The Untold Story of Balochistan Part 2 | India connection of Balochistan facing violence. Teh Tak

There is a part in the middle of Pakistan which was once advocated by Mohammad Ali Jinnah himself to remain independent. India has existed for the last 15,000 years. Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Pakistan and Hindustan were all parts of India. This is the meaning of saying ‘Akhand Bharat’. Afghanistan got independence from British rule on 18 August 1919. However, much before this, Afghanistan had become an independent nation. On 26 May 1739, Delhi’s Emperor Muhammad Shah Akbar made a treaty with Nadir Shah of Iran and handed over Afghanistan to him. There was no nation named ‘Afghanistan’ till the 17th century. The name Afghanistan became popular only during the reign of Ahmed Shah Durrani (1747-1773). Only then did it become an independent nation. The Baloch nationalist movement takes as its base the Khanate of Kalat of Mir Ahmed, established in 1666. After Mir Nasir Khan accepted Afghan suzerainty in 1758, Kalat’s borders extended to Dera Ghazi Khan in the east and Bandar Abbas in the west. With the help of Nadir Shah of Iran, the Khans of Kalat united the Brahui tribesmen and came to power.

India rejected the merger proposal…

27 March 1948 Khan Mir Ahmed Khan was resting in a palace in Kalat. The clock was exactly 9 o’clock in the morning. The news was broadcast on All India Radio. Lying awkwardly, Khan had one ear on the radio when the ground started slipping beneath his feet. News was coming on the radio that India rejected their merger proposal. Khan was shocked to hear this. However, the issue was not that India rejected the proposal but that Pakistan had come to know about it through radio. What happened the next day is history. At the time of India’s independence in 1947, the region currently known as Balochistan was divided into four princely states, Kalat, Kharan, Las Belas and Makran. These states were given three options such as merger with India, joining Pakistan, or maintaining their independence. Under the influence of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Kharan, Las Bela and Makran chose to become part of Pakistan.

Khan’s surrender

In his book ‘Baloch Nationalism: Its Origin and Development up to 1980’, Taj Mohammad Bresag has mentioned the meeting between Jinnah and Khan, in which the Pakistani PM advised Jinnah to expedite the merger with Islamabad. Khan rejected Jinnah’s demand and said that since Baluchistan is a land of many tribes the people there should be consulted before any decision. According to general tribal convention, I do not take any decisions which cannot be binding on them unless they are taken into confidence by their Khan. Following Jinnah’s proposal on the merger of Kalat, the Khan of Kalat called a meeting of the legislature, in which both Houses of Parliament not only unanimously opposed the merger proposal, but also argued that it was against the spirit of the earlier agreement. In December 1947 General Purves approached the Commonwealth Relations Office and the Ministry of Supply in London for the supply of arms, but the British rejected his demand saying that Kalat would not receive any military assistance without the approval of the Government of Pakistan. Khan also tried to garner the support of Baloch sardars (leaders), but none supported him except two. When Jinnah saw that Khan was only wasting time, he announced the separation of Kharan, Las Bela and Mekran areas on March 18, 1948. This left Kalat as an island. However, at the same time Khan desperately appealed for help to the Indian authorities and the Afghan king, but without any success. Khan had no option but to accept Jinnah’s terms.