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The Khanate of Kalat, also known as the Brahui Confederacy, was a khanate that originated in the modern-day Kalat region of Pakistan, and was ruled by the Brahui Ahmadzai dynasty. Formed in 1666 due to the threat of Mughal expansion in the region, it controlled the wider Balochistan region at its greatest extent in the mid-18th century, extending from Kerman in the west to Sindh in the east and from Helmand River in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south.
The Khanate of Kalat lost considerable area to Qajar Iran and the Emirate of Afghanistan in the early 19th century, and the city of Kalat was itself sacked by the British in 1839. Kalat became a self-governing state in a subsidiary alliance with British India after the signature of the Treaty of Kalat by the Khan of Kalat and local sardars in 1875, and the supervision of Kalat became a task of the Baluchistan Agency. Kalat was briefly independent from 12 August 1947 until 27 March 1948, when its ruler Ahmad Yar Khan acceded to Pakistan, making it one of the princely states of Pakistan.
The Khanate of Kalat was the first unified polity to emerge in the history of Balochistan. It took birth in 1666 from the confederacy of nomadic Brahui tribes, which under Mir Ahmad Khan I declared independence from the Mughal suzerainty, and slowly absorbed other principalities in the region.
According to the local traditions, Kalat was originally ruled by a Hindu ruler named Sewa, hence it was also known as Kalat-e-Sewa. Historically, the areas surrounding Kalat were a part of the Mughal province of Kandahar during the 17th century. During the reign of Shah Jahan, Mughal expansion reached its high point, and caused the emergence for the first time a unified Brahui Confederacy or what would be later known as the Khanate of Kalat.
The first ruler of the khanate was Mir Ahmad Khan I (r. 1666–1695). He was strong enough to capture Quetta, Mastung, and Pishin from the Mughal governor at Kandahar. He spent his life fighting the Afghans and Kalhoras of Sindh, and became an ally of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. During the reign of his successor, Mir Samandar Khan (r. 1697–1714), He expanded the state till Karachi. During his reign, a Safavid army under Tahmasb Beg invaded western Balochistan. Safavids were defeated, and Tahmasb was killed. Samandar Khan was rewarded by Mughals with the gift of port of Karachi.
Under Mir Abdullah Khan (r. 1716–1731), the state expanded from upper Sindh and Kandahar to Persia till the port of Bandar Abbas. He was later killed while fighting against an allied army of Hussain Hotak of Hotak dynasty and the Kalhoras in 1734. His son and successor, Mir Mehrab Khan (r. 1734–1749), was given the region of Kacchi, then under Kalhoras, by Nader Shah as blood compensation of his father.
The Khanate reached its peak during the reign of Mir Nasir Khan I (r. 1749–1794), who had unified the Kalat region and conquered cities of Khash, Bampur, Qasr-e Qand and Zahedan in the Iranian Balochistan. Since 1748, Kalat was a vassal state of Durrani Empire, and Mir Nasir Khan assisted in the campaigns of Ahmad Shah such as in the Durrani campaign to Khorasan. However, in 1758 Mir Nasir Khan revolted against Ahmad Shah. The Afghans were dispatched under vizier Shah Wali Khan to Kalat, but were defeated. As a result, Ahmad Shah marched himself with an army and defeated the Baloch armies in the battle.
Ahmad Shah laid siege to Kalat for over 40 days, and attempted to storm it, however it was unsuccessful. In the ensuing 1758 treaty of Kalat, the exact agreements are disputed. Some sources state that the Khanate of Kalat became a sovereign state. According to some other accounts, Mir Nasir Khan had recognized suzerainty of Ahmad Shah, who guaranteed non-interference in the matters of Kalat. Nevertheless, Kalat did not pay any tribute to Durrani Empire thereafter, and provided military contingents in exchange of money only. Following the collapse of the Durranis, any trace of Afghan influence over Kalat ended after the death of Sher Dil Khan, the ruler of the principality of Kandahar, in 1826.
Mir Nasir Khan, also known by his epithet, "The Great", undertook 25 military campaigns during his reign, and forced the Talpur dynasty of Sindh to pay tribute. He was the first Khan of Kalat to establish a centralized bureaucracy and issue own currency. He established the office of grand vizier to look after the affairs of the state, as well as a standing army. He had also established diplomatic relations with Ottoman Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Sultanate of Oman. In 1784, he gave refuge to the future Sultan of Oman, Sultan bin Ahmad, and gifted him the port of Gwadar. Gwadar continued to be part of Sultanate of Oman until it was purchased by Pakistan in 1958. Due to his achievements, he is considered a central figure and hero among the Brahuis as well as the Baloch.
The Khanate of Kalat declined in the early 19th century, losing much of its territory to Qajar Iran and Emirate of Afghanistan. The internal weakness of the state forced Khan of Kalat to sign the Treaty of Kalat (1876) 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. The Iran–Kalat border was demarcated in 1896, and the former territories of Kalat Khanate now form part of Iranian province of Sistan and Balochistan.
With the withdrawal of the British from the South Asia in 1947, the Indian Independence Act provided that the princely states which had existed alongside but outside British India were released from all their subsidiary alliances and other treaty obligations. The rulers were left to decide whether to accede to one of the newly independent states of India or Pakistan (both formed initially from the British possessions) or to remain independent outside both. As stated by Sardar Patel, "On the lapse of Paramountcy every Indian State became a separate independent entity."
The Instruments of Accession made available for the rulers to sign transferred only limited powers, namely external relations, defence, and communications. The Shahi Jirga of Baluchistan and the non-official members of the Quetta Municipality, according to Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema, stated their wish to join Pakistan on 29 June 1947; however, according to the political scientist Rafi Sheikh, the Shahi Jirga was stripped of its members from the Kalat State prior to the vote.
The princely state of Kalat acceded to the Dominion of Pakistan on 27 March 1948. The accession was accepted by the Governor General Muhammad Ali Jinnah on 31 March, making Kalat a part of Pakistan. The accession was a stormy affair. Kalat had remained independent from 11 August 1947 until its accession under Ahmad Yar Khan (1904–1979), becoming the last of the rulers to do so. Show elections were held during this period and a bicameral parliament was established. On the night of 27 March, All India Radio carried a story about Yar Khan approaching India with an unsuccessful request for accession in around February. The next morning, Yar Khan put out a public broadcast rejecting its veracity and declaring an immediate accession to Pakistan — all remaining differences were to be placed before Jinnah, whose decision would be binding.
Dushka H. Saiyid emphasizes that Yar Khan lost all of his bargaining chips with the accession of Kharan, Las Bela, and Makran, leaving Kalat as an island. Salman Rafi Sheikh largely concurs with Saiyid's assessment: multiple other Kalat sardars were preparing to accede to Pakistan and Yar Khan would have hardly any territory left, if he did not accede.
On 3 October 1952, the state of Kalat entered into the Baluchistan States Union with three neighbouring states, Kharan, Las Bela, and Makran, with Yar Khan of Kalat at the head of the Union with the title of Khan-e-Azam. The Khanate came to an end on 14 October 1955, when it was incorporated into West Pakistan.
The Khans of Kalat used the title of ḵān-e balōč, and the language used in their household was Balochi, even though the dynastic language was Brahui. In the court of Mir Nasir Khan I, Mullah Malikdad Qalati translated a Persian work into Brahui as Tuḥfat al-ʿAjāʾib which contained some 1,275 couplets. This work was republished in 1916.
Persian was the administrative and the communication language of the khanate for state business. Writers in the era of the khanate of Kalat have enriched the Balochi language and literature by writing several books of prose. Jām Durrak, the chief poet of the court of Mir Nasir Khan I composed wrote songs and love poems in Balochi, some of it has been collected and published The political centralization of the Khanate of Kalat failed to survive through the colonial era and did not lead to the standardization of the Balochi language.
The Khanate of Kalat covered the area of 139,850 km2 (53,995 sq mi). The territories of the Khanate of Kalat flactuated throughout its history. At the time of death of Mir Nasir Khan I in 1794, it comprised the Iranian Balochistan, parts of Sindh and Afghan Balochistan as far as the Helmand River. Significantly reduced in the late 19th century, the princely state of Kalat occupied the central part of the territory of modern-day Balochistan province in Pakistan. To the north was the Baluchistan (Chief Commissioner's Province), part of British India.
Kalat state was divided into following sub-divisions:
The rulers of Kalat at first held the title of Wali but in 1739 also took the title of (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.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Khanate of Kalat”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.