Princely states of Pakistan

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State emblem of Pakistan
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Former administrative units of Pakistan
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The princely states of 1947 in purple

The princely states of Pakistan (

acceded to the new Dominion of Pakistan between 1947 and 1948, following the partition of British India and its independence
.

At the time of the withdrawal of British forces from the subcontinent on 15 August 1947, West Pakistan was less than half of its ultimate size. It took a year of negotiations and accidents to bring the princely states into Pakistan, and a long process of integration followed.[1][2]

Options of the Princes

Stamp of Sadeq Mohammad Khan V,
Amir of Bahawalpur, as used in 1949
Princely state
Individual residencies
Agencies
Lists

With the withdrawal of the British from the

Sardar Patel at a press conference in January 1948, "As you are all aware, on the lapse of Paramountcy every Indian State became a separate independent entity."[4]

Only two rulers acceded to Pakistan in the first month of its independence, August 1947, while the others considered what to do, but most of those states with a Muslim majority population had acceded to Pakistan within a year, prompted in several cases by the

Indo-Pakistani War of 1947
.

The

Wali of Swat commented that the states' accession "did not change very much".[5] However, within a generation all of the princely states had lost their internal autonomy. The last to fall were Hunza and Nagar, in October 1974.[6]

Attempts by Junagadh and Bantva Manavadar to accede

Main article:
Indian integration of Junagadh

The princely state of

integration of Junagadh into India.[11] India maintained that it had not invaded Junagadh, but had taken it over only after the Nawab's government had completely collapsed.[12]

Saurashtra on 20 February 1949. The Khan was released as a result of the Liaquat–Nehru Pact of 8 April 1950. He lived in Karachi from 1951, where he continued to be recognized as a prince. He became president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation and died in 2003.[13]

Princely states of Pakistan in order of accession

Bahawalpur

Bahawalpur
Main article: Bahawalpur (princely state)

On 3 October 1947, after some delay, the Nawab (or Ameer) of

privy purse of 32 lakhs of rupees, keeping his titles.[16]

Khairpur

Khairpur
Main article: Khairpur (princely state)

The state of

Khairpur also acceded to Pakistan on 3 October 1947.[14][17] George Ali Murad Khan (born 1934), who from 19 July 1947 to 14 October 1955 was the last Amir (or Nawab) of Khairpur, was a minor for much of his reign, so it was a Regent, Mir Ghulam Hussain Khan Talpur Baluch, who acceded to Pakistan on his behalf.[18]

In 1950 the Amir introduced a form of democracy, with universal adult franchise. In 1955 the state was integrated into Pakistan.[17] The royal privileges of the Amir were abolished in 1972.

The last Amir is one of the few surviving princes.[19]

Chitral

Chitral
Main article: Chitral (princely state)

The Mehtar of Chitral, Muzaffar-ul-Mulk (1901–1949), stated his intention to accede to Pakistan on 15 August 1947.[20] However, his formal accession was delayed until 6 October.[14][5] He died in January 1949. His son, Saif-ur-Rahman (1926–1954), had been exiled by the Government of Pakistan and a board of administration composed of Chitrali noblemen was to govern the state in his absence. In October 1954 Saif-ur-Rahman was allowed to return from exile to take charge of Chitral, but he died in a plane crash on the way home, leaving his four-year-old son Mohammad Saif-ul-Mulk Nasir (1950–2011) as ruler. His uncle, Shahzada Asad ur-Rahman, acted as Regent until he came of age and was invested with the full powers of Mehtar at Chitral Fort in May 1966.[21]

On 28 July 1969, President Yahya Khan announced the full integration of the states of Chitral, Dir, and Swat into Pakistan,[22] and the dispossessed young ruler, then aged nineteen, agreed to take up a diplomatic career. He joined the Foreign Service in 1973 and served as First Secretary at Ankara, 1974–1979, as Deputy Chief of Protocol in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1979–1985, and as Assistant Consul-General in Hong Kong, 1985–1989.[21]

Swat

Swat
Main article: Swat (princely state)

The

absolute rule until Pakistan took control, when on 28 July 1969 Yahya Khan announced the full integration of the states of Swat, Chitral, and Dir into Pakistan.[22][23]

Hunza

Main article: Hunza (princely state)

Jammu and Kashmir, and had been subject to the suzerainty
of the
Northern Areas of Pakistan, under the federal government. Two years after his forced abdication the Mir died.[citation needed
]

Nagar

Nagar
Main article: Nagar (princely state)

Nagar was another small valley state to the north of Kashmir and shared the language and culture of Hunza.[27] In 1931 it had a population of 13,672, much the same as that of Hunza.[24] On 18 November 1947 its ruler, Shaukat Ali Khan (1917–2003), who had come to the throne in 1940, joined his neighbour in acceding to Pakistan.[27] They did this after resisting considerable pressure from Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir to enter into new subsidiary alliances with him.[28]

In 1968 Syed Yahya Shah, a politician of the valley, demanded civil rights from the Mir of Nagar. On 25 September 1973, not long after the Pakistan People's Party under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had come to power, the new government forced the last Mir of Nagar, Brigadier Shaukat Ali Khan, to abdicate his power, as with the Mir of Hunza, and like Hunza, Nagar was merged into the Northern Areas, although the Mir of Nagar was left with some of his purely ceremonial role.[29]

Amb

Amb
Main article: Amb (princely state)

On 31 December 1947,

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
). In 1971 recognition of the royal status of the Nawabs by the Government of Pakistan came to an end.

A small state, in 1958 Amb was reported to have an area of 1,520 square kilometres (585 square miles) and a population of 48,656.[31]

Phulra

Phulra
Main article: Phulra

Phulra was a khanate near Amb, with a population of about 8,000 and an area of only 93 square kilometres (36 square miles).

North West Frontier Province.[33]

Dir

Dir
Main article: Dir (princely state)

The Nawab of

First Kashmir War of 1947, and he signed an instrument of accession to Pakistan on 8 November, but it was not until 8 February 1948 that his state's accession was accepted by Jinnah as Governor-General.[14][30] In 1961 Yahya Khan exiled Jahan Khan and replaced him as Nawab with his son Mohammad Shah Khosru Khan, who was a Major General in the Pakistan Army, but the real control passed to the state's Political Agent. On 28 July 1969, Yahya Khan announced that the states of Dir, Chitral, and Swat were being incorporated into Pakistan.[22]

Las Bela

Las Bela
Main article: Las Bela (princely state)

Federal Capital Territory to form Karachi-Bela. In 1970, it became the Lasbela District
of the new province of Balochistan.

Kharan

Kharan
Main article: Kharan (princely state)

With an area of 47,940 square kilometres (18,508 square miles) and a population reported in 1951 as 33,833,[35] Kharan was one of the princely states of Balochistan which retained some degree of their independence for several years. Its last Nawab was Habibullah Khan Nausherwani a Baloch chief (1897–1958), who was in power from 1911 until 1955.[36]

The state acceded to Pakistan on 17 March 1948, which was accepted on the same day.[14] On 21 March 1948, the rulers of Kharan, Makran, and Las Bela all announced that they were acceding their states to the Dominion of Pakistan.[34]

Makran

Makran
Main article: Makran (princely state)

Also on 17 March 1948, Makran acceded to Pakistan,[14][34] and on 3 October 1952 it formed the Baluchistan States Union with Kalat, Kharan and Las Bela. Makran was dissolved on 14 October 1955, when it was merged into the province of West Pakistan. In 1970, the area of the former state was organized as the Makran District (later the Makran Division) of the province of Baluchistan.

Khanate of Kalat

Kalat
Main article: Khanate of Kalat

The

Khan of Kalat at the head of the Union with the title of Khan-e-Azam. The Khanate came to an end on 14 October 1955, when it was incorporated into West Pakistan.[37]

On 20 June 1958,

Iskandar Mirza declared martial law, which led to disturbances in Balochistan lasting about a year.[39]
The Khan was eventually forgiven and released.

See also

References

  1. ^ Yaqoob Khan Bangash, A Princely Affair: The Accession and Integration of the Princely States of Pakistan, 1947-1955 (Oxford University Press, 2015), introduction.
  2. ^ Bangash, Yaqoob Khan (14 August 2022). "Winning Over The Princely States". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  3. ^ Ishtiaq Ahmed, State, Nation and Ethnicity in Contemporary South Asia (London & New York, 1998), p. 99
  4. ^ R. P. Bhargava, The Chamber of Princes (Northern Book Centre, 1991) p. 313
  5. ^ a b Axmann, Back to the Future (2008), p. 273.
  6. ^ Lindsay Brown, Paul Clammer, Rodney Cocks, Pakistan & the Karakoram Highway (2008), p. 296
  7. ^ "Junagadh" in John Mcleod, Historical Dictionary of the British Empire, Volume 1, p. 614: "In order to compel Mahabatkhanji to reverse his accession, India sent troops to the surrounding states and imposed a blockade"
  8. ISBN 8184751850
    )
  9. ISBN 978-969-8181-03-1
    .
  10. ^ Srinath Raghavan, War and Peace in Modern India (2010), p. 63
  11. ^ Rajmohan Gandhi, Patel: A Life (India: Navajivan, 1992), p. 292
  12. ^ Accession of Junagadh: Farce of History, revisitingindia.com, 28 Aug 2013.
  13. ^ KARACHI: Nawab Moinuddin laid to rest, dawn.com, 15 Feb 2003, accessed 29 October 2020
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wilcox, Pakistan: The Consolidation (1963), p. 82
  15. ^ Umbreen Javaid, Politics of Bahawalpur: From State to Region, 1947-2000 (2004), p. 115
  16. ^ The All Pakistan Legal Decisions, vol. 30, part 2 (1978), p. 1,171
  17. ^ a b Siddiqi, The Politics of Ethnicity in Pakistan (2012), p. 130.
  18. ^ Pakistan Constituent Assembly Debates: Official report, vol. 1 (issues 1-1950, 1947), p. 152
  19. ISBN 9781317448204
    ) pp. 94–95
  20. ^ Kuldip Singh Bajwa, Jammu and Kashmir War, 1947-1948 (2003), p. 141
  21. ^ a b Brief History of Ex Mehter Chitral HH Prince Saif ul Mulk Nasir Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine, chitraltimes.com, accessed 31 October 2020
  22. ^ a b c Muhammad Sher Ali Khan, The elite minority, the princes of India (1989), p. 98: "On 28 July 1969, President Yahya Khan announced in a broadcast to the nation... that his administration had decided that the time has come to merge the states of Chitral, Dir and Swat in West Pakistan"
  23. ^ Brown, Clammer, & Cocks (2008), p. 209
  24. ^ a b Census of India, 1931, Volume XXIV: Jammu & Kashmir State, Part 1 – Report (India Census Commissioner Manager of Publications, 1933), p. 59
  25. ^ Z. H. Zaidi, ed., Jinnah Papers: The states: Historical and Policy Perspectives and Accession to Pakistan, vol. VIII (Quaid-i-Azam Papers Project, Government of Pakistan, 2003), p. 113
  26. ISBN 978-0-231-70013-9
    . Retrieved 26 February 2012.
  27. ^ a b c Pakistan Horizon, vol. 56, Issues 1-2, p. 57: "Hunza and Nagar acceded to Pakistan on November 18, 1947, but the northern regions have not been merged into Pakistan proper, pending the determination of the status of Jammu and Kashmir."
  28. ^ William Brown, Gilgit Rebellion: The Major Who Mutinied Over Partition of India (2014), pp. 66–68
  29. ^ Pakistan Pictorial Issue 1 (Pakistan Publications, 1973), p. 8: "The Rajas of Punial, Ishkoman, and Gupis, as also the Mir of Nagar, have been allowed to retain their ceremonial rights but the economic privileges, like levy of taxes for the entertainment of their guests, and other such, have been cancelled."
  30. ^ a b Z. H. Zaidi, CHRONOLOGY OF ACCESSION OF STATES TO PAKISTAN in Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah Papers: The States (Quaid-i-Azam Papers Project, 1993), p. xxxix
  31. ^ a b Amiya Ranjan Mukherjee, Current Affairs (1958), p. 337
  32. ^ Memoranda on the Indian States (Published by Authority, 1939), p. 215
  33. ^ Sir Terence Creagh Coen, The Indian Political Service: A Study in Indirect Rule (1971), p. 144
  34. ^ a b c Siddiqi (2012), p. 60: "The rulers of the states of Kharan, Makran and Lasbela announced their decision to join the Pakistan dominion on 21 March 1948 and their respective rulers signed the official documents."
  35. ^ a b Joseph Whitaker, Whitaker's Almanack 1951, vol. 83 (1951), p. 754: "the following States have also acceded to Pakistan : ]Kalat, area 53,995 square miles [139,850 square kilometres], pop. 253.305; Kharan, area 18,508 square miles [47,940 square kilometres], pop. 33,83a; Las Best, 7,043 square miles [18,240 square kilometres], pop 69,067; The North West Frontier States of Amb, Chitral, Dir."
  36. ^ M. Epstein, ed., The Statesman's Year-Book: Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the Year 1942 (1942), p. 166; West Pakistan District Gazetteers: Kharan (Printed at the West Pakistan Government Press, 1966), pp. 30–32
  37. ^ Farhan Hanif Siddiqi, The Politics of Ethnicity in Pakistan: The Baloch, Sindhi and Mohajir Ethnic Movements (Routledge, 2012), pp. 58–62
  38. ISBN 978-0313321092
    ), p. 258
  39. ^ Mohammed Yousuf, Balochistan Tango at despardes.com

Bibliography

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