Sind, sometimes spelled Scinde and Sindh, was a province of Pakistan from 1947 till its amalgamation into West Pakistan in 1955; and prior, a province of British India from being granted provincial status in 1936 till Pakistan's independence in 1947. Karachi was the capital of the province till 1948, succeeded by Hyderabad.

Under the British, it encompassed the current territorial limits excluding the princely state of Khairpur. In 1948, Karachi was separated from the province to form the Federal Capital Territory and serve as the federal capital of Pakistan; this resulted in the provincial capital being shifted to Hyderabad. The province was dissolved alongside Baluchistan, the North-West Frontier Province, West Punjab, and a number of Pakistani princely states to form a unified province of West Pakistan in 1955, upon implementation of the One Unit Scheme.

Administrative divisions On 1 April 1936 Sind division was separated from Bombay Presidency and restored its status as a State .

At that time the Province's Administration division are listed below: + Sind (British India): British Territory and Princely State DivisionDistricts in British Territory / Princely StateMap Hyderabad Division Total area, British Territory Native States Total area, Native States Total area, Sind

Geography

The province was bordered by Karachi (within the Federal Capital Territory after 1948) and the princely states of Las Bela and Kalat on the west. To the north were the provinces of Baluchistan and West Punjab. The province bordered the princely state of Bahawalpur on the northeast and it enclosed on three sides the princely state of Khairpur. The Indian states of Rajasthan and Gujarat were beyond its borders to the east and south. On the southwest lay the Arabian Sea, with the Sind's coastline consisting entirely of river deltas, including the Indus River Delta up to Sind's border with the city of Karachi, now the capital of present-day Sindh.

History

Sindh was first settled by the Indus Valley Civilization and Mohenjo-Daro, as early as 1750 BC. It had Greek influence during its history after the expansion of the Macedonian Empire, and developed trade with surrounding regions. Several Sunni Muslim and Rajput kingdoms were set up there, beginning with the Rai dynasty and ending with the Arghuns. The Mughal Empire conquered Sindh under the rule of Akbar in the year 1591. Soon after the coming of European companies, in particular the East India Company, the Mughal hold on the area loosened, and in 1843 Sindh became part of the British India and its Bombay Presidency on 1 October 1848. Later it became Sindh province on 1 April 1936 under All India Act of 1935.

1936–1947

On 1 April 1936, Sind was separated from the Bombay Presidency and given the status of a province, with Karachi as the provincial capital.

1947–1955 Following a resolution in the Sindh Legislative Assembly about joining Pakistan, with the independence and Partition of India in August 1947 Sindh became part of Pakistan.

In 1948, Karachi city (2,103 km2 area) separated from Sind to form the Federal Capital Territory of Pakistan. Apart from the city, the remaining areas of Karachi district remained part of Sind and a new district of Thatta was formed from these areas.

On 11 December 1954, the Sindh Legislative Assembly voted by 100 to 4 in favour of the One Unit policy announced by Prime Minister Chaudhry Mohammad Ali, and Sindh was merged into the new province of West Pakistan on 14 October 1955.Farhan Hanif Siddiqi, The Politics of Ethnicity in Pakistan (2012), p. 84

Government

The offices of Governor of Sindh and Premier (later Chief Minister) of Sindh were established in 1936 when Sindh became a province. This system continued until 1955 when Sindh was dissolved.

Tenure Governor of Sindh 1 April 1936 Province of Sindh established 1 April 1936 – 1 August 1938 Sir Lancelot Graham (first time) 1 August 1938 – 1 December 1938 Joseph Garrett (acting) 1 December 1938 – 1 April 1941 Sir Lancelot Graham (2nd time) 1 April 1941 – 15 January 1946 Sir Hugh Dow 15 January 1946 – 14 August 1947 Sir Robert Francis Mudie 14 August 1947 Independence of Pakistan 14 August 1947 – 4 October 1948 Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah 4 October 1948 – 19 November 1952 Sheikh Din Muhammad 19 November 1952 – 1 May 1953 Mian Aminuddin 1 May 1953 – 12 August 1953 George Baxandall Constantine 12 August 1953 – 23 June 1954 Habib Ibrahim Rahmatullah 23 June 1954 – 14 October 1955 Iftikhar Hussain Khan 14 October 1955 Province of Sindh dissolved Name of Premier (pre-partition)Entered OfficeLeft OfficePolitical Party/NotesGhulam Hussain Hidayat Ullah (1st time) 28 April 1937 23 March 1938Muslim People's PartyAllah Bux Soomro (1st time)23 March 1938 18 April 1940Ittehad PartyMir Bandeh Ali Khan Talpur 18 April 1940 7 March 1941All-India Muslim LeagueAllah Bux Soomro (2nd time) 7 March 1941 14 October 1942Ittehad PartyGhulam Hussain Hidayat Ullah (2nd time) 14 October 1942 14 August 1947 Muslim People's Party

Tenure Chief Minister of Sind Political party 14 August 1947 – 28 April 1948 Mohammad Ayub Khuhro (1st time) Pakistan Muslim League 3 May 1948 – 4 February 1949 Pir Illahi Bakhsh Pakistan Muslim League 18 February 1949 – 7 May 1950 Yusuf Haroon Non-partisan 8 May 1950 – 24 March 1951 Qazi Fazlullah Ubaidullah Non-partisan 25 March 1951 – 29 December 1951 Mohammad Ayub Khuhro (2nd time) Pakistan Muslim League 29 December 1951 – 22 May 1953 Governor's rule 22 May 1953 – 8 November 1954 Pirzada Abdus Sattar Pakistan Muslim League 9 November 1954 – 14 October 1955 Mohammad Ayub Khuhro (3rd time) Pakistan Muslim League 14 October 1955 Province of Sindh dissolved

Elections 1937 1946 1953

Demographics By the time of independence in 1947 Sindh had a Muslim majority for centuries but there were significant minorities of Hindus throughout the province. In 1947 due to communal tensions and partition two million Muslim muhajir migrated to Pakistan while most Sindhi Hindus fled to India.

The Muslims from India were mostly Urdu speaking.

+ Religion in Sindh (1872−1951)Religiousgroup187218811891190119111921193119411951 Islam 1,712,221 1,989,630 2,318,180 2,609,337 2,822,756 2,562,700 3,017,377 3,462,015 5,535,645 Hinduism 475,848 544,848 674,371 787,683 877,313 876,629 1,055,119 1,279,530 482,560 Christianity 3,329 6,082 7,768 7,825 10,917 11,734 15,152 20,304 22,601 Zoroastrianism 810 1,063 1,534 2,000 2,411 2,913 3,537 3,841 5,046 Judaism 35 153 210 428 595 671 985 1,082 Jainism 1,191 923 921 1,349 1,534 1,144 3,687 Buddhism 9 2 0 21 41 53 111 670 Sikhism 720 12,339 8,036 19,172 32,627 Tribal 9,224 8,186 204 37,598 Others 172 0 3 2,029 298 64 1,510 0 1,226 Total Responses 2,192,415 2,542,976 3,003,711 3,410,223 3,737,223 3,472,508 4,114,253 4,840,795 6,047,748 Total Population 2,322,765 2,542,976 3,003,711 3,410,223 3,737,223 3,472,508 4,114,253 4,840,795 6,054,474

Notes

References

See also

Sindh Khairpur Karachi