History of Balochistan

The earliest evidence of human occupation in what is now Balochistan is dated to the Paleolithic era, represented by hunting camps, as well as chipped and flaked stone tools.

By the Bronze Age in 2500 BCE, Balochistan had become part of the Harappan cultural orbit, providing key resources to the expansive settlements of the Indus river basin to the east.

[5] The border between the Seleucid and Mauryan Empires remained stable in subsequent generations, and friendly diplomatic relations are reflected by the ambassador Megasthenes, and by the envoys sent westward by Chandragupta's grandson Ashoka.

In an effort to gain total control of the regions, the British named the area Balochistan and got the support of the Baloch Sardars who then were titled Nawabs.

[8] Arab rule in Baluchistan helped the Baloch people to develop their own semi-independent tribal systems, which stronger forces frequently threatened.

[citation needed] Due to civil war in the Islamic empire Ali was unable to take notice of these areas, at last in the year 660 he sent a large force under the command of Haris ibn Marah Abdi towards Makran, Baluchistan and Sindh.

Around 976, Ibn Haukal found an Arab governor residing in Kaikanan (probably the modern Nal) and governing Khuzdar during his second visit to India.

[9] Afterwards part of the history of Balochistan centres around Kandahar and it was in this area in 1398 that Pir Muhammad, the grandson of Timur, fought the Afghans in the Sulaiman mountains.

In these wars a prominent part was played by Amir Zunnun Beg, Arghun, who was governor of Kandahar under Sultan Husain Mirza of Herat about 1470.

The northeastern part of the country, including almost all of the areas now under direct administration, remained under the more or less nominal suzerainty of the Sadozais and Barakzais until 1879, when Pishin, Duki, and Sibi passed into British hands by the Treaty of Gandamak.

In the earliest times they were merely petty chiefs: later they bowed to the orders of the Mughal emperors of Delhi and to the rulers of Kandahar, and supplied men-at-arms on demand.

[17] Mir Abdullah, the greatest conqueror of the dynasty, turned his attention westward to Makran, while in the north-east he captured Pishin and Shorawak from the Ghilzai rulers of Kandahar.

This view determined the diversion of Sir Thomas Willshire's brigade from Quetta to attack Kalat in 1839, an act which has been described by Malleson as 'more than a grave error, a crime.

At the end of the 19th century, when Sardar Hussein Narui Baloch started an uprising against Persia which was crushed by joint Anglo-Persian mission forces.

[citation needed] Under pressure from Colonel Stacey, Mir Nasir Khan II submitted to the British Indian Empire, and Major Outram had him installed at Kalat in 1840.

[31] The Khan demanded that his sovereignty be accepted over Kharan and Las Bela, his authority be completely reinvigorated in Kalat and the return of the districts of Nasirabad, Nushki and Quetta.

[33] After this, the Khan claimed that Kalat was a non-Indian state and requested the Government of India to accept his rule over Las Bela, Kharan and the Bugti and Marri tribal regions.

Yet it was an important province for the All-India Muslim League which, under Muhammad Ali Jinnah, proposed in 1928 that democratic reforms be introduced to Baluchistan.

[38] In British-ruled Colonial India, Baluchistan contained a Chief Commissioner's province and princely states (including Kalat, Makran, Las Bela and Kharan) that became a part of Pakistan.

[42] The then president of the Baluchistan Muslim League, 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.

"[42] The Congress, knowing that union with India would be unrealistic due to demographic and geographic reasons, propagated the notion that Pakistan would be too economically weak.

[39] Moreover, even Ahmed Yar Khan also accepted Pakistan as a legal, constitutional and political successor of the British in negotiation held in September 1947.

Ahmad Yar Khan took this as an opportunity to convince Jinnah for a treaty which would allow Pakistan's government equal control over Kalat but without a full accession.

Nawab Nauroz Khan, Chief of Jhalawan took up arms in resistance to the One Unit policy, which decreased government representation for tribal leaders, from 1958 to 1959.

[69] After the second conflict, a Baloch separatist movement gained momentum in the 1960s, following the introduction of a new constitution in 1956 which limited provincial autonomy and enacted the 'One Unit' concept of political organisation in Pakistan.

In 1973, citing treason, President Bhutto dismissed the provincial governments of Balochistan and NWFP and imposed martial law in those areas,[71] which led to armed insurgency.

Mir Hazar Khan Ramkhani formed the Balochistan People's Liberation Front (BPLF), which led large numbers of Marri and Mengal tribesmen into guerrilla warfare against the central government[72] According to some authors, the Pakistani military lost around 3,300 men during the conflict with the Baloch separatists, while between 7,300 and 9,000 Baloch militants and civilians were killed.

[74] In 2005, the Baluch political leaders Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Mir Balach Marri presented a 15-point agenda to the Pakistan government.

[77] A 2006 cable from the American Embassy in Islamabad leaked by Wikileaks noted that "there seems to be little support in the province, beyond the Bugti tribe, for the current insurgency.

One of the Baloch separatist claim that what started as an idealistic political fight for his people's rights has turned into gangs extorting, kidnapping and even raping locals.