Baloch people

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Baloch
بلۏچ
A group of Baloch men
Total population
  • c.10 million (2013)[1]
  • 3–5 million Baloch-speakers (Brill, 2011)[2]
Regions with significant populations
 
Jadgali, Punjabi

Second language:

Indo-Iranian peoples

The Baloch (

Western Asia, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There are also Baloch diaspora communities in neighbouring regions, including in Central Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula
.

Assimilation of non-Baloch tribes[a] into the Baloch tribal system has been a major phenomenon throughout the history of Baloch people, and today a significant Baloch population has diverse origins.[19] The majority of the Baloch reside within Pakistan. About 50% of the total Baloch population live in the Pakistani province of Balochistan,[20] while 40% are settled in Sindh and a significant albeit smaller number reside in the Pakistani Punjab. They make up 3.6% of Pakistan's total population, and around 2% of the populations of both Iran and Afghanistan.[21]

Etymology

The exact origin of the word "Baloch" is unclear. According to the Baloch historian Naseer Dashti (2012), the name of the ethnic group derives from 'Balaschik' living in

D. R. Bhandarkar. The army in question is that of the Umayyad Caliphate after the conquest of Sindh.[24]

History

Sardar Ibrahim Khan Sanjrani, Baloch Sardar of Sistan, c. 1884
Palace of the Baloch Emir of Sindh in 1808

According to Baloch lore, their ancestors hail from

Ameer Hamza, uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, who settled in Halab (present-day Aleppo). After the fight against second Umayyad Caliph Yazid I at Karbala (in which Ameer Hamza's descendants supported and fought alongside Husayn ibn Ali) in 680, descendants of Ameer Hamza migrated to east or southeast of the central Caspian region, specially toward Sistan,[26]
Iran.

Sasanian period. The cause of the migration is unknown but may have been as a result of the generally unstable conditions in the Caspian area. The migrations occurred over several centuries.[30]

By the 9th century,

Balochistan during the Little Ice Age and settled in Sindh and Punjab. The Little Ice Age is conventionally defined as a period extending from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries,[32][33][34] or alternatively, from about 1300[35] to about 1850.[36][37][38] Although climatologists and historians working with local records no longer expect to agree on either the start or end dates of this period, which varied according to local conditions. According to Professor Baloch, the climate of Balochistan was very cold and the region was inhabitable during the winter so the Baloch people migrated in waves and settled in Sindh and Punjab.[39]
The area where the Baloch tribes settled was disputed between the
Mir Aḥmad Khan Qambarani who established the Khanate of Kalat under the Ahmadzai dynasty.[note 1] Originally in alliance with the Mughals, the Khanate lost its autonomy in 1839 with the signing of a treaty with the British colonial government and the region effectively became part of the British Raj.[31]

Baloch culture

Baloch men performing traditional dance.

Gold ornaments such as necklaces and bracelets are an important aspect of Baloch women's traditions and among their most favoured items of jewellery are dorr, heavy earrings that are fastened to the head with gold chains so that the heavy weight will not cause harm to the ears. They usually wear a gold brooch (tasni) that is made by local jewellers in different shapes and sizes and is used to fasten the two parts of the dress together over the chest. In ancient times, especially during the pre-Islamic era, it was common for Baloch women to perform

dances and sing folk songs at different events. The tradition of a Baloch mother singing lullabies to her children has played an important role in the transfer of knowledge from generation to generation since ancient times. Apart from the dressing style of the Baloch, indigenous and local traditions and customs are also of great importance to the Baloch.[45]

Baloch Culture Day is celebrated by the Balochi people annually on 2 March with festivities to celebrate their rich culture and history.[46]

Baloch tribes

Baloch-inhabited areas of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran (pink) in 1980

Tradition

shalwar
, 1845

Traditionally,

Hoth Khan, Korai Khan and a daughter, Bibi Jato, who married his nephew Murad.[48]

Divisions

As of 2008 it was estimated that there were between eight and nine million Baloch people living in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. They were subdivided between over 130 tribes.[49] Some estimates put the figure at over 150 tribes, though estimates vary depending on how subtribes are counted.[50] The tribes, known as taman, are led by a tribal chief, the tumandar. Subtribes, known as paras, are led by a muqaddam.[51]

Five Baloch tribes derive their names from Khan's children. Many, if not all, Baloch tribes can be categorized as either Rind or Lashari based on their actual descent or historical tribal allegiances that developed into cross-generational relationships.[citation needed] This basic division was accentuated by a war lasting 30 years between the Rind and Lashari tribes in the 15th century.[52]

Pakistan

In 2008, there were 180,000 Bugti based in Dera Bugti District. They are divided between the Rahija Bugti, Masori Bugti, Kalpar Bugti, Marehta Bugti and other sub-tribes.[49][53][full citation needed]

Jamhoori Watan Party from 2006 until his death in 2015.[54]

There are 98,000

Kohlo district in 2008,[49] who further divide themselves into Gazni Marri, Bejarani Marri, and Zarkon Marri.[49][needs update
]

Tribalism

Violent intertribal competition has prevented any credible attempt at creating a nation-state. A myriad of militant secessionist movements, each loyal to their own tribal leader, threatens regional security and political stability.[55]

Genetics

For most Balochs, haplogroup R1a is the most common paternal clade,[56] while haplogroup L-M20 is the most common paternal clade in Makran.

Religion

A zigri (a type of religious dance) in Gwarjak in 1891

The majority of the Baloch people in Pakistan are Sunni Muslims, with 64.78% belonging to the

Christine Fair and Ali Hamza found during their 2017 study that, when it comes to Islamism, "contrary to the conventional wisdom, Baloch are generally indistinguishable from other Pakistanis in Balochistan or the rest of Pakistan". There are virtually no statistically significant or substantive differences between Balochi Muslims and other Muslims in Pakistan in terms of religiosity, support for a sharia-compliant Pakistan state, liberating Muslims from oppression, etc.[57]

800,000 Pakistani Balochis are estimated to follow the

Zikri sect.[58]

A small number of Balochs are non-Muslims, particularly in the

Bhagnaris are a Hindu Baloch community living in India[9] who trace their origin to southern Balochistan but migrated to India during the Partition.[10]

Baloch people from Pakistan

See also

Notes

  1. Ghilzai confederation.[41] However, the Ahmadzai Khans of Khalat were neither of these and belonged to a Brahui tribe.[42][43][44]

References

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  2. . It [Balochi] is spoken by three to five million people in Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Oman and the Persian Gulf states, Turkmenistan, East Africa, and diaspora communities in other parts of the world.
  3. ^ "Number of Balochi-speaking people in Balochistan falls". Dawn News. 11 September 2017. However, the total number of Baloch people has increased from 4 million in 1998 to 6.86m in 2017. The count does not include the population of two districts – Quetta and Sibi – where people of various ethnicities, including Baloch and Pashtun also reside.
  4. ^ "Ethnologue report of Languages of Iran (2023)". Ethnologue. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  5. Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center
    . 2019. p. 111. An estimated 500,000–600,000 Baloch live in southern Afghanistan, concentrated in southern Nimroz Province, and to a lesser degree in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
  6. .
  7. ^ a b Kamal Siddiqi (30 July 2009). "Hingol Temple Symbolises Baloch Secularism". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Over 100 Hindu Families in Pak Want To Migrate To India". Hindustan Times. 3 January 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2020. Hindus have lived in several Baloch-dominated districts like Nushki, Dera Allah Yar, Mastung, Khuzdar, Kalat, Jaffarabad, Lasbela, Kharan, Sibi and Kachhi and territories inhabited by the Marri and Bugti tribes for centuries. Hindus are also part of the Bugti, Marri, Rind, Bezenjo, Zehri, Mengal and other Baloch tribes and live under the tribal system.
  9. ^ a b Roshni Nair (3 December 2016). "Mumbai's filmi daredevils with a cross-border history". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  10. ^ a b Sadaf Modak (7 November 2016). "A piece of Balochistan in Mumbai since Partition – 150 families & Khatti Dal". Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  11. . The Baloch are traditionally nomads, but settled agricultural existence is becoming more common; every chief has a fixed residence. The villages are collections of mud or stone huts; on the hills, enclosures of rough stone walls are covered with matting to serve as temporary habitations. The Baloch raise camels, cattle, sheep, and goats and engage in carpet making and embroidery. They engage in agriculture using simple methods and are chiefly Muslim.
  12. . In southwestern Afghanistan the Baloch have traditionally been nomads, and some of them continue to lead a nomadic way of life today. Over the course of the twentieth century most Baloch settled down in the southwest and started a sedentary way of life based on pastoralism and irrigated agriculture. Repeated droughts during the last two decades caused many Baloch to give up livestock farming and agriculture,
  13. . Lyari's first residents were Sindhi fishermen and Baloch nomads (pawans) from Makran, Lasbela and Kalat districts, flee- ing drought and tribal feuds. A first influx occurred around 1725, a few years before Sindhi banyas settled in Karachi and committed to expand it. A second wave of Baloch settlers arrived around 1770, when Karachi came under the control of the Khan of Kalat, following an accord between the Khan and the Kalhora rulers of Sindh. A third wave of Baloch migra- tion took place after 1795, following the annexation of the city by the Talpur rulers of Sindh, which attracted Baloch tribesmen from interior Sindh and the Seraiki belt, many of whom found employment as guards, particularly at the Manora fort.
  14. . According to one of the members of the group's lead- ing (Sardar) family whom I met in Pakistan in 2012, the reason for abandoning the settlements in southern Nimruz was that the Sanjerani landowners were threatened by the "communist regime" in Afghanistan in the 1980s. So the Sanjerani moved almost completely to Baloch areas in Pakistan and Iran. At the same time the Brahui, Baloch groups of pastoral nomads, established the main local mujahideen faction, the Jabhe-ye Nimruz and took over most of the for- mer property of the Sanjerani (see below).
  15. . The Baloch, like the Brahuis, are divided geographically into two groups, the Suleimani (northerners) and the Makrani (southerners) occupying the respective parts of the province, with the central areas inhabited by the Brahuis." Historically, they have also been a nomadic pastoral people living in the open and avoiding towns.
  16. . They are united by language and a common culture, and the name Baluch has the connotation of a tent-dwelling nomadic pastoralist, although most of them have never lived like that. The Baluch practice different combinations of agriculture and pastoralism.
  17. . Some pastoral groups in the world: (a) Tibetan in Qinghai, China; (b) Kirghiz in Badakhshan, Afghanistan: (c) Boran in Borana, Ethiopia; (d) Massai in Kenya; (e) Mongol in Inner Mongolia, China; (1) Tajik in Yangi Qala, Afghanistan; (g) Bedouin in Negev, Israel; (h) Baloch in northern Pakistan.
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  23. ^ a b Dashti, The Baloch and Balochistan 2012, pp. 33–34.
  24. JSTOR 41682407
    .
  25. .
  26. . The Baloch tribes rise up from their original home in Aleppo, all sons of Mir Hamza (generally taken to be the uncle of the prophet Muhammad) to fight against the second Ummayad Caliph Yazid I at Karbala in 680. After Hoseyn is slain, the angered Balochi tribes wander way eastwards
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  28. ^ Gazetteer. Government Central Press. 1880.
  29. .
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Bibliography

Further reading

External links