Baluchistan

Balochi (????? also Baluchi) is a Northwestern Iranian language Encyclopedia Iranica spoken in Afghanistan & Iran[http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v7f6/v7f659.html]. It is the principal language of the Baloch of Balochistan, Pakistan, eastern Iran and southern Afghanistan. It is also spoken as a second language by some Brahui. It is designated as one of nine official languages of Pakistan.

Balochistan is the largest province by geographical area of Pakistan, constituting approximately 48% of the total area of Pakistan. At the 1998 census, Balochistan had a population of roughly 6.5 million. Covering two-fifths of the country, it is Pakistan's largest province, as well as its poorest and least inhabited.

Its neighbouring regions are Iran to the west, Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier Province to the north, Punjab and Sindh provinces to the east. To the south is the Arabian Sea. The main languages in the province are Balochi, Brahui, Pashto, and Sindhi."Balochist?n." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Retrieved December 15, 2009. The capital, and only city, is Quetta; all the other towns and villages are underdeveloped. The Baloch and Pashtun people constitute the two major ethnic groups; a mixed ethnic stock, mainly of Sindhi origin, forms the third major group. Balochistan is rich in mineral resources; it is the second major supplier, after Sindh province, of natural gas.

Sistan o Baluchestan () is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. It is in the southeast of the country, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan and its capital is Zahedan.

The province is the largest in Iran, with an area of 181,785 km² and a population of 2.4 million. The counties of the province are Iran Shahr, Chabahar, Khash, Zabol, Zahedan, Sooran, Saravan, and Nikshahr.

The population comprises Sunnite Muslim Baluchis and Sh??ite Muslim Persians.

Kalat or Qalat () was a princely state located in the centre of the modern province of Balochistan, Pakistan. The state capital was the town of Kalat.

Las Bela was a princely state in India (later Pakistan) which existed until 1955. The state occupied an area of in the extreme southeast of the Balochistan province with an extensive coastline on the Arabian Sea to the south. Las Bela was bordered by the princely states of Kalat and Makran to the north and west. To the east lay the province of Sind and to the southeast lay the Federal Capital Territory around the city of Karachi.

The State of Kharan was an autonomous princely state in India (later Pakistan), located in the southwest of modern Pakistan.

Makran was an autonomous princely state of both British India and Pakistan, which ceased to exist in 1955. It was located in the extreme southwest of Pakistan, an area occupied by the districts of Gwadar, Kech and Panjgur. The state did not include the enclave of Gwadar which was under Omani rule until 1958.

Makran (Urdu/Persian: ?????) is a semi-desert coastal strip in the south of Balochistan, in Iran and Pakistan, along the coast of the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman. The Persian phrase Mahi khoran, fish-eaters (Mahi = fish + khor = eat) is believed to be the origin of the modern word Makkuran.The origins of the name on Livius.org

The narrow coastal plain rises very rapidly into several mountain ranges. Of the 1,000 km coastline, about 750 km is in Pakistan. The climate is very dry with very little rainfall. Makkuran is very sparsely inhabited, with much of the population being concentrated in a string of small ports including Chabahar, Gwatar, Jiwani, Gwadar (not to be confused with Gwatar), Pasni, Ormara and many smaller fishing villages.

The Pakistani government is currently developing Ormara as a major naval base and Gwadar as a major new commercial port as well as a new highway along the entire length of the coast. These projects have been prompted by the commercial and military bottleneck at Karachi. The new naval base at Ormara will host about half of the Pakistani Navy, whilst Gwadar is planned to reduce the pressure on the two international ports at Karachi.

The Iranian government planned to develop Chabahar in the 1970s, but the toppling of the Shah put an end to those plans.

The coast of Makran possesses only one island, Astola Island, near Pasni, and several insignificant islets. The coastline can be divided into an eastern lagoon coastline and a western embayed coastline. The main lagoons are Miani Hor and Kalamat Hor. The main bays of the embayed coast are Gwadar West Bay and Gwatar Bay. This latter bay shelters a large mangrove forest and the nesting grounds of endangered turtle species.

Gwadar () is located on the southwestern coast of Pakistan, on the Arabian Sea. It is strategically located between three increasingly important regions: the oil-rich Middle East, heavily populated South Asia and the economically emerging and resource-laden region of Central Asia. The Gwadar Port was built on a turnkey basis by China and signifies an enlarging Chinese footprint in a critically important area. Opened in spring 2007 by then Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf, in the presence of Chinese Communications Minister Li Shenglin, Gwadar Port is now being expanded into a naval base with Chinese technical and financial assistance. Gwadar Port became operational in 2008, with the first ship to dock bringing 52000 tonnes of wheat from Canada. Minister of Ports and Shipping Sardar Nabil Ahmed Khan Gabol officially inaugurated the port on 21 December 2008.. China has acknowledged that Gwadar's strategic value is no less than that of the Karakoram Highway, which helped cement the China-Pakistan nexus. In addition to Gwadar serving as a potential Chinese naval anchor, Beijing is also interested in turning it into an energy-transport hub by building an oil pipeline from Gwadar into Chinese-ruled Xinjiang. The planned pipeline will carry crude oil sourced from Arab and African states. Such transport by pipeline will cut freight costs and also help insulate the Chinese imports from interdiction by hostile naval forces in case of any major war.

Commercially, it is hoped that the Gwadar Port would generate billions of dollars in revenues and create at least two million jobs. In 2007, the government of Pakistan handed over port operations to PSA Singapore for 25 years, and gave it the status of a Tax Free Port for the following 40 years. The main investors in the project are Pakistani Government and People's Republic of China. China's plan to be engaged in many places along oil and gas roads is evident.http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/02/top1.htm