Daily Times

Gokprosh is a pass which is 30 kilometres north of Turbat city near Pidrak. This is the historical place where Mekrani Baloch battled with the English force on January 3, 1898 in the mountains of Gokprosh. It is said that when the Khan of Kalat at that time was caught and imprisoned, his son Mir Mahmood Khan took the charge of Khan of Kalat. After Mir Khudadad Khan, there appeared huge changes in the state along with the visibility of uncountable problems. The war of Gokprosh was a result of those problems.

Adhudhas was then made the nazim of the state which was not accepted by the Baloch since he was an outsider. They asked to make Faqeer Muhammad Bizanjo the nazim for he was a Baloch but the proposal was rejected.

With the passage of time, Adhudhas increased the taxes on the date trees of the local residents and took 1/10 of the dates of them. This law was not enforced earlier by any nazim. The people of Mekran disliked it.

Similarly, after the death of Sardar Bahiyan, his elder son Shay Umar was made the Sardar by the English which was not preferred by his younger son Mir Mehrab Khan Gichki.

The Kalat of Bet in the period of Mir Khudadad Khan, was under the control of Baloch Khan Sherwani. He was also upset with the decisions of the English about the Kalat state.

The above mentioned problems emerged after Mir Khudadad Khan. Besides these, there were many more causes which had made the situation worse at that period. Firstly, Mir Mehrab Khan declared to be against his elder brother for the Khan of Kalat and became the Sardar of Kech. No one asked his elder brother Shay Umar because he was made the Khan of Kalat by the English. The people of Mekran were against them because of the atrocities on them.

After Mir Mehrab Khan became the Sardar of Kech, he gave various defeats to the English. As a result, in the leadership of Colonel Messon, a big force of English was sent by the English from the coastal areas of Mekran to Kech in order to stop the revolution of the Mekrani Baloch. On the other hand, Meer Mehrab Khan and Baloch Khan became well aware of the English force and decided to have a war with them.

Afterwards, they collected their army by calling their companions from various cities of Kalat state. From Tump Meer Murad and Meer Shugrullah Gichki, from Mand Meer Hayatan Rind took his army, from Buleda Meer Mehrab Khan Nosherwani and Meer Moheem Khan Nosherwani, from Kulanch Meer Mubarak and Haji Murad Wadela took their companions and joined the Baloch army under control of Meer Mehrab Khan and Baloch Khan to fight against the English. With the help of them, Meer Mehrab Khan got succeeded in creating an army of one thousand Baloch.

When they became aware that the English army had reached near the sea in Pasni, they decided to clash with them before they arrive in Turbat. As a result they covered the mountains of the Gokprosh pass. Baloch people had only swords and sticks while the English force had modern guns. They were well trained and counselled about modern tactics of fighting. So, Baloch Khan thought to distribute the army into various small groups. They decided to cover them from the overall sides and finish them easily but Meer Mehrab Khan and the other older Sardars didn’t agree with this decision. They emphasised on having a war with them face to face. This was one of the biggest causes of the failure of the war for Baloch.

Colonel Messon along with his army reached in the mountains of Gokprosh on January 3, 1898. Unfortunately, they saw the army of Baloch on the mountains. They were nearly 100 yards away from the Baloch and started to fire against them. They directed their cannons on the Baloch army on the mountains and started the war. This affected the Baloch army a lot. Many of their fighters got martyred by the fires and cannons. They were confused what to be done afterwards. Meer Mehrab Khan felt that it was impossible to fight with them under those circumstances, he ran with his force. But Baloch Khan fought with them until his last breath for the protection of his motherland. He kept moving forward and fighting with his force.

The writer is a teacher at DELTA in Turbat. He can be reached at alijanmaqsood17@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, January 27^th 2019.