Shahi Jirga aur qabaili intezam

Atemad E-Magazine 20 October 2026 · 10 minute ka mutalia

Pichhle baab mein hum ne rail ko Bolan aur Harnai ke pahadon mein charhte dekha. Magar qabail ke jhagre rail se hal nahin hote the. Is ke liye angrezon ne ek purani maqami riwayat, jirga, ko apne intezam ka hissa bana liya. Is baab mein hum dekhenge ke Sibi ka Shahi Jirga kaise wujood mein aaya, Frontier Crimes Regulation ne ise kya qanooni shakl di, aur Levies ka nizam is ke sath kaise jura. Is nizam par do mukhtalif nuqta-e-nazar hain; hum donon ko un ke apne mokhaz ke sath pesh karenge.

Purani riwayat, naya istemal

Sibi Gazetteer (1907) ke mutabiq gaon ya qabile ke buzurgon ke zariye har tarah ke tanazeat nimtane ka tareeqa "isi mulk ka apna" hai. Nauabadiyati daur mein is riwayat ko ek baqaida idare mein dhalne ka aghaz Robert Sandeman se mansoob kiya jata hai.

Islamia University Bahawalpur ke muhaqqiq Muhammad Fiaz Anwar (2019) likhte hain ke Sandeman ne pehle Dera Ghazi Khan ki tehsil Rajanpur ke Baloch qabail ke jhagron ke liye jirge bulaye. 1875 se woh Punjab aur Balochistan ke tumandaron ka salana ijtima Koh-e-Suleman ke pahari maqam Fort Munro mein karne lage. Baad mein yahi ijtima sardiyon mein Sibi aur garmiyon mein Quetta mein hone laga.

Sandeman ke sawaneh nigar T. H. Thornton (1895) ne 1886 ki Agency report ka hawala diya hai. Is ke mutabiq 1876 ke moahide ke baad sardaron ki namzadgi, qabaili tanazeat ke liye jirge bulane aur aman qayam rakhne mein Agent to the Governor General (AGG) ne "Khan ki jagah le li". Thornton ke mutabiq aham muqadmat mein AGG ka numainda, aksar Rai Bahadur Hittu Ram, jirge mein mojood rehta tha, aur har faisla is ki tausiq se nafiz hota tha. Aakhirkar sardaron ki ek "mustaqil council" bani jo sardiyon mein Sibi aur garmiyon mein Quetta mein baithti thi.

Sibi: jirga, darbar aur mela

Sibi Gazetteer ke mutabiq Sibi ka salana ghoron ka mela har saal February mein hota tha aur pehli bar 1885 mein munaqid hua. Balochistan Agency ki 1887-88 ki intezami report jirge aur mele ka talluq saaf dikhati hai. Is ke mutabiq 1888 ke mausam-e-bahar mein "ghoron ke show ke dauran Sibi mein jama hone wale jirge" ne Langau qabile ka ek purana tanaza nimtaya aur khoon baha ke taur par 17,602 rupay muqarrar kiye.

Sibi Gazetteer ke mutabiq Shahi Jirga sardiyon mein Sibi mein jama hota tha aur is ki karwai umooman AGG ke ek aam darbar par khatam hoti thi. Ghoron ka show bhi inhi dinon hota tha. Jirge ki nashistein Victoria Memorial Hall mein hoti thin, jo 1903 mein awami chande se bana. Imperial Gazetteer ke mutabiq is par 38,800 rupay lagat aayi.

1911 ki mardum shumari ke superintendent Denys Bray ke mutabiq qabaili mardum shumari ka form 1910 ki bahar mein Sibi mein Shahi Jirga ke "bare shashmahi ijlas" ke mauqe par sardaron se bahas kar ke tay hua. 1931 ki mardum shumari ki report ke mutabiq sardiyon mein Quetta se Secretariat ke bashtar daftar aur tamam Political Agents "salana Shahi Jirga" ke liye Sibi aa jate the, aur isi mausam mein ghoron aur maweshiyon ka show hota tha.

Qanoon ka sahara: Frontier Crimes Regulation

Imperial Gazetteer (1908) ke mutabiq jirge ke riwayati nizam ko British intezam mein "taraqqi di gayi", aur is maqsad ke liye 1890 mein Punjab ka Frontier Crimes Regulation Balochistan par lagu kiya gaya. Isi safhe ke hashiye mein darj hai ke baad mein 1901 ka Regulation number teen kuch tarameem ke sath lagu hua. Gazetteer ke mutabiq AGG khud bhi isi Regulation ke tehat adalati ikhtiyarat rakhta tha. Thornton ke mutabiq in zawabit ne zilai afsar ko jirge ko court ke taur par istemal karne aur sarhadi dehat ko doosri jagah muntaqil karne ka ikhtiyar bhi diya.

Sibi Gazetteer is tareeq-e-kar ki tafseel deta hai:

Aam muqadmat kam az kam teen buzurgon ki council ke supurd kiye jate the.
Jirge ka kaam sirf haqaiq tay karna tha. Faisla aur saza Deputy Commissioner ke hath mein thi.
Political Agent saat saal tak qaid-e-bamushaqqat de sakta tha. Chaudah saal tak ki saza ke liye AGG ki tausiq zaroori thi.
In faislon ke khilaf appeal nahin ho sakti thi; sirf AGG nazar-e-sani kar sakta tha.

Imperial Gazetteer ke mutabiq March 1898 tak ke panch barson mein jirgon ne ausatan har saal 2,871 muqadmat nimtaye. 1902-03 mein yeh tadad 4,230 thi.

Maqami jirga aur Shahi Jirga

Sibi Gazetteer ke mutabiq qabailiyon ke taqriban tamam muqadmat, jaise qatl, zina, shadi ke tanazeat, chori, maweshi chori aur zameen ke jhagre, pehle maqami jirgon ko jate the. Do Azla ke qabailiyon ke aam muqadmat mushtarka jirge sunte the. Jo muqadmat wahan hal na hote, ya jin mein qabaili riwaj ya do qabilon ka mamla hota, woh Shahi Jirga ko bheje jate the. Punjab ke qabail se mutaliq muqadmat ke liye har saal September mein Fort Munro mein bain-ul-subai jirga hota tha.

Arkan ke intikhab ka farq bhi Gazetteer ne likha hai. Maqami jirgon mein riwaj se waqif aur baasar maqami sardar, motabar aur malik bithaye jate the. Shahi Jirga ke liye qabail ke bare sardar aur motabireen chune jate the, khas taur par woh jin ke qabile muqadme mein shamil hon. Shahi Jirga ke baaz faisle aainda ke liye zabita bhi ban gaye, jaise 8 February 1898 ka faisla ke Domki qabile aur Khan-e-Kalat ki raiyyat ke muqadmat umooman Sibi ya Quetta ke Shahi Jirga ko jayenge.

Levies: jirge ka bazu

Jirga faisla deta tha, magar mulzim ko pakarna aur gawah lana Levies ka kaam tha. Imperial Gazetteer ke mutabiq yeh nizam bhi Sandeman se shuru hua. 1867 mein Dera Ghazi Khan ke Deputy Commissioner ki haisiyat se unhon ne Marri aur Bugti qabail ke chand sawar sarkari mulazmat mein rakhe. Balochistan aa kar unhon ne sardaron ko musallah sawar aur piyade rakhne ke liye allowance dena shuru kiye. Gazetteer ke mutabiq yeh nizam do mafroozon par qayam tha: har qabile mein aise baasar sardar hote hain jo sarkari himayat milne par itaat karwa sakte hain, aur koi qabaili muawze ke baghair sarkar ka kaam nahin karega.

1904 mein barah-e-raast intezam wale ilaqon mein 2,022 Levies aur 1,173 police ahlkar the. Zhob Levy Corps 1890 mein qayam hui. Sibi Gazetteer ke mutabiq jirge ka nizam Levies ke sath mil kar hi karamad tha, kyunke shehron se bahar jaraim ki tafteesh sardar aur Levies karte the.

1930 ki dahai tak yeh donon nizam isi shakl mein chal rahe the. 1936-37 ki intezami report ke mutabiq sirf Quetta Pishin zile mein 1936 ke dauran Regulation ke tehat 663 diwani aur 1,318 faujdari muqadmat nimtaye gaye. Isi report ke mutabiq Levies ki tanzeem-e-nau se naraz kuch qabaili rahnuma Sibi darbar mein shareek na hue, tahum baad mein unhon ne apni mukhalifat wapas le li.

Do nuqta-e-nazar

Nauabadiyati bayan: Sibi Gazetteer is nizam ko maqami riwayat ka tasalsul batata hai jis ka "tareeq-e-kar sada" aur faide "bohat" hain. Imperial Gazetteer ke mutabiq Shahi jirge un muqadmat ka faisla karte the jo hal na hote to khoonrezi aur siyasi pecheedgiyon tak pahunch sakte the. Magar yahi Sibi Gazetteer yeh bhi manta hai ke nizam ko "laailmi aur janibdari" se paida hone wali ziyadatiyon se bachane ke liye afsaron ki musalsal nigrani zaroori hai.

Tanqeedi bayan: Muhammad Fiaz Anwar (2019) ke mutabiq Sandeman nizam dar asal tumandaron ki sarparasti ka nizam tha. Is ne sardaron ko bari maddi aur intezami taqat di aur Baloch qabail ke "masawat par mabni" mizaj ko amrana dhanchon mein badal diya. Woh apni baat ki taeed Sandeman ke sathi R. I. Bruce ke is jumle se karte hain: "Sarkar hi in logon ko banati ya bigarti hai".

Agle itwar: 31 May 1935: Quetta ka zalzala

Mokhaz

A. McConaghey, assisted by Jamiat Rai, Baluchistan District Gazetteer Series, vol. III: Sibi District, Text, Times Press, Bombay, 1907. Pages used: pp. 105–106 (Sibi horse fair, February, first instituted 1885), p. 166 (Sibi Shahi Jirga award of 8 February 1898), pp. 172–175 (jirga system "indigenous"; FCR III of 1901; procedure, sentences, no appeal; local, joint, Shahi and Fort Munro jirgas; choice of members; need for supervision), p. 246 (Shahi Jirga at Sibi in winter, AGG's darbar, Horse Show, Victoria Memorial Hall 1903). https://archive.org/details/sibidistricttext00mccouoft
Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Baluchistan, comp. R. Hughes-Buller, Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1908. Pages used: p. 58 (AGG's judicial powers under the FCR), p. 64 (jirgas "developed under British administration"; Punjab FCR applied 1890; Shahi jirgas at Sibi and Quetta; Fort Munro; case numbers; footnote on Regulation III of 1901), p. 77 (Victoria Memorial Hall, Sibi, Rs 38,800), pp. 78–80 (levy system: origin in 1867, assumptions, recruitment, 1904 strength; Zhob Levy Corps 1890). https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.146799
T. H. Thornton, Colonel Sir Robert Sandeman: His Life and Work on our Indian Frontier, John Murray, London, 1895. Pages used: pp. 178–179 (AGG takes the Khan's place in summoning jirgas, quoting the Agency Report for 1886; standing council of chiefs at Sibi and Quetta; Hittu Ram), p. 193 (Sibi horse fair), p. 206 (Frontier Regulations: jirga as tribunal, removal of villages). https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.209278
Administration Report of the Baluchistan Agency for 1887-88, Foreign Department Selections No. CCLXVIII, Calcutta, 1890. Page used: p. 22 (Jirga at Sibi "during the Horse Show in the spring of 1888"; the "Langan" [probably Langav] tribe case, Rs 17,602). https://archive.org/details/india.history.resource.109821
Denys Bray, Census of India, 1911, vol. IV: Baluchistan, Part I, Report, Calcutta, 1913. Introduction, para. 6, about p. 2 (the "great half-yearly session of the Shahi Jirga" at Sibi, spring 1910). https://archive.org/details/india.history.resource.92565
Census of India, 1931, vol. IV: Baluchistan, Parts I and II, 1934 (catalogue date). Page used: p. 125 (Secretariat and Political Agents move to Sibi "for the annual Shahi Jirga"; Horse and Cattle Show). https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56021
Administration Report of the Baluchistan Agency for the Year 1936-37, Manager of Publications, Delhi, 1938. Pages used: p. 3 (tribal leaders absent from the Sibi Durbar over the levy reorganisation), p. 22 (tribal cases decided by councils of elders under Regulation III of 1901), p. 44 (Quetta-Pishin: 663 civil and 1,318 criminal cases under the FCR in 1936). https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.73611 · See also Administration Report … 1930-31, p. 25 (same wording on jirgas under the FCR): https://archive.org/details/india.history.resource.109841 · and … 1938-39, p. 2 (AGG's Durbar week and the Sibi Horse and Cattle Show, February 1939): https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.73536
Muhammad Fiaz Anwar, "'Sandeman System' and the Marri, Bugti Tribes of Baluchistan", Journal of Historical Studies (Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan) V/II (July–December 2019), pp. 84–104. Pages used: p. 84 (abstract: patronage; "egalitarian nature" changed into "authoritative structures"), p. 93 (Rajanpur jirgas; Fort Munro from 1875; Sibi and Quetta), pp. 97–98 (conclusion; R. I. Bruce, The Forward Policy, p. 19, quoted: "It is the Sirkar … who makes or unmakes these men"). https://jhs.bzu.edu.pk/upload/VOl%20II-19_5.%20Sandeman%20System%20and%20the%20Murri,%20Bugti%20Tribes%20of%20Balochistan.pdf_41.pdf

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