History of District
Mastung District) is a district located in the northwest of Balochistan province, Pakistan. Prior to 1991, Mastung was a part of Kalat District. However, for administrative purposes, in 1991 it was separated from Kalat and made a new district.
Administration
The district consists of three tehsils:Prior to 2006, within these there were 12 union councils: Khadkocha, Ghulam Parenz, Karez Noth, Mastung-1, Mastung-2, Sorgaz, Dasht, Isplinji, Kanak, Shaikh Wasil, Kardigap and Soro. In 2006, one additional union council formed with the name of Alizai, bringing the total union councils to 13.
In 2005 the population of Mastung district was estimated to be over 180,349. The local languages spoken are Persian and Brahvi.
Qalat or kalat is a historical town located in Kalat District, Balochistan, Pakistan. Kalat is the capital of Kalat District and is known locally as Kalat-i-Baloch and Kalat-i-Sewa.
Qalat, formerly Qilat, is located roughly in the center of Balochistan, Pakistan, south and slightly west of the provincial capital Quetta. It was the capital of the Kalat Khanate.
It has been known in earlier times as Kalat-i-Seva (from a legendary Hindu king) and Kalat-i Nicari which connects it with the Brahoi tribe of Nicari, which is generally accepted as belonging to the oldest branch of the indigenous Brahois.
The town of Kalat is said to have been founded by and named Qalat-e Sewa (Sewa's Fort), after Sewa, a legendary hero of the Brahui people.
The origins of the Brahui speaking tribes are uncertain, but their language indicates they are a northern Dravidian people, who may have migrated from central India circa 1000 AD, whose language has been modified by residence in the proximity of largely Iranian peoples, most notably the Baloch with whom the Brahui have been greatly mixed.
The Brahui people arrived in the Qalat area nearly the same time as the Balochi speaking tribes arrived from the west. The Balochis established a large kingdom in the 15th century, but it soon declined and the region fell to Afghan and Iranian rulers. The Brahui Khans of Qalat were dominant from the 17th century onwards until the arrival of the British in the 19th century. A treaty was signed in 1876, to make Qalat part of the British Empire.
In 1948, the Khan of Qalat, Mir Ahmad Yar Khan, decided to join Pakistan on request of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah (founder of Pakistan), and it was decided that defense, currency, foreign office and finance will be controlled by the Federal Government and the rest, the province would control by itself.
