The Chief Commissioner's Province of Baluchistan ( ur, چیف کمشنر صوبہ بلوچستان) was a province of

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

established in 1876 to 1947 and then as a province of the

Dominion of Pakistan Between 14 August 1947 and 23 March 1956, Pakistan was an independent federal dominion in the Commonwealth of Nations, created by the passing of the Indian Independence Act 1947 by the British parliament, which also created the Dominion of I ...

, when the Baluchistan Jirga voted to join Pakistan. It was a part of the Baluchistan Agency. It was dissolved to form a united province of

West Pakistan West Pakistan ( ur, , translit=Mag̱ẖribī Pākistān, ; bn, পশ্চিম পাকিস্তান, translit=Pôścim Pakistan) was one of the two Provincial exclaves created during the One Unit Scheme in 1955 in Pakistan. It was d ...

in 1955 upon the creation of One Unit Scheme.

History

The province was originally formed over the period 1876–1891 by three treaties between Robert Sandeman and the

Khan of Kalat The Khanate of Kalat ( bal, کلاتءِ ھانات) was a Baloch Khanate that existed from 1512 to 1955 in the centre of the modern-day province of Balochistan, Pakistan. Its rulers were Brahui speakers. Prior to that they were subjects ...

, Khudadad of Kalat. Sandeman became the Political Agent for the British-administered areas which were strategically located between British India and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. A military base was established at

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in Geography of Pakistan, south-west of the country close to the ...

which played a major part in the

Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

and Third Afghan Wars. IGI1908Beluchistan2

Balochistan was legally ceded to Pakistan by its rulers 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 was dissolved in 1970. Khan Abdul Wali Khan intended to transfer political power to the Pashtuns. The former Chief Commissioner's province was combined with the former

Balochistan States Union 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 state ...

and the enclave of Gwadar to form a new, larger Balochistan Province, with a Governor, a Chief Minister and a Provincial Assembly.

Demographics

The population of the province was equally split between

Baloch tribes The Baloch or Baluch ( bal, بلۏچ, Balòc) are an Iranian people who live mainly in the Balochistan region, located at the southeasternmost edge of the Iranian plateau, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There a ...

in the south and west and

Pashtun tribes The Pashtun tribes ( ps, پښتانه قبايل), historically also known as Afghan tribes, are the tribes of the Pashtun people, a large Eastern Iranian ethnic group who use the Pashto language and follow Pashtunwali code of conduct. They ar ...

in the north.

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, 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 agency to the north of Quetta and the

Chagai Chagai may refer to: * Chagai District, a district in Balochistan, Pakistan * Chagai, Pakistan, the capital city of Chagai District * Chagai Hills, a mountainous region in the district *''Chagai-I'', the codename for Pakistan's first nuclear weapon ...

agency to the west, which had a tenuous land link with the rest of the province. The tribal areas were the Bugti and Marri tribal agencies which would later become Provincially Administered Tribal Areas in the new Balochistan province. see List of Chief Commissioners of Baluchistan

Notes

External links

Government of Balochistan
{{Coord, 28, 00, N, 66, 00, E, region:PK_type:adm1st_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title 1876 establishments in the British Empire Former subdivisions of Pakistan History of Balochistan, Pakistan (1947–present) Provinces of British India

History

Demographics

Government

See also

Notes

External links