Ancient . Much of present-day Balochistan province occupies the southeastern most portion of the
Iranian plateau. The
Kach Gandava Plain in the northeast was the setting for the earliest known farming settlements in the pre-
Indus Valley civilisation era, the earliest of which was
Mehrgarh, dated around 7000 BCE. Although an indigenous population existed during the
Bronze Age and under the empire of
Alexander the Great, the Baloch people themselves did not appeared in the region until the 14th century CE. From the first millennium BCE onwards, the region was divided into several provinces of the
Achaemenid Empire, namely
Maka, which certainly corresponded to Makran, and
Zarang.
Seleucus I Nicator was forced to cede Gedrosia along with other northwestern regions to the Mauryan emperor
Chandragupta in 302 BCE. Next significant information about Makran comes from the
Sasanian period. During Sasanian period Makran and Qayqan (present-day Kalat) had a substantial population of
Zuṭṭ or
Jat dromedary-men, many of whom were resettled by Sasanians in the southern regions (present-day Iraq) in the times of
Bahram V (r. 420 – 438). Makran was under a dynasty of Hindu Rais who had capital at
Aror in Sindh before Muslim conquests. It was captured by Persians during the reign of Rai Siharas II, but
Chach of Aror recovered Makran in 631 CE. According to the 9th century geographical treatise
Futuh al-Buldan, the people of Qayqan were Zuṭṭ. In the following centuries the region attracted a large number of
Kharijites. In the 11th century the
Ghaznavids brought much of Makran under their control. Over the next three centuries the foreign influence over Makran weakened and the region again became relatively autonomous. The Italian traveller
Marco Polo mentioned the existence of an independent Muslim state in
Kij-Makran in the 13th century, describing it as the last kingdom in India. Although Baloch presence was already noted in Makran by 11th century, large-scale Baloch migrations occurred only by the turn of 14th century.
Colonial , Balochistan, Pakistan In 1876,
Baluchistan became one of the
presidencies and provinces of British India, when
Robert Sandeman negotiated the
Treaty of Kalat, which brought the Khan of Kalat's territories, as well as the
princely states of
Makran,
Kharan, and
Las Bela, under British protection, even though they retained internal independence. After facing defeat in the
Second Afghan War, the
Afghan Emir ceded the districts of Quetta,
Pishin,
Harnai, and Sibi to the British under the terms of
Treaty of Gandamak in May 1879. On 1 April 1883, the British took control of the
Bolan Pass, south-east of Quetta, from the Khan of Kalat. In 1887, small additional areas of Balochistan were declared British territory. Two devastating earthquakes occurred in Balochistan during British colonial rule: the
1935 Quetta earthquake, which devastated Quetta, and the
1945 Balochistan earthquake with its epicentre in the Makran region. In British India, Baluchistan consisted of a Chief Commissioner's province and princely states (including Kalat, Makran, Las Bela, and Kharan) that became a part of Pakistan. During the time of the
Indian independence movement, three pro-Congress parties were still active in Balochistan's politics apart from Balochistan's
Muslim League, including the
Anjuman-i-Watan Baluchistan, which
opposed partition of British India. The province's
Shahi Jirga (the grand council of tribal elders) and the non-official members of the
Quetta Municipality, according to the Pakistani version, agreed to join Pakistan unanimously on 29 June 1947; was first of the four princely states to accede to Pakistan on 7 March 1948. It was followed by accession of Makran and Kharan on 17 March; the accession of all three was accepted by the Pakistani government on the same day. According to Dushka H. Saiyid, Ahmad Yar Khan lost all of his bargaining chips with the accession of Kharan, Las Bela, and Makran, leaving Kalat as a land-locked island. Salman Rafi Sheikh largely concurs with Saiyid's assessment: multiple other Kalat sardars were preparing to accede to Pakistan and Ahmad Yar Khan would have hardly any territory left, if he did not accede. The signing of the Instrument of Accession by Ahmad Yar Khan led his brother,
Prince Abdul Karim, to revolt against his brother's decision due to their family rift in July 1948. The Prince indulged in terrorist activities without any assistance from others. Princes Agha Abdul Karim Baloch and Muhammad Rahim refused to lay down arms, leading the Dosht-e Jhalawan in unconventional attacks on the army until 1950. Many people in this region are therefore Omani. In 1970, the prior four provinces were restored, resulting in the establishment of Balochistan province.
Insurgencies by Baloch separatists took place in
1948–1950,
1958–1960,
1962–1969, and
1973–1977, with an ongoing insurgency by autonomy-seeking Baloch groups since 2003. While many Baloch support the demand for autonomy, the majority is reportedly not interested in seceding from Pakistan. At a press conference on 8 June 2015 in Quetta, the provincial Home Minister
Sarfraz Bugti accused India's Prime Minister
Narendra Modi of openly supporting terrorism. Bugti implicated India's
Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of being responsible for recent attacks at military bases in Smangli and Khalid, and for subverting the
China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) agreement. ==Geography==