The Princely States of Pakistan () were princely states of British India which acceded to the new Dominion of Pakistan in 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. The princely states were incorporated following a year of negotiations and interventions.Yaqoob Khan Bangash, A Princely Affair: The Accession and Integration of the Princely States of Pakistan, 1947-1955 (Oxford University Press, 2015), introduction.
Options of the Princes
With the withdrawal of the British from the Indian subcontinent, in 1947, the Indian Independence Act provided that the hundreds of princely states which had existed alongside but outside British India were released from all their subsidiary alliances and other treaty obligations to the British, while at the same time the British withdrew from their treaty obligations to defend the states and keep the peace. The rulers were left to decide whether to accede to one of the newly independent states of India or Pakistan (both formed initially from the British possessions) or to remain independent outside both.Ishtiaq Ahmed, State, Nation and Ethnicity in Contemporary South Asia (London & New York, 1998), p. 99 As stated by 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."R. P. Bhargava, The Chamber of Princes (Northern Book Centre, 1991) p. 313
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 Instruments of Accession made available for the rulers to sign transferred only limited powers to the Dominion of Pakistan, namely external relations, defence, and communications; in most cases signing was believed to leave the states in the position they had under the suzerainty of the British Crown. The Wali of Swat commented that the states' accession "did not change very much". However, within a generation all of the princely states had lost their internal autonomy. The last to be annexed were Hunza and Nagar, in October 1974.Lindsay Brown, Paul Clammer, Rodney Cocks, Pakistan & the Karakoram Highway (2008), p. 296
Accession of Junagadh and Bantva Manavadar
The princely state of Junagadh, a coastal state on the Kathiawar peninsula, had a mostly Hindu population but a Muslim ruler, Muhammad Mahabat Khan III, and in August 1947, he decided to accede to Pakistan, the first ruler of a state to do so. The Nawab's dewan, Shah Nawaz Bhutto, delivered the Instrument of Accession to Jinnah in person, and on 13 September Jinnah accepted the accession. However, some of the Hindu subjects from the majority of the population revolted, and seeking to force the Nawab of Junagadh to change his decision, India imposed a blockade on the state."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" On 8 November, after giving up on all hope of assistance from Pakistan, Bhutto asked the Indian government to take over the administration of the state as a temporary measure to restore order.Achyut Yagnik, Shaping of Modern Gujarat (Penguin UK, 2005, ) This arrangement was pending a final settlement through negotiations and did not mean that Junagadh had acceded to India. The Government of India installed a governor and arranged a referendum on the status of the state, which took place on 20 February 1948 and voted overwhelmingly for union with India.Srinath Raghavan, War and Peace in Modern India (2010), p. 63 This led to the integration of Junagadh into India.Rajmohan Gandhi, Patel: A Life (India: Navajivan, 1992), p. 292 India maintained that it had not invaded Junagadh, but had taken it over only after the Nawab's government had completely collapsed.Accession of Junagadh: Farce of History, revisitingindia.com, 28 Aug 2013.
Ghulam Moinuddin Khanji, Khan of Bantva Manavadar, a subordinate or vassal state of Junagadh, also signed an accession to Pakistan on 24 September 1947. The Indian police invaded Manavadar on 22 October, and the Khan was arrested. Following a plebiscite, the state was merged with the newly federated state of 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.KARACHI: Nawab Moinuddin laid to rest, dawn.com, 15 Feb 2003, accessed 29 October 2020
Princely states in order of accession
Bahawalpur
On 3 October 1947, after some delay, the Nawab (or Ameer) of Bahawalpur, Sir Sadiq Mohammad Khan V, acceded his state to Pakistan, becoming the first ruler to do so successfully.Umbreen Javaid, Politics of Bahawalpur: From State to Region, 1947-2000 (2004), p. 115 As tens of thousands of Muslim refugees flooded into the state from the new Dominion of India, the Ameer of Bahawalpur Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation Fund was instituted to provide for their relief. In 1953, the Ameer of Bahawalpur represented Pakistan at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. In 1955, he signed an agreement with the Governor-General of Pakistan, Sir Malik Ghulam Muhammad, under which Bahawalpur became part of the province of West Pakistan, with effect from 14 October 1955, and the Ameer received a yearly privy purse of 32 lakhs of rupees (equivalent to £291,984 in 2026), keeping his titles.The All Pakistan Legal Decisions, vol. 30, part 2 (1978), p. 1,171
Khairpur
The state of Khairpur also acceded to Pakistan on 3 October 1947. 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, who acceded to Pakistan on his behalf.Pakistan Constituent Assembly Debates: Official report, vol. 1 (issues 1-1950, 1947), p. 152
In 1950, the Amir introduced a form of democracy, with universal adult franchise. In 1955, the state was integrated into West Pakistan. The royal privileges of the Amir were abolished in 1972.
The last Amir is one of the few surviving princes.Roger D. Long, Gurharpal Singh, Yunas Samad, Ian Talbot, State and Nation-Building in Pakistan: Beyond Islam and Security (Routledge, 2015, ) pp. 94–95
Chitral
The Mehtar of Chitral, Muzaffar-ul-Mulk (1901–1949), stated his intention to accede to Pakistan on 15 August 1947.Kuldip Singh Bajwa, Jammu and Kashmir War, 1947-1948 (2003), p. 141 However, his formal accession was delayed until 6 October. 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 full powers as Mehtar at Chitral Fort in May 1966.Brief History of Ex Mehter Chitral HH Prince Saif ul Mulk Nasir , chitraltimes.com, accessed 31 October 2020
On 28 July 1969, President Yahya Khan announced the full integration of the states of Chitral, Dir, and Swat into Pakistan, 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.
Swat
The Wāli of Swat, Miangul Abdul Wadud, acceded his state to Pakistan on 3 November 1947. The last Wali, Miangul Jahan Zeb (1908–1987), continued to exercise 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.Brown, Clammer, & Cocks (2008), p. 209
Hunza
Hunza was a small princely state to the north of Jammu and Kashmir, and had been subject to the suzerainty of the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir since 1891. In 1931, its population was reported as 13,241. Census of India, 1931, Volume XXIV: Jammu & Kashmir State, Part 1 – Report (India Census Commissioner Manager of Publications, 1933), p. 59 Having once been under Chinese protection, after the departure of the British from the subcontinent in August 1947, Hunza received approaches from the Republic of China, which wished the Mir to return to Chinese protection. However, on 3 November 1947, the Mir of Hunza, Mohammad Jamal Khan (1912-1976), who had been ruler only since 1946, sent a telegram to Jinnah stating that he wished to accede his state to the Dominion of Pakistan.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 This action came one week after the decision by Sir Hari Singh, Maharajah of Kashmir, to accede to India, following the invasion by Pashtun Mehsud tribals, backed by Pakistani paramilitary forces, in October 1947 under the code name "Operation Gulmarg" to seize Kashmir. On 27 October, Indian Army troops had moved into Kashmir. Hunza's formal accession took place on 18 November.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." On 25 September 1973, following local protests, the Mir's rule came to an end when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan, abolished the Mir's government and annexed the state to the Northern Areas of Pakistan, under the federal government. Two years after his forced abdication, the Mir died.
Nagar
Nagar was another small valley state to the north of Kashmir and shared the language and culture of Hunza. In 1931 it had a population of 13,672, much the same as that of Hunza. 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.
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.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."
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