including [[Kalat (princely state)|Kalat]], [[Makran (princely state)|Makran]], [[Las Bela (princely state)|Las Bela]] and [[Kharan (princely state)|Kharan]]) that became a part of Pakistan.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hasnat |first=Syed Farooq |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KiELa2EoA04C |title=Global Security Watch–Pakistan |publisher=Praeger |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-313-34697-2 |pages=94,113}}</ref> The province's Shahi [[Jirga]] (the grand council of tribal elders<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shahi Jirga Records |url=http://balochistanarchives.gob.pk/Shahi-Jirga-Records |url-status=live |access-date=2021-09-24 |website=Balochistan Archives |publisher=Government of Balochistan Directorate of Archives |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307140248/http://balochistanarchives.gob.pk/Shahi-Jirga-Records |archive-date=7 March 2014}}</ref>) and the non-official members of the [[Quetta|Quetta Municipality]],<ref name="CheemaRiemer1990" /> according to the Pakistani narrative,<ref name="rafisheikh" />{{Rp|80|quote=According to the official narrative of Pakistan, the referendum in (British) Balochistan decidedly included it into Pakistan.}} agreed to join Pakistan unanimously on 29 June 1947;<ref name="CheemaRiemer1990">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CX6xCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 |title=Pakistan's Defence Policy 1947-58 |author1=Pervaiz I Cheema |author2=Manuel Riemer |date=22 August 1990 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-349-20942-2 |pages=60–}}</ref> however, the Shahi Jirga was stripped of its members from the Kalat State prior to the vote.<ref name="rafisheikh"/>{{Rp|81}} The then-president of the Baluchistan Muslim League, [[Qazi Mohammad Isa|Qazi Muhammad Isa]], informed [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]] that "Shahi Jirga in no way represents the popular wishes of the masses" and that members of the Kalat State were "excluded from voting; only representatives from the British part of the province voted and the British part included the leased areas of Quetta, Nasirabad Tehsil, Nushki and Bolan Agency."<ref name="rafisheikh"/>{{Rp|81}} Following the referendum, on 22 June 1947 the Khan of Kalat received a letter from members of the Shahi Jirga, as well as [[sardar]]s from the leased areas of Baluchistan, stating that they, "as a part of the Baloch nation, were a part of the Kalat state too" and that if the question of Baluchistan's accession to Pakistan arise, "they should be deemed part of the Kalat state rather than (British) Balochistan".<ref name="rafisheikh"/>{{Rp|82}} This has brought into question whether an actual vote took place in the town hall "and that the announcement in favour of accession was secured through sheer manipulation."<ref name="rafisheikh"/>{{Rp|82}} Political scientist Salman Rafi Sheikh, in locating the origins of the [[insurgency in Balochistan]], says "that Balochistan's accession to Pakistan was, as against the officially projected narrative, not based upon consensus, nor was support for Pakistan overwhelming. What this manipulation indicates is that even before formally becoming a part of Pakistan, Balochistan had fallen a prey to political victimization."<ref name="rafisheikh">{{cite book |last1=Sheikh |first1=Salman Rafi |title=The Genesis of Baloch Nationalism: Politics and Ethnicity in Pakistan, 1947–1977 |date=2018 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |isbn=978-1-351-02068-8}}</ref>{{Rp|82}}