Bugti

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Bugti (Urdu: بگتی), is a Baloch tribe located in Balochistan, Pakistan. They are divided into three clans Rahijas, Kalpars and Masuris.

The Bugti are of Rind (Arab) origin, numbering about 200,000, who are settled in hills to the east of the Sindh - Pishin railway, between Jacobabad and Sibi, with the Marris (a cognate tribe) to the north of them.

An expedition against them was organized by Sir Charles James Napier in 1845, but they were never brought under control till Sir Robert Sandeman ruled Balochistan. Since the construction of the railway, which completely outflanks their country, they have been fairly orderly.

The region was largely under Iranian Royalty control and the autonomous principality of Kalat. The British wrested control away from the Khan of Kalat in the early 1840s and it became the staging ground for the various Afghan-British wars (the Great Game) in the later half of 19th century. The 1876 treaty between the Khan of Kalat and Robert Sandeman accepted the independence of the Kalat as an allied state with British military outposts in the region. After the 1878 Afghan War, the British established Baluchistan as a provinicial entity centered around the municipality of Quetta - Kalat, Makran, and Lasbela continuing to exist as princely realms. The British interest in the region was largely to use it as a land-mass bulwark against Central Asian encroachments. Besides a train track, the development and settlement of British holdings excluded most of the tribal population. The administrative and legislative reforms of late 19th and early 20th century India overlooked Balochistan.

Around the 1930s, Balochi nationalist parties emerged to contest for freedom from British rule. They took the princely State of Kalat as the focal point of a free and united Balochistan. Allama Mohammad Iqbal's vision of autonomous federation of Muslim state included Balochistan but the Khan of Kalat never bought into the nationalist paradigm, arguing that the Kalat had special treaty powers. Baglar Begi Khan declared the independence of Kalat on August 15, 1947. He assured Pakistan that Kalat will participate in the defense and infrastructure but will be autonomous. That didn't go over well at all and the Pakistani army entered the region to occupy the area immediately.

On March 27, 1948, the Khan of Kalat gave in to the State of Pakistan and his old attorney Mohammad Ali Jinnah. His brother Prince Abdul Karim Khan refused to surrender and revolted until his arrest in 1950. Balochistan was put under Governor General control and no elective body formed in Balochistan 1973.

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This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.