The name "Balochistan" is generally believed to derive from the name of theBaloch people.[8] Since the Baloch people are not mentioned in pre-Islamic sources, it is likely that the Baloch were known by some other name in their place of origin and that they acquired the name "Baloch" only after arriving in Balochistan sometime in the 10th century.[10]
Asko Parpola relates the nameMeluḫḫa to Indo-Aryan wordsmleccha (Sanskrit) andmilakkha/milakkhu (Pali) etc., which do not have anIndo-European etymology even though they were used to refer to non-Aryan people. Taking them to beproto-Dravidian in origin, he interprets the term as meaning either a proper namemilu-akam (from whichtamilakam was derived when the Indus people migrated south) ormelu-akam, meaning "high country", a possible reference to Balochistani high lands.[15] HistorianRomila Thapar also interpretsMeluḫḫa as a proto-Dravidian term, possiblymēlukku, and suggests the meaning "western extremity" (of the Dravidian-speaking regions in the Indian subcontinent). A literal translation intoSanskrit,aparānta, was later used to describe the region by theIndo-Aryans.[16]
During the time ofAlexander the Great (356–323 BCE), theGreeks called the landGedrosia and its peopleGedrosoi, terms of unknown origin.[17] Using etymological reasoning, H. W. Bailey reconstructs a possibleIranian name,uadravati, meaning "the land of underground channels", which could have been transformed tobadlaut in the 9th century and further tobalōč in later times. This reasoning remains speculative.[18]
Large Baluch carpet, from the mid 19th century. Alternating rows depict cypress trees andTurkmen Gül motifs in offset coloration. The sombre background colours are characteristic of Baluch weavings. This likely was a commission for a tribal Khan or chieftain for ceremonial use.
The earliest evidence of human occupation in what is now Balochistan is dated to thePaleolithic era. Evidence includes hunting camps,lithic scatter, and chipped and flaked stone tools. The earliest settled villages in the region date to the ceramic Neolithic (c. 7000–6000 BCE) and included the site ofMehrgarh in theKachi Plain. These villages expanded in size during the subsequent Chalcolithic when interaction was amplified. This involved the movement of finished goods and raw materials, includingchank shell,lapis lazuli,turquoise, and ceramics. By 2500 BCE (the Bronze Age), the region now known asPakistani Balochistan had become part of theIndus Valley civilisation cultural orbit,[19] providing key resources to the expansive settlements of the Indus river basin to the east.
From the 1st century to the 3rd century CE, the region was ruled by thePāratarājas (lit. "Pārata Kings"), a Hindu dynasty ofIndo-Scythian kings. The dynasty of the Pāratas is thought to be identical with thePāradas of theMahabharata, thePuranas and other Vedic and Iranian sources.[20] The Parata kings are primarily known through their coins, which typically exhibit the bust of the ruler (with long hair in a headband) on the obverse, and aswastika within a circular legend on the reverse, written inBrahmi (usually silver coins) orKharoshthi (copper coins). These coins are mainly found inLoralai in today's western Pakistan.
During the wars betweenAlexander the Great (356–323 BCE) and EmperorDarius III (380–330 BCE, ruled 336–330 BCE), the Baloch were allied with the lastAchaemenid emperor. According to Shustheri (1925), Darius III, after much hesitation, assembled an army at Arbela to counter the army of invading Greeks. His cousin Besius was the commander, leading the horsemen from Balkh. Berzanthis was the commander of the Baloch forces, Okeshthra was the commander of the forces fromKhuzistan, Maseus was the commander of theSyrian andEgyptian contingent, Ozbed was the commander of theMedes, and Phirthaphirna was leading the Sakas and forces fromTabaristan, Gurgan, and Khurasan. Obviously, as part of a losing side, the Baloch certainly got their share of punishment from the victorious Macedonian forces.[21]
Herodotus in 450 BCE described theParaitakenoi as a tribe ruled byDeiokes, a Persian king, in northwestern Persia (History I.101).Arrian describes howAlexander the Great encountered thePareitakai inBactria andSogdiana, and had them conquered byCraterus (Anabasis Alexandrou IV). ThePeriplus of the Erythraean Sea (1st century CE) describes the territory of theParadon beyond the Ommanitic region, on the coast of modern Balochistan.[22]
During the reign of Arab dynasties, medieval Iran suffered the onslaught ofGhaznavids,Mongols,Timurids, and the incursions ofGuzz Turks. The relationship between the Baloch and nearly all these powers were hostile, and the Baloch suffered enormously during this long period. The Baloch encounters with these powers and the subsequent Baloch miseries forced the Baloch tribes to move from the areas of conflicts and to settle in the far-flung and inaccessible regions. The bloody conflicts withBuyids andSeljuqs were instrumental in waves of migration by the Baloch tribes fromKerman to further east.[23]
Map of independent Balochistan under the BrahuiKalat Khanate in 1730.
The region was fully Islamized by the 9th century and became part of the territory of theSaffarids ofZaranj, followed by theGhaznavids, then theGhorids. The relation between the Ghaznavids and the Baloch had never been peaceful. Turan and Makuran came under the Ghaznavids founderSebuktegin's suzerainty as early as 976-977 CE (Bosworth, 1963). The Baloch tribes fought against Sebuktegin when he attacked Khuzdar in 994. The Baloch were in the army of SaffaridsAmir Khalaf and fought against Mahmud when the Ghaznavids forces invaded Sistan in 1013 (Muir, 1924). Many other occasions were mentioned by the historians of the Ghaznavids era in which the Baloch came into confrontation with the Ghaznavids forces (Nizam al-Mulk, 1960).[27]
There are only passing references of Baloch encounters with the Mongol hordes. In one of the classical Balochi ballads, there is mention of a Baloch chieftain,Shah Baloch, who, no doubt, heroically resisted a Mongol advance somewhere in Sistan.[citation needed]
During the long period of en masse migrations, the Baloch were travelling through settled territories, and it could not have been possible to survive simply as wandering nomads. Perpetual migrations, hostile attitudes of other tribes and rulers, and adverse climactic conditions ruined much of their cattle breeding. Settled agriculture became a necessity for the survival of herds and an increased population. They began to combine settled agriculture with animal husbandry. The Baloch tribes now consisted of sedentary and nomadic population, a composition that remained an established feature of the Baloch tribes until recently.[28]
The Khanate of Kalat was the first unified polity to emerge in thehistory of Balochistan.[29] It took birth from the confederacy of nomadicBrahui tribes native to the central Balochistan in 1666[30] which underMir Ahmad Khan I declared independence from the Mughal suzeraignty[29] and slowly absorbed theBaloch principalities in the region.[30] It was ruled over by the Brahui Ahmadzai dynasty till 1948.[31][32]Ahmad Shah Durrani made it vassal of theAfghan Durrani Empire in 1749. In 1758 the Khan of Kalat,Nasir Khan I Ahmadzai, revolted againstAhmed Shah Durrani, defeated him, and made his Khanate independent from the Durrani Empire.
Baloch tribalism in medieval times was synonymous with pastoral nomadism. Nomadic people, as observed by Heape (1931), regard themselves as the superior of sedentary or agriculturist. It is, perhaps, because the occupation of nomads made them strong, active, and inured to hardship and the dangers which beset a mobile life.[33]
The areas of Balochistan where the Baloch tribes moved in had a sedentary population, and the Baloch tribes were compelled to deal with their sedentary neighbours. Being in a weaker position, the Baloch tribes were in need of constant vigils for their survival in new lands. To deal with this problem, they began to make alliances and organised themselves into a more structured way. The structural solution to this problem was to create tribal confederacies or unions. Thus, in conditions of insecurity and disorder or when threatened by a predatory regional authority or a hostile central government, several tribal communities would form a cluster around a chief who had demonstrated his ability to offer protection and security.[33]
The British took over the non-Persian section of Balochistan in 1839.[34]
In the 1870s,Baluchistan came under control of theBritish Indian Empire incolonial India.[35] The fundamental objective of the British to enter into a treaty agreement with the Khanate of Kalat was to provide a passage and supplies to the "Army of Indus" on its way to Kandahar through Shikarpur, Jacobabad (Khangadh), Dhadar, Bolan Pass, Quetta, and Khojak Pass. It is interesting to note that the British imperialist interests in Balochistan were not primarily economic as was the case with other regions of India. Rather, it was of a military and geopolitical nature. Their basic objective in their advent in Balochistan was to station garrisons so as to defend the frontiers of British India from any threat coming from Iran and Afghanistan.[34]
Beginning from 1840, there began a general insurrection against the British rule throughout Balochistan. The Baloch were not ready to accept their country as part of an occupied Afghanistan and to be ruled under a puppet Khan. The Mari tribe rose in revolt and the British retaliated in force. A British contingent under the command of Major Brown on 11 May 1840, attacked the Mari headquarter of Kahan and occupied Kahan Fort and the surrounding areas (Masson, 1974). The Mari forces withdrew from the area, regrouped, and in an ambush wiped out a whole convoy of British troops near Filiji, killing more than one hundred British troops.[34]
The cultural values which are the pillars of the Baloch individual and national identity were firmly established during the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, a period which not only brought sufferings for the Baloch and forced them into en masse migrations but also brought fundamental sociocultural transformation of the Baloch society. An overlapping of pastoral ecology and tribal structure had shaped contemporary Baloch social values. Thepastoralistnomadic way of life and the inclination to resist the assimilation attempts of various powerful ethnic identities shaped the peculiar Baloch ethnic identity. It was the persecution by strong and organised religions for the last two thousand years that has shaped their secular attitude about religion in social or community affairs. Their independent and stubborn behaviour as the distinctive feature of the Baloch identity is consistent with their nomadic or agro-pastoral past.
Med o Maraka, for resolution of disputes among the Baloch, is a much-honored tradition. In a broader context, it is, in a way, accepting the guilt by the accused or offender and asking for forgiveness from the affected party. Usually, the offender himself does this by going to the home of the affected person and asking for forgiveness.[39]
Dress code and personal upkeeping are among the cultural values, which distinguish a Baloch from others. The Baloch dress and personal upkeeping very much resemble theMedian andParthian ways. Surprisingly, no significant changes can be observed in the Balochi dress since the ancient times. A typical Balochi outfit consisted of loose-fitting and many-folded trousers held by garters, bobbed hair, shirt (qamis), and a head turban. Generally, both hair and beard were carefully curled, but, sometimes, they depended on long straight locks. A typical dress of a Baloch woman consists of a long frock and trouser (shalwaar) with a headscarf.[40][41]
Zahirok is one of the most important and well-known balochi song genres, often described as the “Balochi classical music” by the Baloch themselves.[42][43]
Historically, there is no documented evidence of religious practices of the Baloch in ancient times. Many among the Baloch writers observed that the persecutions of the Baloch by the Sassanid emperorsShapur II andKhosrow II had a strong religious or sectarian element. They believed that there are strong indications that the Baloch were the followers of Mazdakian andManichean sects ofZoroastrianism religion at the time of their fatal encounters with Sassanid forces. No elaborate structure of religious institutions has been discerned in the Baloch society during the Middle Ages. The Balochconverted to Islam (nearly all Baloch belong to theSunni sect of Islam) after theArab conquest of Balochistan during the seventh century.[49]
The Balochistan region is administratively divided among three countries,Pakistan,Afghanistan, andIran. The largest portion in area and population is in Pakistan, whose largest province (in land area) isBalochistan. An estimated 6.9 million of Pakistan's population is Baloch. In Iran there are about two million ethnic Baloch[50] and a majority of the population of the easternSistan and Baluchestan province is of Baloch ethnicity. The Afghan portion of Balochistan includes theChahar Burjak District ofNimruz Province, and theRegistan Desert in southernHelmand andKandahar provinces. The governors of Nimruz province in Afghanistan belong to the Baloch ethnic group. PresidentPervez Musharraf and the military are responsible for the worsening of the conflict in Balochistan.[51]
The Balochistan region has also experienced a number of insurgencies with separatist militants demanding independence of Baloch regions in the three countries to form "Greater Balochistan".[52] In Pakistan, insurgencies by separatist militants in Balochistan province have been fought in 1948, 1958–59, 1962–63 and 1973–1977, with a new ongoing low-intensity insurgency[53] beginning in 2003.[54] Historically, drivers of the conflict are reported to include "tribal divisions", the Baloch-Pashtun ethnic divisions, "marginalization by Punjabi interests", and"economic oppression".[55] However, over the years, insurgency waged by separatist militants declined as result of crackdown by Pakistani security forces, infighting among the separatist militants and assassinations of Baloch politicians willing to take part in Pakistan's democratic process by the separatist militants.[56] Separatist militants in Pakistan demand more autonomy and a greater share in the region's natural resources. The Baloch population in Pakistan has endured grave violations of human rights, which include extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and torture. These actions are purportedly perpetrated by state security forces and their associates.[57] In 2019, United States declaredBaloch Liberation Army, one of the separatist militants fighting thegovernment of Pakistan, a global terrorist group.[53]
In Iran, separatist fighting has reportedly not gained as much ground as the conflict in Pakistan,[58] but has grown and become more sectarian since 2012,[50] with the majority-Sunni Baloch showing a greater degree ofSalafist andanti-Shia ideology in their fight against the Shia-IslamistIranian government.[50] Sistan-Baluchistan, one of Iran's poorest regions has long been plagued by unrest involving drug-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baluchi minority and Sunni extremists.[59]
On 11 March 2025, the Jaffar Express, a passenger train traveling from Quetta to Peshawar in Pakistan, washijacked by militants in the Bolan district of Balochistan province. The attack resulted in the train halting in a remote area, with reports indicating that the driver was injured during the assault. They asserted that they had taken over 400 hostages, including security personnel, and threatened to execute them if Pakistani forces launched a rescue operation.[60]
^Fowle, T. C.; Rai, Diwan Jamiat (1923).Baluchistan. Directorate of Archives, Government of Balochistan. p. 100.The Hindus of Kalat town may indeed be far more indigenous since they claim descent from the ancient Sewa dynasty that ruled Kalat long before the Brahui came to Baluchistan.
^Balochistan Through the Ages: Geography and history. Nisa Traders. 1979. p. 316.The country up to and including Multan was conquered by the Arabs and the Hindu dynasty of Sind and probably also the Sewa dynasty of Kalat came to an end.
^Quddus, Syed Abdul (1990).The Tribal Baluchistan.Ferozsons. p. 49.ISBN978-969-0-10047-4.The Sibi division was carved out of the Quetta and Kalat Divisions in April, 1974, and comprises districts of Sibi, Kachhi, Nasirabad, Kohlu and Dera Bugti. The Division derives its name from the town of Sibi or Sewi. The local tradition attributes the origin of this name to Rani Sewi of the Sewa dynasty which ruled this part of the country in ancient times.
^"Mastung > History of district". Retrieved28 June 2021.The Brahui Khans of Qalat were dominant from the 17th century onwards until the arrival of the British in the 19th century.
^Afzal, M. Rafique (2001).Pakistan: History and Politics 1947-1971. Oxford University Press. p. 40.ISBN978-0-19-579634-6.Besides the Balochistan Muslim League, three pro-Congress parties were still active in Balochistan's politics: the Anjuman-i Watan, the Jamiatul Ulama u Hind, and the Qalat State National Party.
^Ranjan, Amit (2018).Partition of India: Postcolonial Legacies. Taylor & Francis.ISBN9780429750526.Furthermore, Congress leadership of Balochistan was united and there was no disagreement over its president, Samad Khan Achakzai. On the other hand, Qazi Isa was the president of the League in Balochistan. Surprisingly, he was neither a Balochi nor a Sardar. Consequently, all Sardars except Jaffar Khan Jamali, were against Qazi Isa for contesting this seat.
^"Asian Disaster Reduction Center（ADRC）".adrc.asia. Retrieved5 June 2023.A 5.9 magnitude quake struck Balochistan province, Pakistan at 03:01 am on 7 October 2021 local time at a depth of 20km. According to the Disaster Management Authority, at least 20 people were killed and about 300 injured.
^"Baloch".britannica.com. Britannica. Retrieved21 April 2022.
Hansman, John (1975), "A further note on Magan and Meluhha (Notes and Communications)",Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies,38 (3):609–610,doi:10.1017/s0041977x00048126,JSTOR613711,S2CID178684667
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