| Baloch Society Of North America (BSO_NA) Baloch Society Of North America (BSO_NA) is Non-Profit Organization, working to unite and Organize all Baloch in North America, to expose the Occupation of our land (Balochistan) and exploitations of our resources by Pakistani and Iranian Governments, and to bring their Human Rights Violations in Balochistan into the world’s Notice. |
Baloch: Area and Location
Mir Nasir Khan II, Khan of Kalat (1840-75), was questioned about the borders of Baluchistan by the British and Afghan envoys at his court.
Replied the Khan: "My ancestor and namesake Nasir Khan Nuri had already replied in geographical terms to a similar question long ago,
and I repeat: all those regions where the Baluch are settled are a part and parcel of our state."
Geography has played a very significant role in preserving Baloch identity. Baluchistan which is at present divided politically between three
different countries, is, physically, a compact unit. Its total area is approximately 340,000 sq. miles, which is larger than several European
states.
Different views are expressed on the national and ethnic borders of Baluchistan. The Encyclopedia of Islam says: "The exact boundaries of
Balochistan are undetermined. In general, it occupies the southeastern part of the Iranian Plateau from the Kirman desert of Bam and
Bashagird to the western borders of Sind and the Punjab." The Encyclopadia Britannica defines the borders as stretching "from the Gomal
River in the northeast to the Arabian Sea in the south and from the borders of Iran and Afghanistan in the west and northwest to the
Sulaiman Mountains and Kirthar Hills in the east, including the region of southeastern Iran." Lord Curzon had defined Baluchistan as "the
country between the Helmand and the Arabian Sea, and between Kirman and Sind." A.W.Hughes asserts that "Baluchistan in the modern
acceptance of the term, may be said in a general sense to include all that tract of country which has for its northern and northeastern
boundary the large kingdom of Afghanistan, its eastern frontier being limited by the British province of Sind and its western by the Persian
state, while the Arabian Sea washes its southern base for a distance of nearly six hundred miles ....... however, this can only be regarded as
a very general description of the boundaries of Baluchistan." Dames remarks: "Apart from modern political boundaries, Balochistan
includes Persian Baluchistan, the Khanate of Kalat, and the British districts of Dera Ghazi Khan (with the adjoining mountains), Jacobabad,
and part of Shikarpur as far as the Indus." Davies defines the ethnic border between the Pashtuns (or Afghans) and the Baloch in Pakistan
as follows: "The boundary between Baluchistan and the Frontier Province is political, not ethnic ..... What approximates more nearly to an
ethnic boundary between Pathan and Baluch runs from near the town of Chaudhwan in the Dera Ismail Khan district, through Thal Chotiali
and Sibi to Chaman." Major Raverty had referred to "Sair-ul-Bilad" for the boundaries of Balochistan, saying that "it extends from the town of
Pahar-pur lying at the foot of the Salt Range, nearly 10 Kuroh north of the derah (Dera) of Ismail Khan, and includes Derha-Jat, to the ocean."
The author of Khulasatul-Tawarikh, Sujan Rai Batalwi, describes "River Chanab as the eastern border between Baluchistan and Mughal
India." Mir Nasir Khan II, Khan of Kalat (1840-75), was questioned about the borders of Baluchistan by the British and Afghan envoys at his
court. Replied the Khan: "My ancestor and namesake Nasir Khan Nuri had already replied in geographical terms to a similar question long
ago, and I repeat: all those regions where the Baluch are settled are a part and parcel of our state," Sir Thornton, foreign secretary to the
Government of India had described the territory of Baluchistan under the control of the Khanate of Kalat: "That territory may be described as
the mountainous country west of the Indus Valley, bounded on the north by Afghanistan, on the east by Sind and the Punjab, on the west by
Persia, and on the south by the Arabian Sea ..... Its (Kalat) area is more than ten times that of Switzerland ..... and its coastline extends for
nearly 600 miles." Robert Sandeman wrote on April 10, 1872, that the Khanate of Baluchistan "before we interfered in her affairs, extended in
the north to Shaulkot, or, as called by us, Quetta; to the sea on the coast of Mekran; from the frontier of Persia beyond Kharan and Panjgur on
the west; to Sind and the Punjab in the east." Iranian writers describe Western Baluchistan as bounded by Central Kawir in the north, by the
Sea of Oman in the south and Pakistan in the east, and by the Kirman province of Iran in the west. Mohammad Sardar Khan has suggested
the map of Baluchistan "be drawn from Sarakhs on the Russian border to Gunabad, Meshad, thence straight to Bampur, Ramish and finally
to Bander Abbas, the territory to the east of this line, touching the boundaries to the Baloch territories of Afghanistan and Mekuran is mainly a
Baluch country." Several other maps published by the nationalists claim more or less the same territory as described by Sardar Khan. It is
interesting to note that most of the maps are based on the information collected by Lord Curzon during his travels in Iran.
Most of the nationalists forget that Eastern Khorasan is a multi-national area, consisting of Baluch, Turkmen, and several other ethnic
groups. This also applies to their claim on Farah in Afghanistan. After careful study we conclude that Balochistan constitutes the following
areas, on the basis of a common territory, history, culture, and language: the Indus and Hub rivers and the mountain of Kirthar form a natural
border between Balochistan and the Indian subcontinent; in the northeast, the Sulaiman mountains and the river Gomal separate
Balochistan from the Pashtuns of Pakistan; while western Balochistan is separated by Dasht-e-Lut and Dasht-e-Kavir from the bulk of
Persian-speaking Iran; in the south, the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf divide the Arabs and the Baloch; in the northwest, desert
(Registan) and the mountains form the natural boundary between the Afghan and the Baloch.
Physically Balochistan is part of the Central-Asian plateau. This fact is recognized in the writings of political historians, scholars, and legal
experts. Edward Wakefield, a British political officer, travelled in Balochistan and made the following observations about the climate and
geography of Balochistan: "From Karachi, we travelled north by rail. Dawn was breaking as the two engines pulling our train laboured up the
Bolan pass. From our carriage windows Lalage and I looked out on a new world, a world that had nothing in common with the India we had
known before. Here were rugged, barren, sunbrowned mountains, cleft by deep ravens and gorges. Forbidding of aspect in the full light of
day, the hills were now, in the first light of dawn, clothed with a gentle effulgence that made them seem welcoming and friendly. The air, too,
was different from that of India, but of the Central Asian plateau. Simply to breathe such air in such surroundings was exhilarating."
In 1946, M.A. Jinnah, the legal advisor of the Khan, submitted a memorandum to the Cabinet Mission, demanding the separation of
Balochistan from British India on geographical terms: "Geographically Kalat does not fall within the territorial limits of India. In the north it is
separated from India by the massive barrier of the southern buttresses of the Sulaiman Mountains. In the south there is the long extension
from Kalat of the inconceivably wild highland country which faces the desert of Sind, the foot of which forms the Indian frontier. Thid the land
of the Baluch, and the flat wall of its frontier limestone barrier is one of the most remarkable features in the configuration of the whole line of
Indian borderlands."
Several Pakistani scholars admit that Baluchistan, geographically, is part of the Central Asian plateau rather than part of the Indo-Pak
subcontinent. Similarly, western Baluchistan is separated from Persian-speaking Iran. Richard W. Cottam admits the weakness of Iranian
nationalism with regard to geography. Cottam writes that "the climatic and geographical conditions have hindered the growth of Iranian
nationalism. The impregnable triangle served to isolate from the plateau areas those sections of Iran that lie outside the legs of the triangle.
Khuzistan, the Caspian coastal area, Khorasan, Sistan and Iranian Baluchistan -- all located outside the triangle -- could disregard the
central government to a considerable degree."
Natural barriers have helped several countries to preserve their independence. Difficult mountains and climate helped the Afghans, for
example, to protect their independence from British invasion. Saudi Arabia and Mongolia were protected from invasions by their mountains
and deserts.
Baluchistan, also, was saved from permanent occupation by foreign invaders because of its difficult mountain and desert terrain. The
Persians, Arabs, Turks, Afghans, and the British failed to incorporate it into their kingdoms and empires.
In the 7th century, Caliph Osman was warned about the difficulties of communications and the harsh climate in Balochistan. This fact can be
noticed, too, from the lament of an Arab Governor, Sinan bin Salma: "Thou showest me that road to Makran (Balochistan) but what a
difference there is between an order and execution. I will never enter this country, as its name alone terrifies me."
The same geographical features which helped to preserve Baluchistan from foreign occupation and established its separate identity also
prevented the growth of a central government at Kalat to control the areas over a long distance. Dodai chiefs and the Khan of Kalat tried to
develop the communications system in order to overcome these natural barriers. It was a result of this lack of communications that in 1839,
when the British army invaded Kalat, the Khan failed to rally the Baloch tribes in time.
(Source: The Problem of Greater Balochistan, written be Innayatullah Baloch)
Mir Nasir Khan II, Khan of Kalat (1840-75), was questioned about the borders of Baluchistan by the British and Afghan envoys at his court.
Replied the Khan: "My ancestor and namesake Nasir Khan Nuri had already replied in geographical terms to a similar question long ago,
and I repeat: all those regions where the Baluch are settled are a part and parcel of our state."
Geography has played a very significant role in preserving Baloch identity. Baluchistan which is at present divided politically between three
different countries, is, physically, a compact unit. Its total area is approximately 340,000 sq. miles, which is larger than several European
states.
Different views are expressed on the national and ethnic borders of Baluchistan. The Encyclopedia of Islam says: "The exact boundaries of
Balochistan are undetermined. In general, it occupies the southeastern part of the Iranian Plateau from the Kirman desert of Bam and
Bashagird to the western borders of Sind and the Punjab." The Encyclopadia Britannica defines the borders as stretching "from the Gomal
River in the northeast to the Arabian Sea in the south and from the borders of Iran and Afghanistan in the west and northwest to the
Sulaiman Mountains and Kirthar Hills in the east, including the region of southeastern Iran." Lord Curzon had defined Baluchistan as "the
country between the Helmand and the Arabian Sea, and between Kirman and Sind." A.W.Hughes asserts that "Baluchistan in the modern
acceptance of the term, may be said in a general sense to include all that tract of country which has for its northern and northeastern
boundary the large kingdom of Afghanistan, its eastern frontier being limited by the British province of Sind and its western by the Persian
state, while the Arabian Sea washes its southern base for a distance of nearly six hundred miles ....... however, this can only be regarded as
a very general description of the boundaries of Baluchistan." Dames remarks: "Apart from modern political boundaries, Balochistan
includes Persian Baluchistan, the Khanate of Kalat, and the British districts of Dera Ghazi Khan (with the adjoining mountains), Jacobabad,
and part of Shikarpur as far as the Indus." Davies defines the ethnic border between the Pashtuns (or Afghans) and the Baloch in Pakistan
as follows: "The boundary between Baluchistan and the Frontier Province is political, not ethnic ..... What approximates more nearly to an
ethnic boundary between Pathan and Baluch runs from near the town of Chaudhwan in the Dera Ismail Khan district, through Thal Chotiali
and Sibi to Chaman." Major Raverty had referred to "Sair-ul-Bilad" for the boundaries of Balochistan, saying that "it extends from the town of
Pahar-pur lying at the foot of the Salt Range, nearly 10 Kuroh north of the derah (Dera) of Ismail Khan, and includes Derha-Jat, to the ocean."
The author of Khulasatul-Tawarikh, Sujan Rai Batalwi, describes "River Chanab as the eastern border between Baluchistan and Mughal
India." Mir Nasir Khan II, Khan of Kalat (1840-75), was questioned about the borders of Baluchistan by the British and Afghan envoys at his
court. Replied the Khan: "My ancestor and namesake Nasir Khan Nuri had already replied in geographical terms to a similar question long
ago, and I repeat: all those regions where the Baluch are settled are a part and parcel of our state," Sir Thornton, foreign secretary to the
Government of India had described the territory of Baluchistan under the control of the Khanate of Kalat: "That territory may be described as
the mountainous country west of the Indus Valley, bounded on the north by Afghanistan, on the east by Sind and the Punjab, on the west by
Persia, and on the south by the Arabian Sea ..... Its (Kalat) area is more than ten times that of Switzerland ..... and its coastline extends for
nearly 600 miles." Robert Sandeman wrote on April 10, 1872, that the Khanate of Baluchistan "before we interfered in her affairs, extended in
the north to Shaulkot, or, as called by us, Quetta; to the sea on the coast of Mekran; from the frontier of Persia beyond Kharan and Panjgur on
the west; to Sind and the Punjab in the east." Iranian writers describe Western Baluchistan as bounded by Central Kawir in the north, by the
Sea of Oman in the south and Pakistan in the east, and by the Kirman province of Iran in the west. Mohammad Sardar Khan has suggested
the map of Baluchistan "be drawn from Sarakhs on the Russian border to Gunabad, Meshad, thence straight to Bampur, Ramish and finally
to Bander Abbas, the territory to the east of this line, touching the boundaries to the Baloch territories of Afghanistan and Mekuran is mainly a
Baluch country." Several other maps published by the nationalists claim more or less the same territory as described by Sardar Khan. It is
interesting to note that most of the maps are based on the information collected by Lord Curzon during his travels in Iran.
Most of the nationalists forget that Eastern Khorasan is a multi-national area, consisting of Baluch, Turkmen, and several other ethnic
groups. This also applies to their claim on Farah in Afghanistan. After careful study we conclude that Balochistan constitutes the following
areas, on the basis of a common territory, history, culture, and language: the Indus and Hub rivers and the mountain of Kirthar form a natural
border between Balochistan and the Indian subcontinent; in the northeast, the Sulaiman mountains and the river Gomal separate
Balochistan from the Pashtuns of Pakistan; while western Balochistan is separated by Dasht-e-Lut and Dasht-e-Kavir from the bulk of
Persian-speaking Iran; in the south, the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf divide the Arabs and the Baloch; in the northwest, desert
(Registan) and the mountains form the natural boundary between the Afghan and the Baloch.
Physically Balochistan is part of the Central-Asian plateau. This fact is recognized in the writings of political historians, scholars, and legal
experts. Edward Wakefield, a British political officer, travelled in Balochistan and made the following observations about the climate and
geography of Balochistan: "From Karachi, we travelled north by rail. Dawn was breaking as the two engines pulling our train laboured up the
Bolan pass. From our carriage windows Lalage and I looked out on a new world, a world that had nothing in common with the India we had
known before. Here were rugged, barren, sunbrowned mountains, cleft by deep ravens and gorges. Forbidding of aspect in the full light of
day, the hills were now, in the first light of dawn, clothed with a gentle effulgence that made them seem welcoming and friendly. The air, too,
was different from that of India, but of the Central Asian plateau. Simply to breathe such air in such surroundings was exhilarating."
In 1946, M.A. Jinnah, the legal advisor of the Khan, submitted a memorandum to the Cabinet Mission, demanding the separation of
Balochistan from British India on geographical terms: "Geographically Kalat does not fall within the territorial limits of India. In the north it is
separated from India by the massive barrier of the southern buttresses of the Sulaiman Mountains. In the south there is the long extension
from Kalat of the inconceivably wild highland country which faces the desert of Sind, the foot of which forms the Indian frontier. Thid the land
of the Baluch, and the flat wall of its frontier limestone barrier is one of the most remarkable features in the configuration of the whole line of
Indian borderlands."
Several Pakistani scholars admit that Baluchistan, geographically, is part of the Central Asian plateau rather than part of the Indo-Pak
subcontinent. Similarly, western Baluchistan is separated from Persian-speaking Iran. Richard W. Cottam admits the weakness of Iranian
nationalism with regard to geography. Cottam writes that "the climatic and geographical conditions have hindered the growth of Iranian
nationalism. The impregnable triangle served to isolate from the plateau areas those sections of Iran that lie outside the legs of the triangle.
Khuzistan, the Caspian coastal area, Khorasan, Sistan and Iranian Baluchistan -- all located outside the triangle -- could disregard the
central government to a considerable degree."
Natural barriers have helped several countries to preserve their independence. Difficult mountains and climate helped the Afghans, for
example, to protect their independence from British invasion. Saudi Arabia and Mongolia were protected from invasions by their mountains
and deserts.
Baluchistan, also, was saved from permanent occupation by foreign invaders because of its difficult mountain and desert terrain. The
Persians, Arabs, Turks, Afghans, and the British failed to incorporate it into their kingdoms and empires.
In the 7th century, Caliph Osman was warned about the difficulties of communications and the harsh climate in Balochistan. This fact can be
noticed, too, from the lament of an Arab Governor, Sinan bin Salma: "Thou showest me that road to Makran (Balochistan) but what a
difference there is between an order and execution. I will never enter this country, as its name alone terrifies me."
The same geographical features which helped to preserve Baluchistan from foreign occupation and established its separate identity also
prevented the growth of a central government at Kalat to control the areas over a long distance. Dodai chiefs and the Khan of Kalat tried to
develop the communications system in order to overcome these natural barriers. It was a result of this lack of communications that in 1839,
when the British army invaded Kalat, the Khan failed to rally the Baloch tribes in time.
(Source: The Problem of Greater Balochistan, written be Innayatullah Baloch)