Baluchistan (Chief Commissioner's Province)

This article is about the former Chief Commissioner's Province of Balochistan. For other uses, see Balochistan (disambiguation).

Balochistan (CCP)

Subdivision of Pakistan

15 August 1947–14 October 1955

Capital

Quetta

History

Established

15 August 1947

Disestablished

14 October 1955

Area

140,010 km² (54,058 sq mi)

Government of Balochistan

Former administrative units of Pakistan

This article is part of the series
Original provinces Baluchistan East Bengal Federal Capital Territory North-West Frontier Province Sind West Punjab
Princely states Amb Bahawalpur Chitral Dir Hunza Kalat Khairpur Kharan Las Bela Makran Nagar Phulra Swat
One-unit provinces East Pakistan West Pakistan
Other subdivisions Gilgit Agency Trans-Karakoram Tract

The Chief Commissioner's Province of Balochistan was a province of British India, and later Pakistan, located in the northern parts of the modern Balochistan province.

History

The province was originally formed over the period 1876–1891 by three treaties between Robert Sandeman and the Khan of Kalat . Sandeman became the Political Agent for the British-administered areas which were strategically located between British India and Afghanistan. A military base was established at Quetta which played a major part in the Second and Third Afghan Wars.

The province became part of Pakistan in 1947 and continued to be administered by a Chief Commissioner. It was dissolved in 1955 when most parts of the western wing of Pakistan became the new province of West Pakistan. When that province was dissolved in 1970, there was too much role of Khan Abdul Wali Khan in dissolving the province; his intention was to give political power to the Pashtoons of that areas also because there was a jarga and sardari system, the former Chief Commissioner's province was combined with the former Balochistan States Union and the enclave of Gwadar to form a new larger Balochistan Province with a Governor, a Chief Minister and a Provincial Assembly.

Demographics

The population of the province was equally split between Baloch tribes in the south and west and Pashtun tribes in the north .

Government

The province was administered by a Chief Commissioner appointed by the Federal Government. Although there was no elected legislature the Chief Commissioner could consult the Shahi Jirga, an assembly of tribal leaders.

The province comprised three groups of areas – the settled districts, the political agencies and the tribal area. The settled areas were mainly the district around Quetta and Jaffarabad. The agencies were the Zhob agency to the north of Quetta and the Chagai agency to the west, which had a tenuous land link with the rest of the province. The tribal areas were the Bugti and Marri tribal agencies which would later become Provincially Administered Tribal Areas in the new Balochistan province.

Tenure	Chief Commissioner of Balochistan^[1]
15 August 1947 – 3 October 1947	Sir Geoffrey Prior
3 October 1947 – 8 April 1948	Sir Ambrose Dundas Flux Dundas
9 April 1948 – 18 January 1949	Cecil Arthur Grant Savidge
19 January 1949 – 16 July 1949	Sahibzada Mohammad Kursheed
16 July 1949 – 18 November 1952	Mian Aminuddin
18 November 1952 – 13 February 1953	Unknown
13 February 1953 – 8 November 1954	Qurban Ali Khan
8 November 1954 – 19 July 1955	Sardar Bahadur Khan
19 July 1955 – 25 July 1955	R.A.F. Hyride
26 July 1955 – 14 October 1955	R.A.M. Shaker
14 October 1955	Province abolished

References

↑ Ben Cahoon, WorldStatesmen.org. "Pakistan Provinces". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2007.

External links

Government of Balochistan

Presidencies and provinces of the British Raj

Presidencies	Agra Presidency Bengal Presidency Bombay Presidency Madras Presidency Presidency of Coromandel and Bengal Settlements Western Presidency (Surat Presidency)

Provinces	Aden Province Agra Province Ajmer-Merwara Andaman and Nicobar Islands Assam Province Baluchistan Bengal Province Berar Province Bihar and Orissa Province Bihar Province Central Provinces Central Provinces and Berar Coorg Province Delhi Province Eastern Bengal and Assam Lower Burma Nagpur Province North-West Frontier Province North-Western Provinces Orissa Province Panth-Piploda Province Punjab Province Sind Province United Provinces of Agra and Oudh United Provinces of British India United Provinces

Agencies of British India British Empire in India British rule in Burma Districts of British India Divisions of British India Indian Princely States annexed by the British Residencies of British India Subdivisions of British India Territorial evolution of the British Empire