● THE HISTORY OF PAKISTAN………

The history of Pakistan preceding the country's independence in 1947[1] is shared with that
of Afghanistan, India, and Iran. Spanning the western expanse of the Indian subcontinent
and the eastern borderlands of the Iranian plateau, the region of present-day Pakistan
served both as the fertile ground of a major civilization and as the gateway of South Asia to
Central Asia and the Near East.Situated on the first coastal migration route of Homo sapiens
out of Africa, the region was inhabited early by modern humans.[4][5] The 9,000-year history
of village life in South Asia traces back to the Neolithic (7000–4300 BCE) site of Mehrgarh in
Pakistan,[6][7][8] and the 5,000-year history of urban life in South Asia to the various sites of
the Indus Valley Civilization, including Mohenjo Daro and Harappa.

Following the decline of the Indus valley civilization, Indo-Aryan tribes moved into the Punjab
from Central Asia in several waves of migration in the Vedic Period (1500–500 BCE),
bringing with them came their distinctive religious traditions and practices which fused with
local culture.[11] The Indo-Aryans religious beliefs and practices from the Bactria–Margiana
culture and the native Harappan Indus beliefs of the former Indus Valley Civilisation
eventually gave rise to Vedic culture and tribes.[12][note 1] Most notable among them was
Gandhara civilization, which flourished at the crossroads of India, Central Asia, and the
Middle East, connecting trade routes and absorbing cultural influences from diverse
civilizations.[14] The initial early Vedic culture was a tribal, pastoral society centred in the
Indus Valley, of what is today Pakistan. During this period the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of
Hinduism, were composed.[note 2]

The ensuing millennia saw the region of present-day Pakistan absorb many
influences—represented among others in the ancient, mainly Hindu-Buddhist, sites of Taxila,
and Takht-i-Bahi, the 14th-century Islamic-Sindhi monuments of Thatta, and the 17th-century
Mughal monuments of Lahore. In the first half of the 19th century, the region was
appropriated by the East India Company, followed, after 1857, by 90 years of direct British
rule, and ending with the creation of Pakistan in 1947, through the efforts, among others, of
its future national poet Allama Iqbal and its founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Since then, the
country has experienced both civilian-democratic and military rule, resulting in periods of
significant economic and military growth as well as those of instability; significant during the
latter, was the secession of East Pakistan as the new nation of Bangladesh.

● HISTORY BY REGION….

1. History Of Azad Kashmir.

MODERN HISTORY .

The history of Azad Kashmir, a part of the Kashmir region administered by Pakistan, is
related to the history of the Kashmir region during the Dogra rule. Azad Kashmir borders the
Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the south and west respectively,
Gilgit–Baltistan to the north, and the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir to the
east.
The princely state of Jammu and Kashmir came into being in 1846 after the First Anglo-Sikh
War. Prior to that, Jammu was a tributary of the Sikh empire based in Lahore. Gulab Singh,
formerly a footman in the Maharaja Ranjit Singh's army who distinguished himself in various
campaigns, was appointed as the Raja of Jammu in 1822. The Valley of Kashmir was also a
part of the Sikh empire, ruled through a separate governor. Raja Gulab Singh successively
fought and captured Rajouri (1821), Kishtwar (1821), and through his general Zorawar
Singh, Suru valley and Kargil (1835), Ladakh (1834–1840), and Baltistan (1840). He became
a wealthy and influential noble in the Sikh court.[1]

During the First Anglo-Sikh war in 1845–1846, Gulab Singh sided with the British, leading to
a Sikh defeat. In the ensuing Treaty of Lahore, the Sikhs were made to cede Kashmir and
Hazara to the British, in lieu of their indemnity, and to recognize Gulab Singh as an
independent Mahraja. A week later, in the Treaty of Amritsar, Gulab Singh paid the British
the indemnity that was due from the Sikhs, and acquired Kashmir in return.[1] Thus Gulab
Singh became the Maharaja of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, founding a new Dogra
Dynasty. The Treaty of Amritsar continues to be widely regarded by the Kashmiris as a "sale
deed".
In 1856, Gulab Singh abdicated in favour of his son Ranbir Singh, who became the
Maharaja. During the Indian Mutiny of 1857, Ranbir Singh again came to the aid of the
British and was duly rewarded. During Ranbir Singh's rule, Kashmir faced oppressive
despotism, as recognized by British observers. In 1860, Ranbir Singh annexed Gilgit. Hunza
and Nagar became tributaries soon afterwards.[2] Ranbir Singh was succeeded by Pratap
Singh (1885–1925) and Hari Singh (1925–1952), the latter being the ruler at the time of
Indian independence.

The state of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 was extremely diverse. The Valley of Kashmir, the
most populous region, was a historically powerful kingdom, having stood up to the Arabs and
the Afghan-Turk invaders, and remaining independent until the time of Akbar. It was 97%
Muslim, with 3% religious minorities, mostly the Hindu community of Kashmiri Pandits. The
Jammu division's eastern districts had a Hindu majority population culturally aligned to the
Hill states of Himachal Pradesh. Its western districts like Poonch, Kotli and Mirpur had a
Muslim majority culturally aligned to the West Punjab plains. Ladakh, a large mountainous
region, had a mostly Buddhist population culturally aligned to Tibet. The northern areas of
Gilgit and Baltistan were almost entirely Muslim, with Buddhist minorities, culturally aligned
to Pakhtun and Central Asian regions.

Poonch was a jagir bestowed by the Maharaja Ranjit Singh to Gulab Singh's brother Raja
Dhian Singh. Upon the latter's death, the jagir was reclaimed by Lahore and it was passed to
Gulab Singh in the treaties of Lahore and Amritsar. However, Dhian Singh's son Jawahar
Singh put forward a claim to Poonch, and it was granted to him subject to the condition that
he was to consult Gulab Singh on `all matters of importance'. He was also expected to
present Gulab Singh one horse decked in gold trappings every year.[3] After the death of
Raja Jawahar Singh, Hari Singh dispossessed his young son of control over Poonch and set
out to integrate it into his State. The move was unpopular in Poonch. The Mahajara's reign
imposed a variety of new taxes and the Dogra troops were sent over to enforce collection.[4]

The Sudhan tribes of Poonch and Mirpur were warlike. They comprised the only Muslim
troops in the Maharaja Hari Singh's army.[5] During the Second World War, over 60,000 of
them fought in the British Army. After demobilization, they were forced to go back to farming
because the Maharaja refused to accept them into his own army, and they faced the new
taxation system of the Maharaja. In the Spring of 1947, they mounted a `no-tax' campaign,
inviting severe reprisals from the Maharaja's government. In July, the Maharaja ordered that
all Muslims must surrender their arms to the authorities. However, as the Partition violence
spread, the same arms were reportedly distributed to the non-Muslims. These tensions led
to an uprising in Poonch.

Formation of Azad Kashmir.

At the time of the Partition of India in 1947, the British abandoned their suzerainty over the
princely states, which were left with the options of joining India or Pakistan or remaining
independent. Hari Singh, the maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, chose to remain
independent, offering to sign standstill agreements with both the dominions.[6][7]

In the spring of 1947, an uprising against the Maharaja had broken out in Poonch, an area
bordering the Rawalpindi division of the West Punjab. Maharaja's administration is said to
have started levying punitive taxes on the peasantry which provoked a local revolt and the
administration resorted to brutal suppression. The area's population, full of recently
demobilized soldiers from the Second World War, rebelled against the Maharaja's forces and
gained control of almost the entire district.[8] Large scale massacres and expulsion of
Hindus and Sikhs occurred in Mirpur, bhimber, muzzafarabad, kotli, Poonch etc. Following
this victory, the pro-Pakistan chieftains of the western Jammu districts of Muzaffarabad,
Poonch and Mirpur proclaimed a provisional Azad Jammu and Kashmir government in
Pallandri on 24 October 1947.[9]

On 21 October, several thousand Pashtun tribesmen from the North-West Frontier Province
poured into Jammu and Kashmir in order to liberate it from the Maharaja's rule. They were
led by experienced military leaders and were equipped with modern arms. The Maharaja's
crumbling forces were unable to withstand the onslaught. The raiders captured the towns of
Muzaffarabad and Baramulla, the latter just twenty miles northwest of the State's capital
Srinagar. On 24 October, the Maharaja requested the military assistance of India, which
responded that it was unable to help him unless he acceded to India. Accordingly, on 26
October 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh signed an Instrument of Accession, handing over control
of defense, external affairs and communications to the Government of India. Indian troops
were immediately airlifted into Srinagar.[10] Pakistan intervened subsequently.[7] Fighting
ensued between the Indian and Pakistani armies, with the two areas of control stabilized,
more or less, around what is now known as the "Line of Control".[11]

Later, India approached the United Nations, asking it to solve the dispute, and resolutions
were passed in favor of the holding of a plebiscite with regard to Kashmir's future. However,
no such plebiscite has ever been held on either side, since there was a precondition which
required the withdrawal of the Pakistani Army along with the non-state elements and the
subsequent partial withdrawal of the Indian Army.[12] from the parts of Kashmir under their
respective control – a withdrawal that never took place.[13] In 1949, a cease-fire line
separating the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir was formally put into effect.
Following the 1949 cease-fire agreement, the government of Pakistan divided the northern
and western parts of Kashmir, which it held, into the following two separately-controlled
political entities; together, both these territories form the Pakistan administered Kashmir
region.
1. Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) – the narrow southern part, 250 miles (400
km) long, with a width varying from 10 to 40 miles (16 to 64 km).
2. Gilgit–Baltistan, formerly called the Federally Administered Northern Areas
(FANA) – is the much larger area to the north of AJK, 72,496 square
kilometres (27,991 sq mi); it was directly administered by Pakistan as a de
facto dependent territory, i.e., a non-self-governing territory. However it was
officially granted full autonomy on August 29, 2009.

1949 to Present.

In 1955, the Poonch uprising broke out. It was largely concentrated in areas of Rawalakot as
well as the rest of Poonch Division. It ended in 1956.[15]

An area of Kashmir that was once under Pakistani control is the Shaksgam tract—a small
region along the northeastern border of the Northern Areas that was provisionally ceded by
Pakistan to the People's Republic of China in 1963 and which now forms part of China's
Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang. The part of Kashmir administered by India currently
is divided between Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

In 1972, the then-current border between Pakistan and India, which held areas of Kashmir,
was designated as the "Line of Control". The Line of Control has remained unchanged[16]
since the 1972 Simla Agreement, which bound the two countries "to settle their differences
by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations." Some claim that, in view of that pact, the
only solution to the issue is mutual negotiation between the two countries without involving a
third party, such as the United Nations.

A devastating earthquake hit Azad Kashmir in 2005.

United Nations intervention

Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India asked the UN to intervene. The United
Nations passed the United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 and later United Nations
Security Council Resolution 80, which asked both Pakistan and India to withdraw all its
forces from Kashmir simultaneously. This was to be followed by a plebiscite to determine the
wishes of people of the entire state of Kashmir.[17] However, the required withdrawal never
happened. The area which remained under the control of Pakistan is called Azad Kashmir.
India took over two-thirds of Kashmir without withdrawing their forces. Pakistan citing India
did not withdraw their forces also did not withdraw its forces from Kashmir and controls one
third of Kashmir.

Constitutional Status.
Elections were held to the 49-seat Legislative Assembly of Azad Kashmir on July 11 to the
eighth Legislative Assembly since 1970 (seventh since 1974 when Pakistan granted the
region a parliamentary system with adult franchise). Azad Kashmir is categorised as an
autonomous region, but critics claim titles such as Prime Minister and President for the
region's elected political leadership are misleading[18] as candidates are required to sign an
affidavit of allegiance to Kashmir's accession to Pakistan.[18]

On September 14, 1994, the Supreme Court of Azad Kashmir ruled that "the Northern areas
are a part of J&K State but are not a part of Azad J&K as defined in the Interim Constitution
Act 1974".[19] The Northern Areas presently has no officially named status in Pakistan.
Pakistan does not consider this area as a "province" of Pakistan or as a part of "Azad
Kashmir". They are ruled directly from Islamabad through a Northern Areas Council. A chief
executive (usually a retired Pakistani army officer), appointed by Islamabad is the local
administrative head.[20] This area presently has no representatives in both the Azad
Kashmir Assembly and in Pakistan's parliament. Northern Areas’ Legislative Council was
created with a membership of 29 (later increased to 32), but its powers are restricted. On
May 11, 2007, the NA's chief executive, who also happens to be the Minister for Kashmir
Affairs and Northern Areas Affairs, declared that the region had a right to be represented in
the National Assembly. Others demand that it should be given the status of a province. The
changes made in 1994 in the local bodies’ ordinance gave more representation to women
and delegated some administrative and financial powers to the local administration.
However, the people of the region do not enjoy fundamental rights, because it continues to
be governed by the Legal Framework Order of 1994.

AZAD KASHMIR DAY.

Azad Kashmir Day celebrates the 1st day of the Azad Jammu Kashmir government, created
on 24 October 1947.

2. HISTORY OF BALOCHISTAN.

The history of Balochistan refers to the history of the Balochistan region of Pakistan, Iran
and Afghanistan. Vague allusions to the region were found in Greek historical records of
around 650 BCE. Prehistoric Balochistan dates to the Paleolithic.

Ancient history.

The earliest evidence of human occupation in what is now Balochistan is dated to the
Paleolithic era, represented by hunting camps, as well as chipped and flaked stone tools.
The earliest settled villages in the region date to the ceramic Neolithic (c. 7000–5500
BCE),[1] and included the Neolithic site of Mehrgarh located in the Kachi Plain. These
villages expanded in size during the subsequent Chalcolithic, when interaction increased.
This involved the movement of finished goods and raw materials, including chank shell, lapis
lazuli, turquoise, and ceramics. By the Bronze Age in 2500 BCE, Balochistan had become
part of the Harappan cultural orbit, providing key resources to the expansive settlements of
the Indus river basin to the east. Pakistani Balochistan marked the westernmost extent of the
Indus Valley civilisation.

The remnants of the earliest people in Balochistan were the Brahui people, a Dravidian
speaking people. The Brahuis were originally Hindus and Buddhists, similar to the
Indo-Aryan and Dravidian speaking peoples in the rest of the subcontinent. The Brahuis
retained the Dravidian language throughout the millennias.

In 650 BC, the Greek historian Herodotus described the Paraitakenoi as a tribe ruled by
Deiokes, a Persian zaid, in north-western Persia (History I.101). The Achaemenids
established the Satrapies of Gedrosia and Arachosia in Balochistan after its conquest in 6th
century BCE. Arrian described how Alexander the Great encountered the Pareitakai in
Bactria and Sogdiana, and had Craterus conquer them (Anabasis Alexandrou IV). The
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea in the 1st century described the territory of the Paradon
beyond the Ommanitic region on the coast of modern Baluchistan.

After the victory of the Mauryan Empire against the Greeks in the Seleucid–Mauryan war,
much of Baluchistan came under the rule of Chandragupta Maurya of ancient India.
Chandragupta and Seleucus made a peace settlement in 303 BCE. Selecucus Nucator
ceded the satrapies, including those in Baluchistan to the expanding Mauryan Empire.[4]
The alliance was solidified with a marriage between Chandragupta Maurya and a princess of
the Seleucid Empire. The outcome of the arrangement proved to be mutually beneficial.[5]
The border between the Seleucid and Mauryan Empires remained stable in subsequent
generations, and friendly diplomatic relations are reflected by the ambassador Megasthenes,
and by the envoys sent westward by Chandragupta's grandson Ashoka.[5]

From the 1st century to the 3rd century CE, the region of modern Pakistani Balochistan was
ruled by the Pāratarājas, the "Pātatahaa Kings", a dynasty of Indo-Scythian or Indo-Parthian
kings.[citation needed] The Parata kings are essentially known through their coins, which
typically exhibit the bust of the ruler with long hair in a headband on the obverse and a
swastika within a circular legend on the reverse, written in Brahmi, usually silver coins, or
Kharoshthi copper coins.[citation needed] These coins are mainly found in Loralai in today's
western Pakistan.[citation needed] In 635 or 636 CE, the Hindu Brahman dynasty of Sindh
controlled parts of Balochistan, under Chach of Aror.[6]

The invasions of Genghis Khan into Bampoor caused the bulk of Baloch migrations and the
Balochs were given refuge in the greater Sindh region.[citation needed] Later infighting
between Balochs resulted in clans led by sardars, which claimed regions within Sindh. In an
effort to gain total control of the regions, the British named the area Balochistan and got the
support of the Baloch Sardars who then were titled Nawabs. These Nawabs were to keep
minor Baloch, Pathan and other factions in check. For the last 150 years the region has seen
continual fighting to gain access to natural resources in an otherwise barren land.[citation
needed] Iranian Balochistan had some of the earliest human civilizations in history. The
Burnt city near Dozaap (Zahidan) dates to 2000 BCE. All of what is now Baluchistan was
incorporated in the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, and Sassanid Iranian Empires. There
were five major kings in the 2nd century; Yolamira, son of Bagavera, Arjuna, son of Yolamira,
Hvaramira, another son of Yolamira, Mirahvara, son of Hvaramira, and Miratakhma, another
son of Hvaramira.
 Medieval history

1. Arab Caliphates

Arab forces invaded Balochistan in the 7th century, converting the Baloch people to Islam.[8]
Arab rule in Baluchistan helped the Baloch people to develop their own semi-independent
tribal systems, which stronger forces frequently threatened.

In the 14th year of the Hijra, 636-6CE, Rai Chach marched from Sindh and conquered
Makran. However, in 643 the Arabs reached Makran.[9] In early 644 CE, Caliph Umar sent
Suhail ibn Adi from Bosra to conquer the Karman region of Iran. He was made governor of
Karman. From Karman he entered western Baluchistan and conquered the region near
Persian frontiers.[10] Southwestern Balochistan was conquered during the campaign in
Sistan that same year.

During Caliph Uthman's reign in 652, Balochistan was reconquered during the campaign
against the revolt in Karman under the command of Majasha ibn Masood. It was first time
western Baluchistan came directly under the laws of the Caliphate and paid grain
tributes.[11] Western Baluchistan was included in the dominion of Karman. In 654,
Abdulrehman ibn Samrah was made governor of Sistan. He led an Islamic army to crush the
revolt in Zarang, now in southern Afghanistan. Conquering Zarang, a column moved
northward to conquer areas up to Kabul and Ghazni in the Hindu Kush mountains while
another column moved towards northwestern Baluchistan and conquered the area up to the
ancient cities of Dawar and Qandabil (Bolan).[12] By 654 the whole of what is now
Pakistan's Baluchistan province was under the rule of the Rashidun Caliphate except for the
well-defended mountain town of QaiQan, which was conquered during Caliph Ali's reign.[13]
Abdulrehman ibn Samrah made Zaranj his provincial capital and remained governor of these
conquered areas from 654 to 656, until Uthman was murdered.

During the reign of Caliph Ali, the areas of Balochistan, Makran again broke into
revolt.[citation needed] Due to civil war in the Islamic empire Ali was unable to take notice of
these areas, at last in the year 660 he sent a large force under the command of Haris ibn
Marah Abdi towards Makran, Baluchistan and Sindh. Haris ibn Marah Abdi arrived in Makran
and conquered it by force then moved north ward to northeastern Balochistan and
re-conquered Qandabil (Bolan), then again moving south finally conquered Kalat after a
fierce battle.[14] In 663 CE, during the reign of Umayyad Caliph Muawiyah I, Muslims lost
control of northeastern Balochistan and Kalat when Haris ibn Marah and large part of his
army died on the battle field suppressing a revolt in Kalat.[15] Muslim forces latter re-gained
the control of the area during Umayyads' reign. It also remained part of Abbasid Caliphate's
empire.[citation needed]

Arab rule in Balochistan lasted until the end of the 10th century. The parts of Balochistan
best known to them were Turan (the Jhalawan country) with its capital at Khuzdar, and
Nudha or Budha (Kachhi). Around 976, Ibn Haukal found an Arab governor residing in
Kaikanan (probably the modern Nal) and governing Khuzdar during his second visit to India.
 2. Ghaznavid Empire.

Shortly afterwards, western Balochistan fell to Nasir-ud-din Sabuktagin. His son, Mahmud of
Ghazni, conquered the whole of Balochistan. After the Ghaznavids, the area passed to the
Ghurids. A little later, western Balochistan, Iranian Balochistan, became part of the dominion
of Sultan Muhammad Khan of Khwarazmian (Khiva) in 1219.[9] However, in around 1223 a
Mongol expedition under Chagatai, the son of Genghis Khan, penetrated as far as Makran.
A few years later, southeastern Baluchistan briefly came under the rule of Sultan Iltutmish of
Delhi Sultanate but soon came back under Mongol rule. The raids organised by the Mongols
have left a lasting mark on history of Baluchistan, from Makran to Gomal the Mongols and
the atrocities they caused are still well known.[9]

Afterwards part of the history of Balochistan centres around Kandahar and it was in this area
in 1398 that Pir Muhammad, the grandson of Timur, fought the Afghans in the Sulaiman
mountains. According to local tradition Timur himself passed through Marri country during
one of his Indian expeditions.

3. Arghun dynasty

The Baloch extended their power to Kalat, Kachhi, and the Punjab, and the wars took place
between Mir Chakar Khan Rind and Mir Gwahram Khan Lashari which are so celebrated in
Baloch verse. In these wars a prominent part was played by Amir Zunnun Beg, Arghun, who
was governor of Kandahar under Sultan Husain Mirza of Herat about 1470. At the same time
the Brahuis had been gradually gaining strength, and their little principality at this time
extended through the Jhalawan country to Wadh.[16] The Arghun dynasty gave way to
Babur shortly afterwards. From 1556 to 1595 the region was under the Safavid dynasty. The
army of Akbar the Great then brought what is now Pakistani and Iranian Balochistan under
control of the Mughal Empire until 1638, when it was again transferred to Persia.

According to the Ain-i-Akbari, in 1590 the upper highlands were included in the sardar of
Kandahar while Kachhi was part of the Bhakkar sardar of the Multan Subah. Makran alone
remained independent under the bhatti, Maliks, Buledais, and Gichkis, until Nasir Khan I of
Kalat brought it within his power during the 17th century.

From the middle of the 17th century large parts of Baluchistan remained under the Safavids
until the rise of the Ghilzai in 1708. Nadir Shah defeated Ghilzai and in the first part of the
18th century, he made several expeditions to, or through, Baluchistan. Ahmad Shah Durrani
followed. The northeastern part of the country, including almost all of the areas now under
direct administration, remained under the more or less nominal suzerainty of the Sadozais
and Barakzais until 1879, when Pishin, Duki, and Sibi passed into British hands by the
Treaty of Gandamak. The whole of Western Baluchistan had been consolidated into an
organized state under the Brahui Khans.

4. Khanate of Kalat

The Brahui Khans of Kalat, who lived in modern-day Pakistan Balochistan, were the rulers of
Kalat. They were never fully independent, there was always a paramount power to whom
they were subject. In the earliest times they were merely petty chiefs: later they bowed to the
orders of the Mughal emperors of Delhi and to the rulers of Kandahar, and supplied
men-at-arms on demand. Most peremptory orders from the Afghan rulers to their vassals of
Kalat are still extant, and the predominance of the Sadozais and Barakzais was
acknowledged so late as 1838. It was not until the time of Nasir Khan I that the titles of
Beglar Begi (Chief of Chiefs) and Wali-i-Kalat (Governor of Kalat) were conferred on the
Kalat ruler by the Afghan kings.[17]

As Mughal power declined, the Brahui chiefs found themselves freed to some degree from
external interference. The first challenge to the chiefs was insuring Balochistani social
cohesion and cooperation within the loose tribal organization of the state. They parceled out
a portion of the spoils of all conquests among the poverty-stricken highlanders. Everyone
had a vested interest in the success of the Baloch community as a whole. A period of
expansion then commenced. Mir Ahmad made successive descents into the plains of Sibi.
Mir Samandar extended his raids to Zhob, Bori, and Thal-Chotiali. He levied an annual sum
of Rs. 40,000 from the Kalhoras of Sindh.

Mir Abdullah, the greatest conqueror of the dynasty, turned his attention westward to
Makran, while in the north-east he captured Pishin and Shorawak from the Ghilzai rulers of
Kandahar. He was eventually slain in a fight with the Kalhoras at Jandrihar near Sanni in
Kachhi.

During the reign of Mir Abdullah's successor, Mir Muhabbat, Nadir Shah rose to power and
the Ahmadzai ruler obtained through him the cession of Kachhi in 1740 in compensation for
the blood of Mir Abdullah and the men who had fallen with him. The Brahuis had now gained
what highlanders always coveted, good cultivable lands. By the wisdom of Muhabbat Khan
and of his brother Nasir Khan, certain tracts were distributed among the tribesmen on the
condition of finding so many men-at-arms for the Khan's body of irregular troops. At the
same time much of the revenue-paying land was retained by the Khan for himself.[18]

The forty-four years of the rule of Nasir Khan I, known to the Baloch as 'The Great,' and the
hero of their history, were years of strenuous administration and organization interspersed
with military expeditions. He accompanied Ahmad Shah in his expeditions to Persia and
India. A wise and able administrator, Nasir Khan was distinguished for his prudence, activity,
and enterprise. He was essentially a warrior and a conqueror, and his spare time was spent
in hunting. At the same time he was most attentive to religion, and enjoined on his people
strict attention to the precepts of Islamic law. His reign was free from those internecine
conflicts, subsequently common in Kalat's history. He invaded Makran, a Gitchki territory, as
well as Kharan and Las Bela to merge them into his Khanate.

The reign of Nasir Khan's successor, Mir Mahmud Khan, was distinguished by little except
revolts. In 1810 Henry Pottinger visited his capital and left a full record of his experience.[21]
The reign of Mir Mehrab Khan was one long struggle with his chiefs, many of whom he
murdered. He became dependent on men of the stamp of Mulla Muhammad Hasan and
Saiyid Muhammad Sharif, by whose treachery, at the beginning of the first Afghan War, Sir
William Macnaghten and Sir Alexander Burnes were deceived into thinking that Mehrab
Khan was a traitor to the British; that he had induced the tribes to oppose the advance of the
British army through the Bolan Pass; and that finally, when Sir Alexander Burnes was
returning from a mission to Kalat, he had caused a robbery to be committed on the party, in
the course of which an agreement, which had been executed between the envoy and the
Khan, was carried off. This view determined the diversion of Sir Thomas Willshire's brigade
from Quetta to attack Kalat in 1839, an act which has been described by Malleson as 'more
than a grave error, a crime.'[22] The place was taken by assault and Mehrab Khan was slain.

MODERN HISTORY.

1. British Indian Empire

Britain and Iran divided Baluchistan into many parts, with the British creating the Baluchistan
Agency in 1877. In the 19th century, nationalists in western Baluchistan revolted against the
Persian occupation. At the end of the 19th century, when Sardar Hussein Narui Baloch
started an uprising against Persia which was crushed by joint Anglo-Persian mission forces.
The struggle between the Persian Qajar dynasty, and the British in eastern Baluchistan,
gave western Baluchis a chance to gain control of their territory in Western Baluchistan. At
the beginning of the 20th century, Bahram Khan succeeded in gaining control of Baluch-
lands. In 1916, the British Indian Empire recognized him as in effective control of western
Baluchistan. Mir Dost Muhammad Khan Baluch, Bahram Khan's nephew, succeeded to the
throne, and in 1920, he proclaimed himself Shah-e-Baluchistan (Persian for King of
Baluchistan) but in 1928, Reza Shah came into power and Persian forces started operations
against Baluchi forces with the help of British. The Baluch were defeated and Mir Dost
Muhammad Khan Baluch captured. In the same year, Mir Dost Muhammad Khan Baluch
was executed in a Tehran prison. Baluchis were not content with the British, and raised their
voices against the occupation of Western Baluchistan by Persia at Baluch Conference of
Jacobabad.

The British Indian Empire gradually became involved in Balochistan during the reign of Mir
Mehrab Khan whose reign was characterised by the power struggle he had with the chief,
many of whom he had murdered. Mehrab Khan had become dependent on Mulla
Muhammad Hasan and Saiyid Muhammad Sharif. And it was these men who had convinced
the British that he had encouraged the tribes to oppose the British advance through the
Bolan pass. The British justified their 1839 attack of Kalat on this, and had had Mehrab Khan
killed, his successor — Mir Shah Nawaz Khan was then appointed with Lieutenant Loveday
as political officer. However a rebellion of the Sarawan tribes the following year force Shah
Nawaz to abdicate, his successor Mir Muhammad Hasan then took power and afterwards
being known as Mir Nasir Khan II.[citation needed]

Under pressure from Colonel Stacey, Mir Nasir Khan II submitted to the British Indian
Empire, and Major Outram had him installed at Kalat in 1840.[23]

Colonel Sir Robert Groves Sandeman introduced an innovative system of tribal pacification
in Balochistan that was in effect from 1877 to 1947. However the Government of British India
generally opposed his methods and refused to allow it to operate in the North West Frontier.
Historians have long debated its scope and effectiveness in the peaceful spread of Imperial
influence.
Mir Khudadad Khan was tended to as a non-Indian prince against his will at the 1877
Durbar. But at the end of the durbar the Khan was given the honour accorded to Indian
princes.[25] This demonstrated that while the state had been treated as a non-Indian state in
the beginning of the durbar, the British Government accepted it as an Indian state at the end
of the assembly.[26] After this and particularly after the 1877 establishment of the
Baluchistan Agency, Kalat was regarded an Indian state.[27]

The British were the dominant power in Kalat, since Khudadad Khan was compelled to
abdicate, and the khan's authority was restricted.[28] The political agent in Kalat gave
allowances to Sarawan and Jhalawan's tribal chiefs[29] and Karan and Las Bela had
become effectively independent of Kalat. Moreover, Kalat's Prime Minister was an Indian
Government deputy who did not answer to the khan.[30]

In 1933 Ahmad Yar Khan became the Kalat's ruler with an insecure place in the
Baluch-Brahui confederacy.[28] To obtain complete control of Kalat, he requested the
Government of India to restore his authority. While acknowledging the benefits of the British
he claimed it was now time for him to take power. The Indian Government agreed but
wanted to maintain power over the disbursements to the chiefs, in addition, to sanction over
their authorisation and dismissal.[30] This did not allow Ahmad Yar Khan any real authority
over the chiefs.[31]

The Khan demanded that his sovereignty be accepted over Kharan and Las Bela, his
authority be completely reinvigorated in Kalat and the return of the districts of Nasirabad,
Nushki and Quetta. The Indian Government knew to preserve Khan's loyalty some powers
had to be given to him. While the government allowed him to control the disbursements to
the chiefs,[32] the Khan could not make significant decisions about them unless the AGG
agreed. Despite the disadvantages, the Khan obtained a nominal victory by retaking
authority in the state.[33]

After this, the Khan claimed that Kalat was a non-Indian state and requested the
Government of India to accept his rule over Las Bela, Kharan and the Bugti and Marri tribal
regions. The Government of India concluded after a careful investigation that Kalat had
always been an Indian state.[33] Since the Government policy was to not allow the breakup
of the confederacy it accepted that Las Bela and Kharan were under the formal suzerainty of
Kalat;[33] simultaneously recognizing Kharan's status as a separate state.[34] The extent of
this "suzerainty" was never explained although the Khan saw it as a triumph.

2. Pakistan Movement

Scholar Ian Talbot states that the British Baluchistan was socially and economically
underdeveloped compared to other parts of British India with an extremely low literacy rate
and a mainly rural population. The province was also politically backward. During British rule
Baluchistan Agency which excluded Princely States was under the rule of a Chief
Commissioner and did not have the same status as other provinces of British India. Yet it
was an important province for the All-India Muslim League which, under Muhammad Ali
Jinnah, proposed in 1928 that democratic reforms be introduced to Baluchistan.[36]
The people of province began to organise politically in the 1930s. In 1932, Yusuf Ali Khan
Magsi held the First All-India Baloch Conference in Jacobabad. His party, the
Anjuman-i-Ittehad-i-Baluchen, was succeeded by the Kalat State National Party, which in
turn cooperated with the Indian National Congress branch in Baluchistan, known as the
Anjuman-i-Watan. In 1939 a local lawyer, Qazi Muhammad Isa, created the Balochistan
Muslim League in Pishin at a mosque meeting.[36] The Muslim League, however, would not
accept this organisation without a proper constitution. After the Pakistan Resolution, Qazi Isa
gained membership of the All-India Muslim League Working Committee. In July 1940, with
Liaquat Ali Khan as President, the Baluchistan Provincial Muslim League held its first
session, where it highlighted its call for the introduction of political reforms to Baluchistan.

It was only a couple of years later that the mainly inactive Baluchistan Muslim League held
its second session. In 1943, the League's activity saw a brief revival with the visit of Jinnah
to the province. A crowd, estimated to number at 50,000, attended to give him a "royal"
reception. Many Nawabs and tribal leaders attended his address to the Baluchistan League
and he was eventually invited as a guest of the Khan of Kalat. As a result of Jinnah's visit,
the Muslim Students Federation was formed. Later, the Baluchistan League returned to
idleness and internal bickering.[37]

However, after the Simla Conference, the Muslim League intensified its activism.[38]
Provincial opinion was mainly in favour of the Pakistan Movement, especially in the
townships.[39] Muslim League rallies in Baluchistan were attended by a "much larger"
number of people than the Anjuman-i-Watan rallies. Jinnah, in his second visit to Baluchistan
in late 1945, again reiterated his call that the province be granted political reforms. The
Muslim League held several rallies and counteracted the Congress propaganda. On 29
January 1947, a call for a strike in response to the arrest of the Muslim League leaders
received an "almost complete" response in Quetta.[38]

In British-ruled Colonial India, Baluchistan contained a Chief Commissioner's province and

princely states (including Kalat, Makran, Las Bela and Kharan) that became a part of
Pakistan.[40] The province's Shahi Jirga and the non-official members of the Quetta
Municipality, according to the Pakistani narrative, agreed to join Pakistan unanimously on 29
June 1947;[41] however, the Shahi Jirga was stripped of its members from the Kalat State
prior to the vote.[42] The then president of the Baluchistan Muslim League, Qazi Muhammad
Isa, informed Muhammad Ali Jinnah that "Shahi Jirga in no way represents the popular
wishes of the masses" and that members of the Kalat State were "excluded from voting; only
representatives from the British part of the province voted and the British part included the
leased areas of Quetta, Nasirabad Tehsil, Nushki and Bolan Agency."[42] Following the
referendum, the Khan of Kalat, on 22 June 1947, received a letter from members of the
Shahi Jirga, as well as sardars from the leased areas of Baluchistan, stating that they, "as a
part of the Baloch nation, were a part of the Kalat state too" and that if the question of
Baluchistan's accession to Pakistan arise, "they should be deemed part of the Kalat state
rather than (British) Balochistan".[42] This has brought into question whether an actual vote
took place in the town hall "and that the announcement in favour of accession was secured
through sheer manipulation."[42] Political scientist Salman Rafi Sheikh, in locating the origins
of the insurgency in Balochistan, says "that Balochistan's accession to Pakistan was, as
against the officially projected narrative, not based upon consensus, nor was support for
Pakistan overwhelming. What this manipulation indicates is that even before formally
becoming a part of Pakistan, Balochistan had fallen a prey to political victimization."

The Congress, knowing that union with India would be unrealistic due to demographic and
geographic reasons, propagated the notion that Pakistan would be too economically
weak.[39] Jinnah requested that the general population should be allowed to vote instead of
the limited electorate of the Shahi Jirga. But the British refused the request.[43]

Ahmed Yar Khan who was the ruler of Kalat both supported the establishment of Pakistan
and wanted to become independent.[35] The first test of what the Khan asserted was
Jinnah's support came about in the wake of his demand that the Government of India return
the leased territories.[44] Neither Mountbatten nor Pakistan favoured this retrocession.[44]

According to the Indian Government, Kalat had been an Indian and not independent state.
Thus, the 3 June plan required that it choose either accession to India or Pakistan.[33] Kalat
argued that it had possessed a sovereign status rather than the status of an Indian state.
The topic of discussion moved to Pakistan’s rejection of Kalat’s claims over the leased
areas. Pakistan argued that it was the heir to India’s agreements with Indian states, while
Kalat argued that the treaty explicitly limited the party to the British Government. Kalat and
Pakistan also disputed over whether the agreements over the leased areas were personal to
Kalat and the British Government. Mountbatten also claimed that International law dictated
that such treaties were inherited upon a transfer of power. He also brought up the option of
referring the dispute to an Arbitral Tribunal in case a resolution could not be reached.[39]
Moreover, even Ahmed Yar Khan also accepted Pakistan as a legal, constitutional and
political successor of the British in negotiation held in September 1947. The British Foreign
Office and Political Department had also declared Pakistan to be the heir to the leases.[45]

Ahmad Yar Khan's choice was to either accept that Kalat was an Indian state and regain the
leased territories or persist claiming that it was non-Indian and lose the leased areas.[46]

Ahmad Yar Khan had insisted on the non-Indian status so that he could avoid India's political
and constitutional evolution. But Pakistan used that same argument to keep control over the
leased areas. Talks between Kalat and Pakistan started in September 1947. The
negotiations showed that while Pakistan had accepted Kalat's claim of holding a non-Indian
status, it still wanted accession on the same lines as the other states.[47] The negotiation
also declared Pakistan as legal, constitutional and political successor of British. Through
these negotiations, the British Paramountcy was effectively transferred to Pakistan.[45] Why
Ahmad Yar Khan would agree to this at that time is unclear but according to Nawabzada
Aslam Khan the Khan would accede because "if he did not, his sardars would turn him out,
as they were determined to join Pakistan anyhow and were only waiting to be assured of
their own rights."

Feeling that Khan did not want to accede explicitly, Jinnah invited him in October to convince
him. Ahmad Yar Khan took this as an opportunity to convince Jinnah for a treaty which would
allow Pakistan's government equal control over Kalat but without a full accession. Jinnah
was unprepared for this and asked for an Instrument of Accession.[49] The Khan asked for
more time by citing his state's unique nature and his intent to consult his parliament.[50]
Although he was theoretically correct on Kalat's confederal system, by consulting the state's
chiefs he paved the path for the Pakistani Government to deal directly with the chiefs.[51]

In acceptance of the decision of the Indian government the Pakistani government regarded
Las Bela and Kharan as being a part of the Baluch-Brahui confederacy led by Kalat's
ruler.[52] While Kalat and Pakistan held talks, the rulers of Kharan and Las Bela endeavored
to get the Pakistani government to recognise their separateness from Kalat. Kharan's chief,
knowing the difficulties around Kalat's accession, tried to accede to Pakistan in November.
The Jam of Las Bela wrote similarly. But the Pakistani government ignored their enthusiasm
while discussions about accession were being held with Kalat.[53]

Kalat's feudatory states, Las Bela and Kharan, and its district of Makran, requested Pakistan
to be allowed to accede separately, stating that "if Pakistan was not prepared to accept their
offers of accession immediately, they would be compelled to take other steps for their
protection against Khan of Kalat."[54][55] Pakistani civil servants recognised their claims of
independence from Kalat and allowed them to accede to Pakistan separately on 17 March
1948.[56][57] Using the ambiguity of Kalat's suzerainty over Kharan and Las Bela to allow
the separate accessions,[34] the Pakistani government asserted that the nature of the Kalat
confederation was such that each chief could choose to secede from it and voluntarily join
Pakistan. The British High Commission opined that the Khan would be left without any
territory if he delayed. The Commonwealth Relations Office noted "There are a number of
Kalat sardars in Karachi offering their accession to Pakistan, and Pakistan Government may
repeat procedure followed in case of Mekran and accept these offers, leaving the Khan
practically without territory."[58]

Consequently, Kalat came into conflict with Makran, ruled by Nawab Bai Khan Gichki who
had opted to join Pakistan. The Khan of Kalat then stopped carrying out his obligation to
provide the Makran Levy Corps with food supplies.[59] With starvation imminent, Sir
Ambrose Dundas requested Pakistan to provide food supplies, send reinforcements for the
Makran Levy Corps and assume administration over Makran. However, the Khan of Kalat
decided to accede even before the proposed Pakistani action in Makran was
implemented.[60][61][62] The accessions of Las Bela, Kharan and Makran to Pakistan had
left Kalat geographically landlocked with no sea access. The pressure intensified when, on
27 March 1948, the All India Radio announced that the Khan of Kalat had offered accession
to India. Hearing this radio announcement became the reason for the Khan's decision to
accede to Pakistan on that same day.[56][39][63][57][62] The Khan asserted that he had
made the decision to sign the instrument of accession because he believed that Pakistan
was facing an existential threat.

3. Insurgency in Balochistan

1. First conflict

The signing of the Instrument of Accession by the Khan of Kalat, led his brother, Prince
Abdul Karim, to revolt against his brother's decision[65] in July 1948.[66] Prince Abdul Karim
took refuge in Afghanistan to wage an unconventional attacks against Pakistan. However, he
ultimately surrendered to Pakistan in 1950.[67] The Prince fought a lone battle without
support from the rest of Balochistan.[68] Jinnah and his successors allowed Yar Khan to
retain his title until the province's dissolution in 1955.

2. Second conflict

Nawab Nauroz Khan took up arms in resistance to the One Unit policy, which decreased
government representation for tribal leaders, from 1958 to 1959. He and his followers started
a guerrilla war against Pakistan, and were arrested, charged with treason, and imprisoned in
Hyderabad. Five of his family members, sons and nephews, were subsequently hanged on
charges of treason and aiding in the murder of Pakistani troops. Nawab Nauroz Khan later
died in captivity.[69] Nawab Nauroz Khan fought a lone battle as the rest of Balochistan did
not support the uprising.[68]

3. Third conflict

After the second conflict, a Baloch separatist movement gained momentum in the 1960s,
following the introduction of a new constitution in 1956 which limited provincial autonomy
and enacted the 'One Unit' concept of political organisation in Pakistan. Tension continued to
grow amid consistent political disorder and instability at the federal level. The federal
government tasked the Pakistan Army with building several new bases in key areas of
Balochistan. Sher Muhammad Bijrani Marri led like-minded militants into guerrilla warfare
from 1963 to 1969 by creating their own insurgent bases, spread out over 45,000 miles
(72,000 km) of land, from the Mengal tribal area in the south to the Marri and Bugti tribal
areas in the north. Their goal was to force Pakistan to share revenue generated from the Sui
gas fields with the tribal leaders. The insurgents bombed railway tracks and ambushed
convoys. The Army retaliated by destroying vast areas of the Marri tribe's land. This
insurgency ended in 1969, with the Baloch separatists agreeing to a ceasefire. In 1970
Pakistani President Yahya Khan abolished the "One Unit" policy,[70] which led to the
recognition of Balochistan as the fourth province of West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan),
including all the Balochistani princely states, the High Commissioners Province, and
Gwadar, an 800 km2 coastal area purchased from Oman by the Pakistani government.

4. Fourth conflict 1973–77

The unrest continued into the 1970s, culminating in a government-ordered military operation
in the region in 1973.

In 1973, citing treason, President Bhutto dismissed the provincial governments of

Balochistan and NWFP and imposed martial law in those areas,[71] which led to armed
insurgency. Mir Hazar Khan Ramkhani formed the Balochistan People's Liberation Front
(BPLF), which led large numbers of Marri and Mengal tribesmen into guerrilla warfare
against the central government[72] According to some authors, the Pakistani military lost
300 to 400 soldiers during the conflict with the Baloch separatists, while between 7,300 and
9,000 Baloch militants and civilians were killed.[73]

Assisted by Iran, Pakistani forces inflicted heavy casualties on the separatists. The
insurgency fell into decline after a return to the four-province structure and the abolishment
of the Sardari system.
 5. Fifth conflict 2004–to date

In 2004 an insurgent attack on Gwadar port resulting in the deaths of three Chinese
engineers and four wounded drew China into the conflict.[74] In 2005, the Baluch political
leaders Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Mir Balach Marri presented a 15-point agenda to the
Pakistan government. Their stated demands included greater control of the province's
resources and a moratorium on the construction of military bases.[75] On 15 December
2005 the inspector general of the Frontier Corps, Major General Shujaat Zamir Dar, and his
deputy Brigadier Salim Nawaz (the current IGFC) were wounded after shots were fired at
their helicopter in Balochistan Province. The provincial interior secretary later said that, after
visiting Kohlu, "both of them were wounded in the leg but both are in stable condition."[76]

In August 2006, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, 79 years old, was killed in fighting with the
Pakistan Army, in which at least 60 Pakistani soldiers and 7 officers were also killed.
Pakistan's government had charged him with responsibility of a series of deadly bomb blasts
and a rocket attack on President Pervez Musharraf.[77]

A 2006 cable from the American Embassy in Islamabad leaked by Wikileaks noted that
"there seems to be little support in the province, beyond the Bugti tribe, for the current
insurgency."[78]

In April 2009, Baloch National Movement president Ghulam Mohammed Baloch and two
other nationalist leaders (Lala Munir and Sher Muhammad) were seized from a small legal
office and were allegedly "handcuffed, blindfolded and hustled into a waiting pickup truck
which is in still [sic] use of intelligence forces in front of their lawyer and neighboring
shopkeepers." The gunmen were allegedly speaking in Persian (a national language of
neighbouring Afghanistan and Iran). Five days later, on 8 April, their bullet-riddled bodies
were found in a commercial area. The BLA claimed Pakistani forces were behind the killings,
though international experts have deemed it odd that the Pakistani forces would be careless
enough to allow the bodies to be found so easily and "light Balochistan on fire" (Herald) if
they were truly responsible.[79] The discovery of the bodies sparked rioting and weeks of
strikes, demonstrations, and civil resistance in cities and towns around Balochistan.

Reason for joining the separatist groups vary as some join them because of allure of power
and excitement, a desire to honor their centuries-old tribal codes, gaining recognition for
their region's distinct ethnicity or because of belief in hardline communism. Some even join
the separatist group because their tribal leader told them to.[81]

On 12 August 2009, Khan of Kalat Mir Suleiman Dawood declared himself ruler of
Balochistan and formally announced a Council for Independent Balochistan. The council's
claimed domain includes Sistan and Baluchestan Province, as well as Pakistani Balochistan,
but does not include Afghan Baloch regions. The council claimed the allegiance of "all
separatist leaders including Nawabzada Bramdagh Bugti." Suleiman Dawood stated that the
UK had a "moral responsibility to raise the issue of Balochistan's illegal occupation at
international level."[82]
Human right groups have accused Baloch separatist groups of being involved in grave
human right violations. Separatist groups such as Baloch liberation army have been involved
in attack on schools, teachers and students in the province.[83] Baloch separatist have also
accused their groups of being involved in wide spread crime and rapes against the Baloch
women. One of the Baloch separatist claim that what started as an idealistic political fight for
his people's rights has turned into gangs extorting, kidnapping and even raping locals.

A survey in 2009 by PEW found that 58% of respondents in Balochistan chose ″Pakistani″
as their primary mode of identification, 32% chose their ethnicity and 10% chose both
equally.[84] A Gallup survey conducted in 2012 revealed that the majority of Baloch (67%)
do not support independence from Pakistan. Only 33 percent of Baloch were in favour of
independence. However, 67 percent of the people of Balochistan supported greater
provincial autonomy.

● PREHISTORY.

1. Paleolithic period..

The Soanian is archaeological culture of the Lower Paleolithic, Acheulean. It is named after
the Soan Valley in the Sivalik Hills, near modern-day Islamabad/Rawalpindi. In Adiyala and
Khasala, about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Rawalpindi, on the bend of the Soan River
hundreds of edged pebble tools were discovered.

2. Neolithic period..

Mehrgarh is an important neolithic site discovered in 1974, which shows early evidence of
farming and herding,[16] and dentistry.[17] The site dates back to 7000–5500 BCE and is
located on the Kachi Plain of Balochistan. The residents of Mehrgarh lived in mud brick
houses, stored grain in granaries, fashioned tools from copper, cultivated barley, wheat,
jujubes and dates, and herded sheep, goats and cattle. As the civilization progressed
(5500–2600 BCE) residents began to engage in crafts, including flint knapping, tanning,
bead production, and metalworking. The site was occupied continuously until 2600 BCE,[18]
when climatic changes began to occur. Between 2600 and 2000 BCE, region became more
arid and Mehrgarh was abandoned in favor of the Indus Valley,[19] where a new civilization
was in the early stages of development.

● Bronze age

1. Indus Valley Civilisation

The Bronze Age in the Indus Valley began around 3300 BCE with the Indus Valley
Civilization.[21] Along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of three early
civilizations of the Old World, and of the three the most widespread,[22] covering an area of
1.25 million km2.[23] It flourished in the basins of the Indus River, in what is today the
Pakistani provinces of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan, and along a system of perennial,
mostly monsoon-fed, rivers that once coursed in the vicinity of the seasonal Ghaggar-Hakra
River in parts of north-west India.[21] At its peak, the civilization hosted a population of
approximately 5 million spread across hundreds of settlements extending as far as the
Arabian Sea to present-day southern and eastern Afghanistan, and the Himalayas.[24]
Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley, the Harappans, developed new techniques in
metallurgy and handicraft (carneol products, seal carving), and produced copper, bronze,
lead, and tin.

The Mature Indus civilisation flourished from about 2600 to 1900 BCE, marking the
beginning of urban civilisation in the Indus Valley. The civilisation included urban centres
such as Harappa, Ganeriwala and Mohenjo-daro as well as an offshoot called the Kulli
culture (2500–2000 BCE) in southern Balochistan and was noted for its cities built of brick,
roadside drainage system, and multi-storeyed houses. It is thought to have had some kind of
municipal organisation as well.

During the late period of this civilisation, signs of a gradual decline began to emerge, and by
around 1700 BCE, most of the cities were abandoned. However, the Indus Valley Civilisation
did not disappear suddenly, and some elements of the Indus Civilisation may have survived.
Aridification of this region during the 3rd millennium BCE may have been the initial spur for
the urbanisation associated with the civilisation, but eventually also reduced the water supply
enough to cause the civilisation's demise, and to scatter its population eastward. The
civilization collapsed around 1700 BCE, though the reasons behind its fall are still unknown.
Through the excavation of the Indus cities and analysis of town planning and seals, it has
been inferred that the Civilization had high level of sophistication in its town planning, arts,
crafts, and trade.

● Iron age

1. Vedic period

The Vedic Period (c. 1500 – c. 500 BCE) is postulated to have formed during the 1500 BCE
to 800 BCE. As Indo-Aryans migrated and settled into the Indus Valley, along with them
came their distinctive religious traditions and practices which fused with local culture.[11] The
Indo-Aryans religious beliefs and practices from the Bactria–Margiana Culture and the native
Harappan Indus beliefs of the former Indus Valley Civilisation eventually gave rise to Vedic
culture and tribes.[26][note 3] Early Indo-Aryans were a Late Bronze Age society centred in
the Punjab, organised into tribes rather than kingdoms, and primarily sustained by a pastoral
way of life. During this period the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed.

● Ancient history

1. Achaemenid Empire

The main Vedic tribes remaining in the Indus Valley by 550 BC were the Kamboja, Sindhu,
Taksas of Gandhara, the Madras and Kathas of the River Chenab, Mallas of the River Ravi
and Tugras of the River Sutlej. These several tribes and principalities fought against one
another to such an extent that the Indus Valley no longer had one powerful Vedic tribal
kingdom to defend against outsiders and to wield the warring tribes into one organized
kingdom. King Pushkarasarin of Gandhara was engaged in power struggles against his local
rivals and as such the Khyber Pass remained poorly defended. King Darius I of the
Achaemenid Empire took advantage of the opportunity and planned for an invasion. The
Indus Valley was fabled in Persia for its gold and fertile soil and conquering it had been a
major objective of his predecessor Cyrus The Great.[27] In 542 BC, Cyrus had led his army
and conquered the Makran coast in southern Balochistan. However, he is known to have
campaigned beyond Makran (in the regions of Kalat, Khuzdar and Panjgur) and lost most of
his army in the Gedrosian Desert (speculated today as the Kharan Desert).

In 518 BC, Darius led his army through the Khyber Pass and southwards in stages,
eventually reaching the Arabian Sea coast in Sindh by 516 BC. Under Persian rule, a system
of centralized administration, with a bureaucratic system, was introduced into the Indus
Valley for the first time, establishing several satrapies: Gandāra around the general region of
Gandhara, Hindush around Punjab and Sindh, Arachosia, encompassing parts of
present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan,[28] Sattagydia around the Bannu
basin,[29] and Gedrosia covering much of the Makran region of southern Balochistan.[30]

What is known about the easternmost satraps and borderlands of the Achaemenid Empire is
alluded to in the Darius inscriptions and from Greek sources such as the Histories of
Herodotus and the later Alexander Chronicles (Arrian, Strabo et al.). These sources list three
Indus Valley tributaries or conquered territories that were subordinated to the Persian Empire
and made to pay tributes to the Persian Kings.

2. Macedonian Empire

By spring of 326 BC, Alexander began on his Indus expedition from Bactria, leaving behind
3500 horses and 10,000 soldiers. He divided his army into two groups. The larger force
would enter the Indus Valley through the Khyber Pass, just as Darius had done 200 years
earlier, while a smaller force under the personal command of Alexander entered through a
northern route, possibly through Broghol or Dorah Pass near Chitral. Alexander was
commanding a group of shield-bearing guards, foot-companions, archers, Agrianians, and
horse-javelin-men and led them against the tribes of the former Gandhara satrapy.

The first tribe they encountered were the Aspasioi tribe of the Kunar Valley, who initiated a
fierce battle against Alexander, in which he himself was wounded in the shoulder by a dart.
However, the Aspasioi eventually lost and 40,000 people were enslaved. Alexander then
continued in a southwestern direction where he encountered the Assakenoi tribe of the Swat
& Buner valleys in April 326 BC. The Assakenoi fought bravely and offered stubborn
resistance to Alexander and his army in the cities of Ora, Bazira (Barikot) and Massaga. So
enraged was Alexander about the resistance put up by the Assakenoi that he killed the
entire population of Massaga and reduced its buildings to rubble – similar slaughters
followed in Ora.[31] A similar slaughter then followed at Ora, another stronghold of the
Assakenoi. The stories of these slaughters reached numerous Assakenians, who began
fleeing to Aornos, a hill-fort located between Shangla and Kohistan. Alexander followed
close behind their heels and besieged the strategic hill-fort, eventually capturing and
destroying the fort and killing everyone inside. The remaining smaller tribes either
surrendered or like the Astanenoi tribe of Pushkalavati (Charsadda) were quickly neutralized
where 38,000 soldiers and 230,000 oxen were captured by Alexander.[32] Eventually
Alexander's smaller force would meet with the larger force which had come through the
Khyber Pass met at Attock. With the conquest of Gandhara complete, Alexander switched to
strengthening his military supply line, which by now stretched dangerously vulnerable over
the Hindu Kush back to Balkh in Bactria.

After conquering Gandhara and solidifying his supply line back to Bactria, Alexander
combined his forces with the King Ambhi of Taxila and crossed the River Indus in July 326
BC to begin the Archosia (Punjab) campaign. His first resistance would come at the River
Jhelum near Bhera against King Porus of the Paurava tribe. The famous Battle of the
Hydaspes (Jhelum) between Alexander (with Ambhi) and Porus would be the last major
battle fought by him. After defeating Porus, his battle weary troops refused to advance into
India[33] to engage the army of Nanda Dynasty and its vanguard of trampling elephants.
Alexander, therefore proceeded south-west along the Indus Valley.[34] Along the way, he
engaged in several battles with smaller kingdoms in Multan and Sindh, before marching his
army westward across the Makran desert towards what is now Iran. In crossing the desert,
Alexander's army took enormous casualties from hunger and thirst, but fought no human
enemy. They encountered the "Fish Eaters", or Ichthyophagi, primitive people who lived on
the Makran coast, who had matted hair, no fire, no metal, no clothes, lived in huts made of
whale bones, and ate raw seafood.

3. Mauryan Empire

The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia
based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing
in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE.[35] The Maurya Empire was centralized by the conquest
of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, and its capital city was located at Pataliputra (modern Patna).
Outside this imperial center, the empire's geographical extent was dependent on the loyalty
of military commanders who controlled the armed cities sprinkling it.[36][37][38] During
Ashoka's rule (ca. 268–232 BCE) the empire briefly controlled the major urban hubs and
arteries of the Indian subcontinent excepting the deep south.[35] It declined for about 50
years after Ashoka's rule, and dissolved in 185 BCE with the assassination of Brihadratha by
Pushyamitra Shunga and foundation of the Shunga Empire in Magadha.

Chandragupta Maurya raised an army, with the assistance of Chanakya, author of

Arthasastra,[39] and overthrew the Nanda Empire in c. 322 BCE. Chandragupta rapidly
expanded his power westwards across central and western India by conquering the satraps
left by Alexander the Great, and by 317 BCE the empire had fully occupied northwestern
India.[40] The Mauryan Empire then defeated Seleucus I, a diadochus and founder of the
Seleucid Empire, during the Seleucid–Mauryan war, thus acquiring territory west of the Indus
River.[41][42]

Under the Mauryas, internal and external trade, agriculture, and economic activities thrived
and expanded across South Asia due to the creation of a single and efficient system of
finance, administration, and security. The Maurya dynasty built a precursor of the Grand
Trunk Road from Patliputra to Taxila.[43] After the Kalinga War, the Empire experienced
nearly half a century of centralized rule under Ashoka. Ashoka's embrace of Buddhism and
sponsorship of Buddhist missionaries allowed for the expansion of that faith into Sri Lanka,
northwest India, and Central Asia.[44]
The population of South Asia during the Mauryan period has been estimated to be between
15 and 30 million.[45] The empire's period of dominion was marked by exceptional creativity
in art, architecture, inscriptions and produced texts.

● Classical history

1. Indo-Greek Kingdom

The Indo-Greek Menander I (reigned 155–130 BCE) drove the Greco-Bactrians out of
Gandhara and beyond the Hindu Kush, becoming king shortly after his victory. His territories
covered Panjshir and Kapisa in modern Afghanistan and extended to the Punjab region, with
many tributaries to the south and east, possibly as far as Mathura. The capital Sagala
(modern Sialkot) prospered greatly under Menander's rule and Menander is one of the few
Bactrian kings mentioned by Greek authors.[49]

The classical Buddhist text Milinda Pañha praises Menander, saying there was "none equal
to Milinda in all India".[50] His empire survived him in a fragmented manner until the last
independent Greek king, Strato II, disappeared around 10 CE. Around 125 BCE, the
Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles, son of Eucratides, fled from the Yuezhi invasion of Bactria
and relocated to Gandhara, pushing the Indo-Greeks east of the Jhelum River. The last
known Indo-Greek ruler was Theodamas, from the Bajaur area of Gandhara, mentioned on a
1st-century CE signet ring, bearing the Kharoṣṭhī inscription "Su Theodamasa" ("Su" was the
Greek transliteration of the Kushan royal title "Shau" ("Shah" or "King")). Various petty kings
ruled into the early 1st century CE, until the conquests by the Scythians, Parthians and the
Yuezhi, who founded the Kushan dynasty.

It is during this period that the fusion of Hellenistic and Asiatic mythological, artistic and
religious elements becomes most apparent, especially in the region of Gandhara, straddling
western Pakistan and southern Afghanistan. Detailed, humanistic representations of the
Buddha begin to emerge, depicting the figure with a close resemblance to the Hellenic god
Apollo; Greek mythological motifs such as centaurs, Bacchanalian scenes, Nereids and
deities such as Tyche and Heracles are prominent in the Buddhistic art of ancient Pakistan
and Afghanistan.

2. Indo-Scythian Kingdom

The Indo-Scythians were descended from the Sakas (Scythians) who migrated from
southern Central Asia into Pakistan and Arachosia from the middle of the 2nd century BCE
to the 1st century BCE. They displaced the Indo-Greeks and ruled a kingdom that stretched
from Gandhara to Mathura. The power of the Saka rulers started to decline in the 2nd
century CE after the Scythians were defeated by the south Indian Emperor Gautamiputra
Satakarni of the Satavahana dynasty.[51][52] Later the Saka kingdom was completely
destroyed by Chandragupta II of the Gupta Empire from eastern India in the 4th century.

3. Indo-Parthian Kingdom

The Indo-Parthian Kingdom was ruled by the Gondopharid dynasty, named after its
eponymous first ruler Gondophares. They ruled parts of present-day Afghanistan,
Pakistan,[55] and northwestern India, during or slightly before the 1st century AD. For most
of their history, the leading Gondopharid kings held Taxila (in the present Punjab province of
Pakistan) as their residence, but during their last few years of existence the capital shifted
between Kabul and Peshawar. These kings have traditionally been referred to as
Indo-Parthians, as their coinage was often inspired by the Arsacid dynasty, but they probably
belonged to a wider groups of Iranic tribes who lived east of Parthia proper, and there is no
evidence that all the kings who assumed the title Gondophares, which means "Holder of
Glory", were even related. Christian writings claim that the Apostle Saint Thomas – an
architect and skilled carpenter – had a long sojourn in the court of king Gondophares, had
built a palace for the king at Taxila and had also ordained leaders for the Church before
leaving for Indus Valley in a chariot, for sailing out to eventually reach Malabar Coast.

4. Kushan Empire

The Kushan Empire expanded out of what is now Afghanistan into the northwest of the
subcontinent under the leadership of their first emperor, Kujula Kadphises, about the middle
of the 1st century CE. They were descended from an Indo-European, Central Asian people
called the Yuezhi,[61][62] a branch of which was known as the Kushans. By the time of his
grandson, Kanishka the Great, the empire spread to encompass much of Afghanistan[63]
and the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near
Varanasi (Benares).[64]

Emperor Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism; however, as Kushans expanded

southward, the deities[65] of their later coinage came to reflect its new Hindu majority.[66]
The monumental Kanishka stupa is believed to have been established by the king near the
outskirts of modern-day Peshawar, Pakistan.

The Kushan dynasty played an important role in the establishment of Buddhism in India and
its spread to Central Asia and China. Historian Vincent Smith said about Kanishka in
particular:

He played the part of a second Ashoka in the history of Buddhism.[67]

The empire linked the Indian Ocean maritime trade with the commerce of the Silk Road
through the Indus valley, encouraging long-distance trade, particularly between China and
Rome. The Kushans brought new trends to the budding and blossoming Gandharan Art,
which reached its peak during Kushan Rule.

H.G. Rowlinson commented:

The Kushan period is a fitting prelude to the Age of the Guptas.[68]

By the 3rd century, their empire in India was disintegrating and their last known great
emperor was Vasudeva I.

5. Gupta Empire
The Gupta Empire existed approximately from 320 to 600 CE, and controlled most of the
Indus and Swat valleys till c. 465, in an empire that at its maximum extent, around 414 AD,
covered much of northern South Asia, including modern Pakistan but excluding the southern
peninsular region.[71] Founded by Maharaja Sri-Gupta, the dynasty was the model of a
classical civilization[72] and was marked by extensive inventions and discoveries.[73]

The high points of this cultural creativity are magnificent architectures, sculptures and
paintings.[74][75][76] Science and political administration reached new heights during the
Gupta era.[77] Strong trade ties also made the region an important cultural centre and set
the region up as a base that would influence nearby kingdoms and regions in Burma, Sri
Lanka, Maritime Southeast Asia and Indochina.[78]

The empire gradually declined due in part to loss of territory and imperial authority caused by
their own erstwhile feudatories, and from the invasion by the Hunas from Central Asia, in the
early 460s AD.[79] After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century, South Asia was
again ruled by numerous regional kingdoms. A minor line of the Gupta clan continued to rule
Magadha after the disintegration of the empire. These Guptas were ultimately ousted by the
Vardhana king Harsha, who established an empire in the first half of the 7th century.

● Medieval ages

1. Arab Caliphate
After conquering the Middle East from the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire, the
Rashidun Caliphate reached the coastal region of Makran in present-day Balochistan. In
643, the second caliph Umar (r. 634–644) ordered an invasion of Makran against the Rai
dynasty. Following the Rashidun capture of Makran, Umar restricted the army to not pass
beyond and consolidated his position in Makran.[80] During the reign of the fourth caliph Ali
(r. 656–661), the Rashidun army conquered the town of Kalat in the heart of Balochistan.[81]
During the reign of the sixth Umayyad caliph al-Walid I (r. 705–715), the Arab military general
Muhammad ibn al-Qasim commanded the Umayyad incursion into Sindh. In 712, he
defeated the army of the Hindu maharaja Dahir of Aror (r. 695–712) and established the
caliphal province of Sind. The historic town of al-Mansura was administered as the capital of
the province. Afterward, Ibn al-Qasim proceeded to conquer Multan, which subsequently
became a prominent center of Islamic culture and trading. In 747, the anti-Umayyad rebel
Mansur ibn Jumhur al-Kalbi seized Sind and was defeated by Musa ibn Ka'b al-Tamimi of the
succeeding Abbasid Caliphate. In the 9th-century, Abbasid authority gradually declined in
Sind and Multan. The tenth Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861) assigned the
governorship of Sind to Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Habbari, who founded the hereditary
Habbarid dynasty and became the autonomous ruler of Sind in 854. Around the same time,
the Banu Munnabih of the Quraysh established the Emirate of Multan. There was gradual
conversion to Islam in the south, especially amongst the native Hindu and Buddhist majority,
but in areas north of Multan, Hindus and Buddhists remained numerous.[82] By the end of
the 10th century CE, the region was ruled by several Hindu kings.

2. Kabul and Hindu Shahis

The Turk Shahis ruled Gandhara from the decline of the Kushan Empire in the 3rd century
until 870, when they were overthrown by the Hindu Shahis. The Hindu Shahis are believed
to belong to the Uḍi/Oḍi tribe, namely the people of Oddiyana in Gandhara.[83][84]

The first king Kallar had moved the capital into Udabandhapura from Kabul, in the modern
village of Hund for its new capital.[85][86][87][88] At its zenith, the kingdom stretched over
the Kabul Valley, Gandhara and western Punjab under Jayapala.[89] Jayapala saw a danger
in the consolidation of the Ghaznavids and invaded their capital city of Ghazni both in the
reign of Sebuktigin and in that of his son Mahmud, which initiated the Muslim Ghaznavid and
Hindu Shahi struggles.[90] Sebuk Tigin, however, defeated him, and he was forced to pay an
indemnity.[90] Jayapala defaulted on the payment and took to the battlefield once more.[90]
Jayapala however, lost control of the entire region between the Kabul Valley and Indus
River.[91]

However, the army was defeated in battle against the western forces, particularly against the
Mahmud of Ghazni.[91] In the year 1001, soon after Sultan Mahmud came to power and was
occupied with the Qarakhanids north of the Hindu Kush, Jaipal attacked Ghazni once more
and upon suffering yet another defeat by the powerful Ghaznavid forces, near present-day
Peshawar. After the Battle of Peshawar, he died because of regretting as his subjects
brought disaster and disgrace to the Shahi dynasty.[90][91]

Jayapala was succeeded by his son Anandapala,[90] who along with other succeeding
generations of the Shahiya dynasty took part in various unsuccessful campaigns against the
advancing Ghaznvids but were unsuccessful. The Hindu rulers eventually exiled themselves
to the Kashmir Siwalik Hills.

3. Ghaznavid dynasty

In 997 CE, the Turkic ruler Mahmud of Ghazni, took over the Ghaznavid dynasty empire
established by his father, Sebuktegin, a Turkic origin ruler. Starting from the city of Ghazni
(now in Afghanistan), Mehmood conquered the bulk of Khorasan, marched on Peshawar
against the Hindu Shahis in Kabul in 1005, and followed it by the conquests of Punjab
(1007), deposed the Shia Ismaili rulers of Multan, (1011), Kashmir (1015) and Qanoch
(1017). By the end of his reign in 1030, Mahmud's empire briefly extended from Kurdistan in
the west to the Yamuna river in the east, and the Ghaznavid dynasty lasted until 1187.
Contemporary historians such as Abolfazl Beyhaqi and Ferdowsi described extensive
building work in Lahore, as well as Mahmud's support and patronage of learning, literature
and the arts.

Mahmud's successors, known as the Ghaznavids, ruled for 157 years. Their kingdom
gradually shrank in size, and was racked by bitter succession struggles. The Hindu Rajput
kingdoms of western India reconquered the eastern Punjab, and by the 1160s, the line of
demarcation between the Ghaznavid state and the Hindu kingdoms approximated to the
present-day boundary between India and Pakistan. The Ghurid Empire of central
Afghanistan occupied Ghazni around 1160, and the Ghaznavid capital was shifted to Lahore.
Later Muhammad Ghori conquered the Ghaznavid kingdom, occupying Lahore in 1187.

4. Ghurid dynasty
The Ghaznavids under either Khusrau Shah or his son Khusrau Malik lost their control over
Ghazni to the Ghuzz Turks along with some other territories. In the 1170s, Ghurid prince
Muhammad of Ghor raided their territory and captured Ghazni from them and was crowned
there by his brother Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad in 1173. Muhammad of Ghor marched from
Gomal Pass into Pakistan and captured Multan and Uch before being rebuffed by Gujarat's
Hindu Chaulukya (Solanki) rulers, which forced him to press upon the trumbling Ghaznavids.
By 1186–87, he deposed the last Ghaznavid ruler Khusrau Malik, bringing the last of
Ghaznevid territory under his control and ending the Ghaznavid empire. The Ghurids were
overthrown in 1215, although their conquests in the Indian Subcontinent survived for several
centuries under the Delhi Sultanate established by the Ghurid Mamluk Qutb ud-Din Aibak.

5. Delhi Sultanate

The Turkic origin Mamluk Dynasty, (mamluk means "owned" and referred to the Turkic
youths bought and trained as soldiers who became rulers throughout the Islamic world),
seized the throne of the Sultanate in 1211. Several Central Asian Turkic and a Lodhi
Pashtun dynasty ruled their empires from Delhi: the Mamluk (1211–90), the Khalji
(1290–1320), the Tughlaq (1320–1413), the Sayyid (1414–1451) and the Lodhi
(1451–1526).[103] Although some kingdoms remained independent of Delhi – in Gujarat,
Malwa (central India), Bengal and Deccan – almost all of the Indus plain came under the rule
of these large sultanates.

The sultans (emperors) of Delhi enjoyed cordial relations with rulers in the Near East but
owed them no allegiance. While the sultans ruled from urban centres, their military camps
and trading posts provided the nuclei for many towns that sprang up in the countryside.
Close interaction with local populations led to cultural exchange and the resulting
"Indo-Islamic" fusion has left a lasting imprint and legacy in South Asian architecture, music,
literature, life style and religious customs. In addition, the language of Urdu (literally meaning
"horde" or "camp" in various Turkic dialects, but more likely "city" in the South Asian context)
was born during the Delhi Sultanate period, as a result of the mingling of speakers of native
Prakrits, Persian, Turkish and Arabic languages.

Perhaps the greatest contribution of the Sultanate was its temporary success in insulating
South Asia from the Mongol invasion from Central Asia in the 13th century; nonetheless the
sultans eventually lost western Pakistan to the Mongols (see the Ilkhanate dynasty). The
Sultanate declined after the invasion of Emperor Timur, who founded the Timurid Empire,
and was eventually conquered in 1526 by the Mughal Emperor Babar.

The Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal Empire attracted Muslim refugees, nobles,
technocrats, bureaucrats, soldiers, traders, scientists, architects, artisans, teachers, poets,
artists, theologians and Sufis from the rest of the Muslim world and they migrated and settled
in the South Asia. During the reign of Sultan Ghyasuddin Balban (1266–1286) thousands of
Central Asian Muslims sought asylum including more than 15 sovereigns and their nobles
due to the Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia and Eastern Iran. At the court of Sultan Iltemish
in Delhi the first wave of these Muslim refugees escaping from the Central Asian genocide
by the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan, brought administrators from Iran, painters from
China, theologians from Samarkand, Nishapur and Bukhara, divines and saints from the rest
of Muslim world, craftsmen and men and maidens from every region, notably doctors adept
in Greek medicine and philosophers from everywhere.

6. Soomra dynasty

The Soomra dynasty was a local Sindhi Muslim dynasty that ruled between the early 11th
century and the 14th century.[104][105][106]

Later chroniclers like Ali ibn al-Athir (c. late 12th c.) and Ibn Khaldun (c. late 14th c.)
attributed the fall of Habbarids to Mahmud of Ghazni, lending credence to the argument of
Hafif being the last Habbarid.[107] The Soomras appear to have established themselves as
a regional power in this power vacuum.[107][108]

The Ghurids and Ghaznavids continued to rule parts of Sindh, across the eleventh and early
twelfth century, alongside Soomrus.[107] The precise delineations are not yet known but
Sommrus were probably centered in lower Sindh.[107]

Some of them were adherents of Isma'ilism.[108] One of their kings Shimuddin Chamisar
had submitted to Iltutmish, the Sultan of Delhi, and was allowed to continue on as a vassal.

7. Samma dynasty

The Samma dynasty was a Sindhi dynasty that ruled in Sindh, and parts of Kutch, Punjab
and Balochistan from c. 1351 to c. 1524 CE, with their capital at Thatta.[111][112][113]

The Sammas overthrew the Soomra dynasty soon after 1335 and the last Soomra ruler took
shelter with the governor of Gujarat, under the protection of Muhammad bin Tughluq, the
sultan of Delhi. Mohammad bin Tughlaq made an expedition against Sindh in 1351 and died
at Sondha, possibly in an attempt to restore the Soomras. With this, the Sammas became
independent. The next sultan, Firuz Shah Tughlaq attacked Sindh in 1365 and 1367,
unsuccessfully, but with reinforcements from Delhi he later obtained Banbhiniyo's surrender.
For a period the Sammas were therefore subject to Delhi again. Later, as the Sultanate of
Delhi collapsed they became fully independent.[114] Jam Unar was the founder of Samma
dynasty mentioned by Ibn Battuta.[114]

The Samma civilization contributed significantly to the evolution of the Indo-Islamic

architectural style. Thatta is famous for its necropolis, which covers 10 square km on the
Makli Hill.[115] It has left its mark in Sindh with magnificent structures including the Makli
Necropolis of its royals in Thatta.

● Mughal Empire

In 1526, Babur, a Timurid descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan from Fergana Valley
(modern-day Uzbekistan), swept across the Khyber Pass and founded the Mughal Empire,
covering parts of modern-day eastern- Afghanistan, much of what is now Pakistan, parts of
India and Bangladesh.[118] The Mughals were descended from Central Asian Turks (with
significant Mongol admixture).
However, his son and successor Humayun was defeated by Sher Shah Suri who was from
Bihar state of India, in the year 1540, and Humayun was forced to retreat to Kabul. After
Sher Shah died, his son Islam Shah Suri became the ruler, on whose death his prime
minister, Hemu ascended the throne and ruled North India from Delhi for one month. He was
defeated by Emperor Akbar's forces in the Second Battle of Panipat on 6 November 1556.

Akbar, was both a capable ruler and an early proponent of religious and ethnic tolerance and
favoured an early form of multiculturalism. For example, he declared "Amari" or non-killing of
animals in the holy days of Jainism and rolled back the jizya tax imposed upon non-Islamic
mainly Hindu people. The Mughal dynasty ruled most of the South Asia by 1600. The
Mughal emperors married local royalty and allied themselves with local maharajas. Akbar
was succeeded by Jahangir who was succeeded by Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan was replaced
by Aurangzeb following the Mughal war of succession (1658–1659).

After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, different regions of modern Pakistan and India began
asserting independence. The empire went into a rapid decline and by about 1720 only really
controlled a small region around Delhi. The emperors continued have lip service paid to
them as "Emperor of India" by the other powers in South Asia until the British finally
abolished the empire in 1858.

For a short time in the late 16th century, Lahore was the capital of the empire. The
architectural legacy of the Mughals includes the Lahore Fort, Wazir Khan Mosque, Shalimar
Gardens, Tomb of Jahangir, Tomb of Nur Jahan, Akbari Sarai, Hiran Minar, Shah Jahan
Mosque and the Badshahi Mosque.[117] The Mughal Empire had a great impact on the
culture, cuisine, and architecture of Pakistan.

● Post-Mughal period

1. Durrani and Maratha Empire

In 1749, the Mughal ruler was induced to cede Sindh, the Punjab region and the important
trans Indus River to Ahmad Shah Durrani, also known as Ahmad Shah Abdali, in order to
save his capital from Afghan attack.[119] Ahmad Shah next sent an army to subdue the
areas north of the Hindu Kush mountains. In short order, the Ahmad Shah's powerful army
brought under its control the Tajik, Hazara, Uzbeks, Turkmen, and other tribes of northern
Afghanistan. Ahmad Shah invaded the remnants of the Mughal Empire a third time, and then
a fourth, consolidating control over the Kashmir and Punjab regions, with Lahore being
governed by Afghans. He sacked Delhi in 1757 but permitted the Mughal dynasty to remain
in nominal control of the city as long as the ruler acknowledged Ahmad Shah's suzerainty
over Punjab, Sindh, and Kashmir. Leaving his second son Timur Shah to safeguard his
interests, Ahmad Shah left India to return to Afghanistan.

In 1751–52, Ahamdiya treaty was signed between the Marathas and Mughals, when Balaji
Bajirao was the Peshwa.[120] Through this treaty, the Marathas controlled whole of India
from their capital at Pune and the Mughal rule was restricted only to Delhi (the Mughals
remained the nominal heads of Delhi). Marathas were now straining to expand their area of
control towards the Northwest of India. Ahmad Shah sacked the Mughal capital and
withdrew with the booty he coveted. To counter the Afghans, Peshwa Balaji Bajirao sent
Raghunathrao. He defeated the Rohillas and Afghan garrisons in Punjab and succeeded in
ousting Timur Shah and his court from India and brought Lahore, Multan, Kashmir and other
subahs on the Indian side of Attock under Maratha rule.[121] Thus, upon his return to
Kandahar in 1757, Ahmad was forced to return to India and face the Maratha Confederacy.

In 1758, the Maratha Empire's general Raghunath Rao attacked and conquered Punjab,
frontier regions and Kashmir and drove out Timur Shah Durrani, the son and viceroy of
Ahmad Shah Abdali. In 1759, the Marathas and its allies won the Battle of Lahore, defeating
the Durranis,[122][123] hence, Lahore, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Peshawar, Kashmir, and
other subahs on the south eastern side of Afghanistan's border fell under the Maratha rule.

Ahmad Shah declared a jihad (or Islamic holy war) against the Marathas, and warriors from
various Afghan tribes joined his army. Early skirmishes were followed by decisive victory for
the Afghans against the much larger Maratha garrisons in Northwest India and by 1759
Ahmad Shah and his army reached Lahore and were poised to confront the Marathas.
Ahmad Shah Durrani was famous for winning wars much larger than his army. By 1760, the
Maratha groups had coalesced into a big enough army under the command of Sadashivrao
Bhau. Once again, Panipat was the scene of a confrontation between two warring
contenders for control of northern India. The Third Battle of Panipat (14 January 1761),
fought between largely Muslim and largely Hindu armies was waged along a
twelve-kilometer front. Although the Durrani's army decisively defeated the Marathas, they
suffered heavily in the battle.

The victory at Panipat was the high point of Ahmad Shah's—and Afghan—power. However,
even prior to his death, the empire began to face challenges in the form of a rising Sikhs in
Punjab. In 1762, Ahmad Shah crossed the passes from Afghanistan for the sixth time to
subdue the Sikhs. From this time and on, the domination and control of the Empire began to
loosen, and by the time of Durrani's death he had completely lost Punjab to the Sikhs, as
well as earlier losses of northern territories to the Uzbeks, necessitating a compromise with
them.

2. Sikh Empire

Guru Nanak (29 November 1469 – 22 September 1539), Sikhism's founder, was born into a
Hindu Khatri family in the village of Rāi Bhōi dī Talwandī (present day Nankana, near Sial in
modern-day Pakistan). He was an influential religious and social reformer in north India and
the saintly founder of a modern monotheistic order and first of the ten divine Gurus of Sikh
religion. At the age of 70, he died at Kartarpur, Punjab of modern-day Pakistan.

The Sikh Empire (1799–1849) was formed on the foundations of the Sikh Khalsa Army by
Maharaja Ranjit Singh who was proclaimed "Sarkar-i-Khalsa", and was referred to as the
"Maharaja of Lahore".[126] It consisted of a collection of autonomous Punjabi Misls, which
were governed by Misldars,[127] mainly in the Punjab region. The empire extended from the
Khyber Pass in the west, to Kashmir in the north, to Multan in the south and Kapurthala in
the east. The main geographical footprint of the empire was the Punjab region. The
formation of the empire was a watershed and represented formidable consolidation of Sikh
military power and resurgence of local culture, which had been dominated for hundreds of
years by Indo-Afghan and Indo-Mughal hybrid cultures.
The foundations of the Sikh Empire, during the time of the Sikh Khalsa Army, could be
defined as early as 1707, starting from the death of Aurangzeb. The fall of the Mughal
Empire provided opportunities for the Sikh army to lead expeditions against the Mughals and
Pashtuns. This led to a growth of the army, which was split into different Sikh armies and
then semi-independent "misls". Each of these component armies were known as a misl,
each controlling different areas and cities. However, in the period from 1762 to 1799, Sikh
rulers of their misls appeared to be coming into their own. The formal start of the Sikh
Empire began with the disbandment of the Sikh Khalsa Army by the time of coronation of
Ranjit Singh in 1801, creating a unified political state. All the misl leaders who were affiliated
with the Army were from Punjab's nobility.

● British rule

None of the territory of modern Pakistan was ruled by the British, or other European powers,
until 1839, when Karachi, then a small fishing village with a mud fort guarding the harbour,
was taken, and held as an enclave with a port and military base for the First Afghan War that
soon followed. The rest of Sindh was taken in 1843, and in the following decades, first the
East India Company, and then after the post-Sepoy Mutiny (1857–1858) direct rule of Queen
Victoria of the British Empire, took over most of the country partly through wars, and also
treaties. The main wars were that against the Baloch Talpur dynasty, ended by the Battle of
Miani (1843) in Sindh, the Anglo-Sikh Wars (1845–1849) and the Anglo-Afghan Wars
(1839–1919). By 1893, all modern Pakistan was part of the British Indian Empire, and
remained so until independence in 1947.

Under the British, modern Pakistan was mostly divided into the Sind Division, Punjab
Province, and the Baluchistan Agency. There were various princely states, of which the
largest was Bahawalpur. Sindh was part of the Bombay Presidency, and there were many
complaints over the years that it was neglected by its distant rulers in modern Mumbai,
although there was usually a Commissioner based in Karachi.

The Punjab (which included the modern Indian state) was instead technically ruled from
even more distant Calcutta, as part of the Bengal Presidency, but in practice most matters
were devolved to local British officials, who were often among the most energetic and
effective in India. At first there was a "Board of Administration" led by Sir Henry Lawrence,
who had previously worked as British Resident at the Lahore Durbar and also consisted of
his younger brother John Lawrence and Charles Grenville Mansel.[128] Below the Board
worked a group of acclaimed officers collectively known as Henry Lawrence's "Young Men".
After the Mutiny, Sir John Lawrence became the first Governor of Punjab. The Punjab Canal
Colonies were an ambitious and largely successful project, begun in the 1880s, to create
new farmland through irrigation, to relieve population pressure elsewhere (most of the areas
involved are now in Pakistan).

The Baluchistan Agency largely consisted of princely states and tribal territories, and was
governed with a light touch, although near the Afghan border Quetta was built up as a
military base, in case of invasion by either the Afghans or the Russians. The 1935 Quetta
earthquake was a major disaster. From 1876 the sensitive far north was made a "Chief
Commissioner's Province". The border with Afghanistan, which remains the modern border
of Pakistan, was finally fixed on the Durand Line in 1893.

Railway construction began in the 1850s, and most of the network (some now discontinued)
was completed by 1900. Karachi expanded enormously under British rule, followed to a
lesser extent by Lahore and the other larger cities.

Different Regions of Pakistan were conquered by East India Company as below:

•Sindh was conquered by Battle of Hyderabad and Battle of Miani in 1843.
•Punjab and eastern Khyber pakhtunkhwa were conquered during Second Anglo-Sikh War
in 1849.

Regions conquered by British Raj are as below:

•Southern Balochistan came under control by Treaty of Kalat in 1876.
•Western Balochistan was conquered by British empire in Second Anglo-Afghan War
through Treaty of Gandamak, in 1879.

1. Early period of Pakistan Movement

In 1877, Syed Ameer Ali had formed the Central National Muhammadan Association to work
towards the political advancement of the Indian Muslims, who had suffered grievously in
1857, in the aftermath of the failed Sepoy Mutiny against the East India Company; the British
were seen as foreign invaders. But the organization declined towards the end of the 19th
century.

In 1885, the Indian National Congress was founded as a forum, which later became a party,
to promote a nationalist cause.[129] Although the Congress attempted to include the Muslim
community in the struggle for independence from the British rule – and some Muslims were
very active in the Congress – the majority of Muslim leaders, including the influential Sir
Syed Ahmed Khan, did not trust the party.

A turning point came in 1900, when the British administration in the United Provinces of Agra
and Oudh acceded to Hindu demands and made Hindi, the version of the Hindustani
language written in the Devanagari script, the official language. The proselytisation
conducted in the region by the activists of a new Hindu reformist movement also stirred
Muslim's concerns about their faith. Eventually, the Muslims feared that the Hindu majority
would seek to suppress the rights of Muslims in the region following the departure of the
British.

2. Muslim League

The All-India Muslim League was founded by Shaiiq-e-Mustafa on 30 December 1906, in the
aftermath of division of Bengal, on the sidelines of the annual All India Muhammadan
Educational Conference in Shahbagh, Dhaka East Bengal.[130] The meeting was attended
by three thousand delegates and presided over by Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk. It addressed the
issue of safeguarding interests of Muslims and finalised a programme. A resolution, moved
by Nawab Salimullah and seconded by Hakim Ajmal Khan. Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk
(conservative), declared:
The Musalmans are only a fifth in number as compared with the total population of the
country, and it is manifest that if at any remote period the British government ceases to exist
in India, then the rule of India would pass into the hands of that community which is nearly
four times as large as ourselves ... our life, our property, our honour, and our faith will all be
in great danger, when even now that a powerful British administration is protecting its
subjects, we the Musalmans have to face most serious difficulties in safe-guarding our
interests from the grasping hands of our neighbors.

The constitution and principles of the League were contained in the Green Book, written by
Maulana Mohammad Ali. Its goals at this stage did not include establishing an independent
Muslim state, but rather concentrated on protecting Muslim liberties and rights, promoting
understanding between the Muslim community and other Indians, educating the Muslim and
Indian community at large on the actions of the government, and discouraging violence.
However, several factors over the next thirty years, including sectarian violence, led to a
re-evaluation of the League's aims.[132][133] Among those Muslims in the Congress who
did not initially join the League was Jinnah, a prominent statesman and barrister in Bombay.
This was because the first article of the League's platform was "To promote among the
Mussalmans (Muslims) of India, feelings of loyalty to the British Government". The League
remained loyal to the British administration for five years until the British decided to reverse
the partition of Bengal. The Muslim League saw this British decision as partial to Hindus.

In 1907, a vocal group of Hindu hard-liners within the Indian National Congress movement
separated from it and started to pursue a pro-Hindu movement openly. This group was
spearheaded by the famous triumvirate of Lal-Bal-Pal – Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak
and Bipin Chandra Pal of Punjab, Bombay and Bengal provinces respectively. Their
influence spread rapidly among other like minded Hindus – they called it Hindu nationalism –
and it became a cause of serious concern for Muslims. However, Jinnah did not join the
League until 1913, when the party changed its platform to one of Indian independence, as a
reaction against the British decision to reverse the 1905 Partition of Bengal, which the
League regarded it as a betrayal of the Bengali Muslims.[135] After vociferous protests of
the Hindu population and violence engineered by secret groups, such as Anushilan Samiti
and its offshoot Jugantar of Aurobindo and his brother etc., the British had decided to reunite
Bengal again. Till this stage, Jinnah believed in Mutual co-operation to achieve an
independent, united 'India', although he argued that Muslims should be guaranteed one-third
of the seats in any Indian Parliament.

The League gradually became the leading representative body of Indian Muslims. Jinnah
became its president in 1916, and negotiated the Lucknow Pact with the Congress leader,
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, by which Congress conceded the principle of separate electorates and
weighted representation for the Muslim community.[136] However, Jinnah broke with the
Congress in 1920 when the Congress leader, Mohandas Gandhi, launched a law violating
Non-Cooperation Movement against the British, which a temperamentally law-abiding
barrister Jinnah disapproved of. Jinnah also became convinced that the Congress would
renounce its support for separate electorates for Muslims, which indeed it did in 1928. In
1927, the British proposed a constitution for India as recommended by the Simon
Commission, but they failed to reconcile all parties. The British then turned the matter over to
the League and the Congress, and in 1928 an All-Parties Congress was convened in Delhi.
The attempt failed, but two more conferences were held, and at the Bombay conference in
May, it was agreed that a small committee should work on the constitution. The prominent
Congress leader Motilal Nehru headed the committee, which included two Muslims, Syed Ali
Imam and Shoaib Quereshi; Motilal's son, Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, was its secretary. The
League, however, rejected the committee's report, the so-called Nehru Report, arguing that
its proposals gave too little representation (one quarter) to Muslims – the League had
demanded at least one-third representation in the legislature. Jinnah announced a "parting of
the ways" after reading the report, and relations between the Congress and the League
began to sour.

3. Muslim homeland – "Now or Never"

The general elections held in the United Kingdom had already weakened the leftist Labour
Party led by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald.[137] Furthermore, the Labour Party's
government was already weakened by the outcomes of World War I, which fueled new
hopes for progress towards self-government in British India.[137] In fact, Mohandas K.
Gandhi traveled to London to press the idea of "self-government" in British India, and
claimed to represent all Indians whilst duly criticized the Muslim League as being sectarian
and divisive.[137] After reviewing the report of the Simon Commission, the Indian Congress
initiated a massive Civil Disobedience Movement under Gandhi; the Muslim League
reserved their opinion on the Simon Report declaring that the report was not final and the
matters should be decided after consultations with the leaders representing all communities
in India.[137]

The Round-table Conferences was held, but these achieved little, since Gandhi and the
League were unable to reach a compromise.[137] Witnessing the events of the Round Table
Conferences, Jinnah had despaired of politics and particularly of getting mainstream parties
like the Congress to be sensitive to minority priorities. During this time in 1930, notable writer
and poet, Muhammad Iqbal called for a separate and autonomous nation-state, who in his
presidential address to the 1930 convention of the Muslim League said that he felt that a
separate Muslim state was essential in an otherwise Hindu-dominated South Asia.

India is a continent of human groups belonging to different races, speaking different

languages, and professing different religions [...] Personally, I would like to see the Punjab,
North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single state.
Self-government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a
consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the
Muslims, at least of North-West India.

MUHAMMAD IQBAL, ALLAHABAD ADDRESSES.

The name of the nation-state was coined by the Cambridge University's political science
student and Muslim nationalist Rahmat Ali,[140] and was published on 28 January 1933 in
the pamphlet Now or Never.[141] After coining the name of the nation-state, Ali noticed that
there is an acronym formed from the names of the "homelands" of Muslims in northwest
India:

"P" for Punjab

"A" for Afghania (now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
"K" for Kashmir
"S" for Sindh
"Tan" for Balochistan; thus forming "Pakistan".[142][143]
After the publication of the pamphlet, the Hindu Press vehemently criticized it, and the word
'Pakstan' used in it.[144] Thus this word became a heated topic of debate. With the addition
of an "i" to improve the pronunciation, the name of Pakistan grew in popularity and led to the
commencement of the Pakistan Movement, and consequently the creation of Pakistan.[145]
In Urdu and Persian languages, the name encapsulates the concept of Pak ("pure") and stan
("land") and hence a "Pure Land".[146] In 1935, the British government proposed to hand
over substantial power to elected Indian provincial legislatures, with elections to be held in
1937.[147] After the elections the League took office in Bengal and Punjab, but the
Congress won office in most of the other provinces, and refused to devolve power with the
League in provinces with large Muslim minorities citing technical difficulties. The subsequent
Congress Rule was unpopular among Muslims and seen as a reign of Hindu tyranny by
Muslim leaders. Mohammad Ali Jinnah declared 22 December 1939, a "Day of Deliverance"
for Indian Muslims. It was meant to celebrate the resignation of all members of the Congress
party from provincial and central offices.

Meanwhile, Muslim ideologues for independence also felt vindicated by the presidential
address of V.D. Savarkar at the 19th session of the famous Hindu nationalist party Hindu
Mahasabha in 1937. In it, this legendary revolutionary – popularly called Veer Savarkar and
known as the iconic father of the Hindu fundamentalist ideology – propounded the seminal
ideas of his Two Nation Theory or ethnic exclusivism, which influenced Jinnah profoundly.

4. 1940 Resolution

In 1940, Jinnah called a general session of the Muslim League in Lahore to discuss the
situation that had arisen due to the outbreak of World War II and the Government of India
joining the war without consulting Indian leaders. The meeting was also aimed at analyzing
the reasons that led to the defeat of the Muslim League in the general election of 1937 in the
Muslim majority provinces. In his speech, Jinnah criticized the Indian Congress and the
nationalists, and espoused the Two-Nation Theory and the reasons for the demand for
separate homelands.[149] Sikandar Hayat Khan, the Chief Minister of Punjab, drafted the
original resolution, but disavowed the final version,[150] that had emerged after protracted
redrafting by the Subject Committee of the Muslim League. The final text unambiguously
rejected the concept of a United India because of increasing inter-religious violence[102] and
recommended the creation of independent states.[151] The resolution was moved in the
general session by Shere-Bangla Bengali nationalist, AKF Haq, the Chief Minister of Bengal,
supported by Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman and other leaders and was adopted on 23 March
1940.[152] The Resolution read as follows:

No constitutional plan would be workable or acceptable to the Muslims unless geographical

contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted with such
territorial readjustments as may be necessary. That the areas in which the Muslims are
numerically in majority as in the North-Western and Eastern zones of India should be
grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous
and sovereign ... That adequate, effective and mandatory safeguards shall be specifically
provided in the constitution for minorities in the units and in the regions for the protection of
their religious, cultural, economic, political, administrative and other rights of the minorities,
with their consultation. Arrangements thus should be made for the security of Muslims where
they were in a minority.

5. Final phase of the Pakistan Movement

Important leaders in the Muslim League highlighted that Pakistan would be a 'New Medina',
in other words the second Islamic state established after Muhammad's creation of an Islamic
state in Medina. Pakistan was popularly envisaged as an Islamic utopia, a successor to the
defunct Turkish Caliphate and a leader and protector of the entire Islamic world. Islamic
scholars debated over whether it was possible for the proposed Pakistan to truly become an
Islamic state.[154][155]

While the Congress' top leadership had been in prison following the 1942 Quit India
Movement, there was intense debate among Indian Muslims over the creation of a separate
homeland.[155] The majority of Barelvis[156] and Barelvi ulema supported the creation of
Pakistan[157] and pirs and Sunni ulema were mobilized by the Muslim League to
demonstrate that India's Muslim masses wanted a separate country.[158] The Barelvis
believed that any co-operation with Hindus would be counter productive.[159] On the other
hand, most Deobandis, who were led by Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani, were opposed to
the creation of Pakistan and the two-nation theory. According to them Muslims and Hindus
could be one nation and Muslims were only a nation of themselves in the religious sense
and not in the territorial sense.[160][161][162] At the same time some Deobandi ulema such
as Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, Mufti Muhammad Shafi and Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani
were supportive of the Muslim League's demand to create a separate Pakistan.[158][163]

Muslims who were living in provinces where they were demographically a minority, such as
the United Provinces where the Muslim League enjoyed popular support, were assured by
Jinnah that they could remain in India, migrate to Pakistan or continue living in India but as
Pakistani citizens.

In the Constituent Assembly elections of 1946, the Muslim League won 425 out of 496 seats
reserved for Muslims (polling 89.2% of total votes).[135] The Congress had hitherto refused
to acknowledge the Muslim League's claim of being the representative of Indian Muslims but
finally acquiesced to the League's claim after the results of this election. The Muslim
League's demand for Pakistan had received overwhelming popular support from India's
Muslims, especially those Muslims who were living in provinces such as UP where they were
a minority.[164]

The British had neither the will, nor the financial resources or military power, to hold India
any longer but they were also determined to avoid partition and for this purpose they
arranged the Cabinet Mission Plan.[165] According to this plan India would be kept united
but would be heavily decentralized with separate groupings of Hindu and Muslim majority
provinces. The Muslim League accepted this plan as it contained the 'essence' of Pakistan
but the Congress rejected it. After the failure of the Cabinet Mission Plan, Jinnah called for
Muslims to observe Direct Action Day to demand the creation of a separate Pakistan. The
Direct Action Day morphed into violent riots between Hindus and Muslims in Calcutta, with
the violence displaying elements of ethnic cleansing. The riots in Calcutta were followed by
intense communal rioting elsewhere, including in Noakhali (where Hindus were attacked by
Muslims) and Bihar (where Hindus attacked Muslims) in October, resulting in large-scale
displacement. In March 1947, such violence reached Punjab, where Sikhs and Hindus were
massacred and driven out by Muslims in the Rawalpindi Division.

The British Prime Minister Attlee appointed Lord Louis Mountbatten as India's last viceroy, to
negotiate the independence of Pakistan and India and immediate British withdrawal. British
leaders including Mountbatten did not support the creation of Pakistan but failed to convince
Jinnah otherwise.[167][168] Mountbatten later confessed that he would most probably have
sabotaged the creation of Pakistan had he known that Jinnah was dying of tuberculosis.[169]

In early 1947 the British had announced their desire to grant India its independence by June
1948. However, Lord Mountbatten decided to advance the date. In a meeting in June, Nehru
and Abul Kalam Azad representing the Congress, Jinnah representing the Muslim League,
B. R. Ambedkar representing the Untouchable community, and Master Tara Singh
representing the Sikhs, agreed to partition India along religious lines.

6. Independence from the British Empire

On 14 August 1947 Pakistan gained independence. India gained independence the following
day. The two provinces of British India: Punjab and Bengal were divided along religious lines
by the Radcliffe Commission. Mountbatten is alleged to have influenced the Radcliffe
Commission to draw the line in India's favour.[170][171] Punjab's mostly Muslim western part
went to Pakistan and its mostly Hindu/Sikh eastern part went to India but there were
significant Muslim minorities in Punjab's eastern section and likewise there were many
Hindus and Sikhs living in Punjab's western areas.

Intense communal rioting in the Punjab forced the governments of India and Pakistan to
agree to a forced population exchange of Muslim and Hindu/Sikh minorities living in Punjab.
After this population exchange only a few thousand low-caste Hindus remained in Pakistan's
side of Punjab and only a tiny Muslim population remained in the town of Malerkotla in
India's part of Punjab.[172] Political scientist Ishtiaq Ahmed says that although Muslims
started the violence in Punjab, by the end of 1947 more Muslims had been killed by Hindus
and Sikhs in East Punjab than the number of Hindus and Sikhs who had been killed by
Muslims in West Punjab.[173][174]

More than ten million people migrated across the new borders and between 200,000 and
2,000,000[175][176][177] people died in the spate of communal violence in the Punjab in
what some scholars have described as a 'retributive genocide' between the religions.[178]
The Pakistani government claimed that 50,000 Muslim women were abducted and raped by
Hindu and Sikh men and similarly the Indian government claimed that Muslims abducted and
raped 33,000 Hindu and Sikh women.[179][180][181] The two governments agreed to
repatriate abducted women and thousands of Hindu, Sikh and Muslim women were
repatriated to their families in the 1950s. The dispute over Kashmir escalated into the first
war between India and Pakistan. The conflict remains unresolved.