British Empire takes over Balochistan

Background. The Khanate of Kalat, also known as the Brahui Confederacy, was ruled by the Brahui Ahmadzai dynasty. Internal weakness of the state forced the Khan of Kalat to sign the Treaty of Kalat with the British Agent Robert Sandeman in the late 19th century. Supplied passages date this treaty inconsistently: one records its signature in 1875 by the Khan and local sardars, another dates it to 1876. Under the treaty Kalat became a self-governing state in a subsidiary alliance with British India, and its supervision became a task of the Baluchistan Agency.

Administrative Instruments. Parts of the Kalat state to the north and northeast were leased or ceded to form the province of British Baluchistan, which later gained the status of a Chief Commissioner's province. A supplied passage states Baluchistan was a chief commissioners province of British India established in 1876; the passages do not assign a year to the later acquisition of Chief Commissioner status. The province was administered by a Chief Commissioner appointed by the Federal Government. Its agencies included 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.

Quetta Lease. Quetta, identified as a key military site due to its strategic position, was occupied by British forces during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Formal control was established in 1883 through a lease arrangement with the Khan of Kalat, bringing the city under effective British administration prior to the 1887 legacy date.