Khanate of Kalat

The Khanate of Kalat (Balochi: خانات ءِ قلات‎) was a Baloch Khanate,[2] that existed from 1666 to 1955 in the centre of the modern-day province of Balochistan, Pakistan. Prior to that they were subjects of Mughal emperor Akbar.[3][4] Ahmedzai Khan ruled the state independently until 1839, when it became a self-governing state in a subsidiary alliance with British India. After the signature of the Treaty of Mastung by the Khan of Kalat and the Baloch Sardars in 1876, Kalat became part of the Baluchistan Agency.[5] It was briefly independent from 12 August 1947 until 27 March 1948, when the Khan acceded his state to the new Dominion of Pakistan. It remained a princely state of Pakistan until 1955, when it was incorporated into the country. The khanate, a political centralization of the Baloch people, failed to survive through the colonial era and did not lead to standardization of the Baloch language.[6]

Khanate of Kalat

خانات ءِ قلات
1512–14 October 1955
Flag
Kalat State (in yellow) from the Imperial Gazetteer of India
CapitalKalat
Common languagesPersian (administration)[1]
GovernmentMonarchy
History 
• Established
1512
• Disestablished
14 October 1955
Area
91,909 km2 (35,486 sq mi)
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Mughal Empire
West Pakistan
Today part ofBalochistan, Pakistan
This article is part of the series
Former administrative units of Pakistan
Original provinces
Princely states
One-unit provinces
Other subdivisions
The State of Kalat as recognised by Pakistan (in red)

Geography

The Khanate of Kalat occupied the central part of the territory of modern-day Balochistan province in Pakistan. To the north was Baluchistan (Chief Commissioner's Province).

The principal mountains are the Central Baloch, Kirthar, Pab, Siahan, Central Makran and Makran Coast Ranges, which descend in elevation from about 10,000 to 1,200 feet (370 m). The drainage of the country is almost all carried off to the south by the Nari, Mula, Hab, Porali, Hingol and Dasht rivers. The only large river draining northwards is the Rakhshan. The coast line includes Gawadar, Pasni, Sonmiani and Geewani, modern-day Pakistani Balochistan.

Subdivisions
  • Jhalawan, an ethnic Brahui subdivision, headed by the chief nawab of the Zarakzai tribe, called chief of Jhalawan
  • Kacchi, an ethnic Sindhi subdivision, in which various tribes had their own tribal lands under the Khan of Kalat
  • Sarawan, an ethnic Baloch subdivision, headed by chief nawab of Raisani tribe, called chief of Sarawan[7]

Princely states under British Raj

History

In the wake of Arab conquest toward the beginning of 8th century A.D. Kurdghalnamak - a recent discovered book written by Akhund Muhammad Saleh in the17th century A.D in Kalat -mentions that Baloch tribes came and settled in this area in the 853 B.C. In the 12th and 13th centuries Tarikh-i-Masumi records the presence of Balochis during the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq(1326- 27).[8] According to Ta'rikh-i Ihya' al-muluk, at the end of the 16th century the Kelat region (former Turan) was under the control of the Safavids, but at the beginning of the 17th century the Baluch tribe of Lashari stood up against the Sistan Khan and the Kermanian Beglar-Begi, and took control of Turan and Makran, until the Kelat Khanate appeared.[9] The Khanate of Kalat was founded in 1666 by Mir Ahmad Khan. Soon after, a Mughal force fled Kandahar and occupied Quetta, Mastung, and Mangocher. In 1667, this force was descisively defeated in the Quetta valley and the khanate managed to regain the occupied districts along with Chagai. The Khanate reached at its peak during the period of Khan of Kalat Mir Noori Naseer Khan, in 1758, who unified Kalat region under his flag.[10] The territories controlled by the state fluctuated over the centuries but eventually were established by treaties with the British Agent Robert Sandeman in the late 19th century. Parts of the state to the north and northeast were leased or ceded to form the province of British Baluchistan which later gained the status of a Chief Commissioners province.

From 12 August 1947 to 27 March 1948, the region was de facto independent before acceding to Pakistan on 27 March 1948. The Baluchistan States Union was formed on 3 October 1952 with three neighbouring states. The Khanate of Kalat ceased to exist on 14 October 1955 when the province of West Pakistan was formed.

The Khanate of Kalat had a flag green over red. In the center occupying the red part and a little part of the green, a large white crescent pointed upwards and a white star (the star exactly in the center of the two stripes). Within the star and crescent an Islamic inscription. On the star is the Takbir ("God is the greatest") and on the crescent moon is the Shahada ("There is no god but God and Muhammad is His messenger"). All of this is placed on the horizontal bicolor of green over red. These are colors to which Muslim Baluch assign great significance.[11]

Rulers of Kalat

The rulers of Kalat held the title of Wali originally but in 1739 also took the title (Begler Begi) Khan usually shortened to Khan. The last Khan of Kalat (Balochi: خان قلات‎) had the privilege of being the President of the Council of Rulers for the Baluchistan States Union. They also had the title of beylerbey.

TenureKhan of Kalat [10]
1512–1530Mir Bijar Khan Mirwani
1530–1535Mir Zagar Khan Mirwani
1535–1547Mir Ibrahim Khan Qambrani (Changed his Royal family name from Mirwani to Qambrani )
1547–1549Mir Gwahram Khan Qambrani
1549–1569Mir Hassan Khan Qambrani
1569–1581Mir Sanjar Khan Qambrani
1581–1590Mir Malook Khan Qambrani
1590–1601Mir Qambar Sani Khan Qambrani
1601–1610Mir Ahmad Khan Qambrani I
1610–1618Mir Suri Khan Qambrani
1618–1629Mir Qaisar Khan Qambrani
1629–1637Mir Ahmad Sani Khan Qambrani II
1637–1647Mir Altaz Khan Qambrani I
1647–1656Mir Kachi Khan Qambrani
1656–1666Mir Altaz Sani Khan Qambrani II
1666–1695Mir Ahmad I Khan Qambrani III (Changed his Royal family name from Qambrani to Ahmadzai )
1695–1697Mir Mehrab Khan Ahmadzai I
1697–1714Mir Samandar Khan Ahmadzai (Amir al-Umara Amir of Amirs)
1714–1716Mir Ahmad II Khan Ahmadzai
1716–1731Mir Abdullah Khan Ahmadzai (Eagle of the Mountain and The Greatest )
1731–1749Mir Muhabbat Khan Ahmadzai (Beglar Begi )
1749–1794Mir Muhammad Nasir Khan I Ahmadzai (Noori, Ghazi, Wali and The Great )
1794–1817Mir Mahmud Khan I Ahmadzai
1817–13 November 1839Mir Mehrab Khan Ahmadzai II
1839–1841Mir Shah Nawaz Khan Ahmadzai
1841–1857Mir Nasir Khan II Ahmadzai
1857–March 1863Mir Khudadad Khan Ahmadzai (1st time); during his rule, there were seven major and many minor rebellions.
March 1863–May 1864Mir Sherdil Khan Ahmadzai (usurped throne)
May 1864–15 August 1893Mir Khudadad Khan (2nd time)
10 November 1893 – 3 November 1931Mir Mahmud Khan II Ahmadzai
3 November 1931 – 10 September 1933Mir Mohammad Azam Jan Khan Ahmadzai
10 September 1933 – 14 October 1955Mir Ahmad Yar Khan Ahmadzai (1st time);
declared independent on 12 August 1947; agreed to accede to Pakistan on 27 March 1948
14 October 1955State of Kalat merged into One Unit of West Pakistan[12]
20 June 1958 – 1979Mir Ahmad Yar Khan Ahmadzai
1979–1998Mir Dawood Jan Ahmadzai
1998–2006Mir Agha Sulaiman Jan Ahmadzai
2006–presentPrince Mir Mohammad Khan Ahmadzai

See also
Palace of Mir Khudadad, Khan of Kalat.

References
  1. Spooner, Brian (2011). "10. Balochi: Towards a Biography of the Language". In Schiffman, Harold F. (ed.). Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors. Brill. p. 320. ISBN 978-9004201453. The medium of administration in this state, which became known as the Khanate of Kalat, was Persian, as was customary down to the 19th century throughout south and central Asia and beyond (see Spooner, this volume).
  2. Axmann, Martin (2 August 2012). Back to the Future: The Khanate of Kalat and the Genesis of Baluch Nationalism, 1915-1955. The study portrays the decline and disintegration of the Baluch khanate of Kalat during the last decades of British rule and investigates the genesis of Baluch nationalism during the first half of the XX century.: OUP Pakistan. ISBN 978-0-19-906592-9.
  3. "Treaty of Kalat between Balochistan and Afghanistan in 1758" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  4. "Baluchistan" Imperial Gazetteer of India Vol. 6, p. 277, from the Digital South Asia Library, accessed 15 January 2009
  5. "Balochistan Archives - Records of the Agent to the Governor General in Balochistan". Archived from the original on 9 July 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  6. Spooner, Brian (2011). "10. Balochi: Towards a Biography of the Language". In Schiffman, Harold F. (ed.). Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors. Brill. p. 320. ISBN 978-9004201453. Although a Baloch state was established at Kalat (located now in Pakistan) in 1638 (cf. Spooner 1984, 1989), under a dynastic Khan, this political centralization did not survive through the colonial period and did not lead to standardization of the [Baloch] language.
  7. IDSA News Review on South Asia/Indian Ocean. Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. 1987.
  8. Middle East: Journal of Area Study Centre. Area Study Centre for Middle East & Arab Countries, University of Baluchistan. 1995.
  9. "Восточная Литература - библиотека текстов Средневековья". www.vostlit.info. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  10. Naseer Dashti (8 October 2012). The Baloch and Balochistan: A Historical Account from the Beginning to the Fall of the Baloch State. Trafford Publishing. p. 280. ISBN 978-1-4669-5897-5. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  11. http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/in-kalat.html
  12. Siddiqi, Farhan Hanif (2012), The Politics of Ethnicity in Pakistan: The Baloch, Sindhi and Mohajir Ethnic Movements, Routledge, p. 62, ISBN 978-0-415-68614-3

Further reading

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