Baluchistan (Chief Commissioners Province)
Encyclopedia
The Chief Commissioner's Province of Baluchistan was a province of British India located in the northern parts of the modern Balochistan
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...

 province.

History

The province was originally formed over the period 1876-1891 by three treaties between Robert Sandeman
Robert Groves Sandeman
Sir Robert Groves Sandeman, KCSI , Colonial British Indian officer and administrator, was the son of General Robert Turnbull Sandeman, and was born on the 25th of February 1835. He was educated at Perth and University of St Andrews, and joined the 33rd Bengal Infantry in 1856...

 and the Khan of Kalat
State of Kalat
Kalat or Qalat was a princely state located in the centre of the modern province of Balochistan, Pakistan. The state capital was the town of Kalat.-Geography:The State of Kalat was located between 25°1′ and...

. Sandeman became the Political Agent for the British-administered areas which were strategically located between British India and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

. A military base was established at Quetta
Quetta
is the largest city and the provincial capital of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Known as the "Fruit Garden of Pakistan" due to the diversity of its plant and animal wildlife, Quetta is home to the Hazarganji Chiltan National Park, which contains some of the rarest species of wildlife in the...

 which played a major part in the Second and Third Afghan Wars.

The province became part of Pakistan in 1947 and continued to be administered by a Chief Commissioner. It was dissolved in 1955 when most parts of the western wing of Pakistan became the new province of West Pakistan
West Pakistan
West Pakistan , common name West-Pakistan , in the period between its establishment on 22 November 1955 to disintegration on December 16, 1971. This period, during which, Pakistan was divided, ended when East-Pakistan was disintegrated and succeeded to become which is now what is known as Bangladesh...

. When that province was dissolved in 1970, the former Chief Commissioner's province was combined with the former Baluchistan States Union
Baluchistan States Union
The Baluchistan States Union existed between 3 October 1952 and 14 October 1955 in southwest Pakistan. It was formed by the states of Kalat, Kharan, Las Bela and Makran with the capital at the town of Kalat. The area of the Union was roughly the western half of the modern province of Balochistan...

 and the enclave of Gwadar
Gwadar
Gwadar also known as Godar is a developing port city on the southwestern Arabian Sea coast of Pakistan. It is the district headquarters of Gwadar District in Balochistan province and has a population of approximately 50,000.Gwadar is strategically located at the apex of the Arabian Sea and at the...

 to form a new larger Balochistan Province
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...

 with a Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

, a Chief Minister
Chief Minister
A Chief Minister is the elected head of government of a sub-national state, provinces of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, notably a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British Overseas Territory that has attained self-government...

 and a Provincial Assembly
Elections in Pakistan
At the national level, Pakistan elects a bicameral legislature, the Parliament of Pakistan, which consists of a directly elected National Assembly of Pakistan and a Senate, whose members are chosen by elected provincial legislators. The Prime Minister of Pakistan is elected by the National Assembly...

.

Demographics

The population of the province was equally split between Pashtun
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

 tribes in the north and Baloch
Baloch people
The Baloch or Baluch are an ethnic group that belong to the larger Iranian peoples. Baluch people mainly inhabit the Balochistan region and Sistan and Baluchestan Province in the southeast corner of the Iranian plateau in Western Asia....

 tribes in the south and west.

Government

The province was administered by a Chief Commissioner appointed by the Federal Government. Although there was no elected legislature the Chief Commissioner could consult the Shahi Jirga
Jirga
A jirga is a tribal assembly of elders which takes decisions by consensus, particularly among the Pashtun people but also in other ethnic groups near them; they are most common in Afghanistan and among the Pashtuns in Pakistan near its border with Afghanistan...

, an assembly of tribal leaders.

The province comprised three groups of areas - the settled districts, the political agencies and the tribal area. The settled areas were mainly the district around Quetta and Jaffarabad. The agencies were the Zhob
Zhob
-Roads:Zhob is 333 kilometers from Quetta, 225 kilometers from Dera Ismail Khan. However, the road linking with Dera Ismail Khan is for most part fair nowadays track passing through water streams and almost complete road is metalloid....

 agency to the north of Quetta and the Chagai
Chagai District
Chaghi/Chagai is the largest district of Pakistan and is located on the north west corner of Balochistan, Pakistan. It forms a triangular border with Afghanistan and Iran.Pakistan conducted a nuclear weapons test in 1998 at Ras Koh Hills Chagai District....

 agency to the west, which had a tenuous land link with the rest of the province. The tribal areas were the Bugti
Bugti
Bugti , is a Baloch tribe located in Balochistan, Pakistan. They are divided into various clans such as Rahija, Mandawani , Kalpar, Nauthani, Masuri, Ferozani, Salamaan Zai, Mundarani, Qasimani, Shambani, Sobazai, Pahi, Maretha and Moharkanzai etc., numbering around 300,000.On a bigger scale the...

 and Marri
Kohlu District
Kohlu is a district of the Balochistan province of Pakistan. It is bounded in the north by Loralai District, Dera Bugti in the south, in the east Rojhan-Mazari and Sibi District in the west...

 tribal agencies which would later become Provincially Administered Tribal Areas
Provincially Administered Tribal Areas
The Provincially Administered Tribal Areas are Pakistani administrative subdivisions designated in the Article 246 of the Constitution of Pakistan...

 in the new Balochistan province
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...

.
Tenure Chief Commissioner of Baluchistan
15 August 1947 - 3 October 1947 Sir Geoffrey Prior
3 October 1947 - 8 April 1948 Sir Ambrose Dundas Flux Dundas
9 April 1948 - 18 January 1949 Cecil Arthur Grant Savidge
19 January 1949 - 16 July 1949 Sahibzada Mohammad Kursheed
16 July 1949 - 18 November 1952 Mian Aminuddin
18 November 1952 - 13 February 1953 Unknown
13 February 1953 - 8 November 1954 Qurban Ali Khan
8 November 1954 - 19 July 1955 Sardar Bahadur Khan
Sardar Bahadur Khan
Sardar Bahadur Khan was the 9th Chief Minister of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. He was a brother of the President of Pakistan, General Muhammad Ayub Khan.He was born at Rehana village of Haripur District....

19 July 1955 - 25 July 1955 R.A.F. Hyride
26 July 1955 - 14 October 1955 R.A.M. Shaker
14 October 1955 Province abolished

See also

  • Balochistan province
    Balochistan (Pakistan)
    Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...

  • Baluchistan States Union
    Baluchistan States Union
    The Baluchistan States Union existed between 3 October 1952 and 14 October 1955 in southwest Pakistan. It was formed by the states of Kalat, Kharan, Las Bela and Makran with the capital at the town of Kalat. The area of the Union was roughly the western half of the modern province of Balochistan...

  • Politics of Pakistan
    Politics of Pakistan
    Politics of Pakistan have taken place in the framework of a federal republic, where the system of government has at times been parliamentary, presidential, or semi-presidential. In the current parliamentary system, the President of Pakistan is the largely ceremonial head of state, the Prime...

  • History of Pakistan
    History of Pakistan
    The 1st known inhabitants of the modern-day Pakistan region are believed to have been the Soanian , who settled in the Soan Valley and Riwat almost 2 million years ago. Over the next several thousand years, the region would develop into various civilizations like Mehrgarh and the Indus Valley...

  • Robert Groves Sandeman
    Robert Groves Sandeman
    Sir Robert Groves Sandeman, KCSI , Colonial British Indian officer and administrator, was the son of General Robert Turnbull Sandeman, and was born on the 25th of February 1835. He was educated at Perth and University of St Andrews, and joined the 33rd Bengal Infantry in 1856...


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