View source for Baluchistan (Chief Commissioner's Province)

{{Short description|Colony of British Empire}}
{{About|the former Chief Commissioner's Province of Baluchistan|other uses|Balochistan (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}
{{Infobox former subdivision
| common_name            = Baluchistan (CCP)
| conventional_long_name = Chief Commissioner's Province of British Baluchistan
| native_name            =
| subdivision            = Province
| nation                 = [[British India]] & [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]]
| image_map              = {{switcher|[[File:Baluchistan CCP map.png|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Baluchistan Province in Pakistan|[[File:Baluchistan Agency 1931 Map.png|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Districts of Baluchistan Province (red) and surrounding princely states (green)}}
| image_map_caption      =
| capital                = [[Quetta]]
| stat_year1             = 1901
| stat_area1             = 139,396<ref>Province area. Total area including dependent states – 341 503 км2 (131 855 sq mi).</ref><ref>''The Imperial Gazetteer of India'' (26 vol, 1908–31), highly detailed description of all of India in 1901. [https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/ online edition] 1908, p. 265</ref>
| stat_year2             = 1903
| stat_area2             = 140010
| year_start             = 1876
| year_end               = 1955
| event1                 = Quetta and surrounding districts placed under British administration
| date_event1            = 1879
| event2                 = Administration of Pishin and Sibi tract assumed from Afghanistan
| date_event2            = 1879
| event3                 = Bolan Pass tracts leased to British by Kalat
| date_event3            = 1883
| event4                 = Zhob and country of Khetran tribes brought under British rule from Afghanistan
| date_event4            = 1890
| event5                 = Chagai and West Sinjrani brought under British administration
| date_event5            = 1896
| event6                 = Leased Nushki from Kalat
| date_event6            = 1899
| event7                 = Leased Nasirabad from Kalat
| date_event7            = 1903
| footnotes              =
| demonym                =
| today                  =
| p1                     = Baluchis
| s1                     = Balochistan, Pakistan
| government_type        =
| flag_s1                = Flag of Pakistan.svg
| image_flag             = British Raj Red Ensign.svg
| p2                     = Baluchistan Agency
| flag_p2                = Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
}}
{{Former administrative units of Pakistan}}
The '''Chief Commissioner's Province of British Baluchistan''' was a province of [[British India]] established in 1876. Upon the creation of [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]] it acceded to the newly formed state. It was part of the [[Baluchistan Agency]]. It was dissolved to form a united province of [[West Pakistan]] in 1955 upon the creation of [[One Unit Scheme]].
==History==
The province was originally formed over the period 1876–1891 by three treaties between [[Robert Groves Sandeman|Robert Sandeman]] and the [[Khan of Kalat]], [[Khudadad of Kalat]]. Sandeman became the Political Agent for the British-administered areas which were strategically located between British India and [[Afghanistan]]. A military base was established at [[Quetta]] which played a major part in the [[Second Afghan War|Second]] and [[Third Afghan War]]s.
[[File:IGI1908Beluchistan2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|1908 map of Baluchistan, British India]]
Balochistan was legally ceded to Pakistan by its rulers in 1947 and continued to be administered by a Chief Commissioner. It was dissolved in 1955 when most parts of the western wing of Pakistan became the new province of [[West Pakistan]]. West Pakistan was dissolved in 1970. Khan Abdul Wali Khan intended to transfer political power to the Pashtuns. The former Chief Commissioner's province was combined with the former [[Balochistan States Union]] and the enclave of [[Gwadar]] to form a new, larger [[Balochistan Province]], with a Governor, a Chief Minister and a [[Elections in Pakistan|Provincial Assembly]].
==Demographics==
{{see also|Baluchistan Agency#Demographics}}
The population of the province was equally split between [[Baloch tribes]] in the south and west and [[Pashtun tribes]] in the north.
{{Expand section|date=June 2008}}
==Government==
The province was administered by a Chief Commissioner appointed by the Federal Government. Although there was no elected legislature the Chief Commissioner could consult the [[Jirga|Shahi Jirga]], an assembly of tribal leaders.
The province comprised three groups of areas – the settled districts, the political agencies and the tribal area. The settled areas were mainly the district around Quetta and [[Kathi Darbar|Jaffarabad]]. The agencies were the [[Zhob]] agency to the north of Quetta and the [[Chagai District|Chagai]] agency to the west, which had a tenuous land link with the rest of the province. The tribal areas were the [[Bugti]] and [[Kohlu District|Marri]] tribal agencies which would later become [[Provincially Administered Tribal Areas]] in the new [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan province]].
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Tenure||Chief Commissioner of Balochistan<ref name="worldstatesmen">{{cite web| url=http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Pakistan_states.html#Balochistan| title=Pakistan Provinces| author=Ben Cahoon, WorldStatesmen.org| access-date=3 October 2007| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070930023623/http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Pakistan_states.html| archive-date= 30 September 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref>
|-
|15 August 1947 – 3 October 1947||Sir Geoffrey Prior
|-
|3 October 1947 – 8 April 1948||Sir Ambrose Dundas Flux Dundas
|-
|9 April 1948 – 18 January 1949||Cecil Arthur Grant Savidge
|-
|19 January 1949 – 16 July 1949||Sahibzada Mohammad Kursheed
|-
|16 July 1949 – 18 November 1952||Mian Aminuddin
|-
|18 November 1952 – 13 February 1953||Unknown
|-
|13 February 1953 – 8 November 1954||Qurban Ali Khan
|-
|8 November 1954 – 19 July 1955||[[Sardar Bahadur Khan]]
|-
|19 July 1955 – 25 July 1955||R.A.F. Hyride
|-
|26 July 1955 – 14 October 1955||R.A.M. Shaker
|-
|14 October 1955||Province abolished
|}
see [[List of Chief Commissioners of Baluchistan]]
==See also==
*[[Balochistan province]]
*[[Balochistan States Union]]
*[[Governor's House, Quetta|Quetta Residency]]
*[[Makran]]
*[[Las Bela (princely state)|Las Bela]]
*[[Kharan (princely state)|Kharan]]
*[[Khanate of Kalat]]
*[[Politics of Pakistan]]
*[[History of Pakistan]]
*[[Robert Groves Sandeman]]
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.baloch.gov.pk Government of Balochistan]{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
{{Presidencies and provinces of British India}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:1876 establishments in the British Empire]]
[[Category:Former provinces of Pakistan]]
[[Category:History of Balochistan, Pakistan (1947–present)]]
[[Category:Provinces of British India]]