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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)