In the administrative history of British Balochistan, few figures combined authority, restraint, and local understanding as consistently as Khan Bahadur Murtaza Khan. Serving during a period marked by tribal tension, colonial uncertainty, and natural catastrophe, his career offers a rare example of governance achieved more through persuasion than force.
Murtaza Khan entered public service as a Deputy Range Forest Officer in Ziarat, then a modest patwar circle within Sibi District. His administrative competence soon brought him to the attention of the colonial authorities, and he was inducted into the Civil Service of Balochistan.
Over the following years, he served as Extra Assistant Commissioner in Lower Zhob and Shirani with headquarters at Fort Sandeman. During this period, a British officer was kidnapped by tribesmen; Murtaza Khan recovered him within twenty-four hours without violence. He was subsequently posted to Upper Zhob at Hindubagh (now Muslim Bagh), a sensitive frontier subdivision bordering Afghanistan. Despite the volatile conditions, he maintained order through sound judgment and a deep understanding of tribal customs and land affairs.
He later served in Pishin, a subdivision of Quetta/Pishin district, and was subsequently transferred to Sibi as Extra Assistant Commissioner, Sibi and Harnai. In 1930, on the orders of the Agent to the Governor-General of Baluchistan, he took control of the Marri/Bugti area, which had previously been administered by Sardar Mehrab Khan Bugti, the father of Abdurrehman Bugti and Akber Bugti.
The Marri–Bugti Assignment
The Marri–Bugti region was characterized by entrenched tribal loyalties and long-standing rivalries. Recognizing the sensitivity of the area, the British authorities placed it under the direct charge of Murtaza Khan.
He succeeded in asserting government authority without provoking large-scale conflict. His approach relied on negotiation, personal engagement, and a firm grasp of tribal tradition. He was promoted to Assistant Political Agent, Sibi, while continuing to oversee Marri–Bugti affairs, a responsibility he retained until his retirement in 1945 as Political Agent, Marri–Bugti.
On the recommendation of K. B. Murtaza Khan, the P.A. Marri Bugti, acting for the Agent to the Governor-General of Baluchistan, declared Akber Bugti as Sardar of the Bugti tribe, bypassing Abdurrehman Bugti. This decision resulted in a tribal revolt led by Abdur Rehman Bugti.
The Abdur Rehman Bugti Revolt
His most notable achievement came during the Bugti uprising led by Abdur Rehman Bugti, the stepbrother of Nawab Akbar Bugti, during the Second World War. With British forces stretched thin, aerial action was being considered to suppress the rebellion.
Murtaza Khan argued strongly against military intervention and took personal responsibility for resolving the crisis. He entered the Bugti area with a militia force, where nearly 3,000 armed tribesmen had taken positions in the mountains. Through sustained dialogue, he persuaded Abdur Rehman Bugti to surrender peacefully. The revolt ended without bloodshed among the tribesmen; only two militia personnel were injured.
The episode remains one of the rare instances in colonial frontier administration where a major tribal conflict was resolved entirely without force.
For these services, Murtaza Khan was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.) by King George VI, as recorded in the Supplement to The London Gazette, dated 12 June 1941, which lists him as:
“Khan Bahadur Khan Murtaza Khan, Extra Assistant Commissioner, Baluchistan.”
Recognition and Administrative Standing
Among British officers, Murtaza Khan was regarded as a reliable and experienced member of the Political Service. Despite having no formal command of English, his fluency in local languages and customs made him particularly effective in resolving tribal disputes and land matters. His authority rested as much on personal trust as on official position.
Following his frontier service, he also served as Adviser on Tribal Affairs to the Government of Punjab, where he adjudicated several sensitive cases, including the well-known case involving Ashiq Mazari, who later became a senior civil servant in Pakistan.
The Quetta Earthquake
His character was tested most severely during the Quetta earthquake of 1935. As recorded in the book Thirty Seconds at Quetta by Robert Jackson, Murtaza Khan had already assumed charge of relief operations when the scale of the disaster became clear.
The earthquake claimed twenty-eight members of his household, including a son who was a cadet at the Royal Prince of Wales Military College, Dehradun, and who had arrived in Quetta only an hour before the quake. Despite this personal tragedy, Murtaza Khan remained at his post, directing rescue and relief efforts. His only recorded response was that duty required his presence.
Family and Later Legacy
Murtaza Khan belonged to the Tareen Sardar family of Duki, then a tehsil of Loralai District. His father, Mauladad Khan, had served in the British Indian Army’s 40th Pathan Regiment. He was survived by four sons and one daughter.
Two sons served as magistrates. The third, Anwar Tareen, pursued a distinguished career in civil aviation, serving Pakistan International Airlines as General Manager Europe and General Manager Far East, and later becoming the first Country Manager of Emirates Airline in Pakistan. Other members of the family entered agriculture and law.
Public Service Across Generations
The fourth son, Sardar Akbar Khan Tareen, continued the family’s tradition of public service. A lawyer by training, he became the founding President of the Loralai Bar Association and later served as Chairman of the Municipal Committee of Loralai (1985–1987). He also served as a caretaker minister in 1993.
As Revenue Minister, he ordered the cancellation of 316,000 acres of land that had been allotted at nominal rates to influential figures, including governors, ministers, commissioners, and tribal chiefs. The decision received national attention and was widely reported, including detailed coverage in Weekly Takbeer of Karachi.
In 1972, during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s first visit to Quetta as President and Chief Martial Law Administrator, Sardar Akbar Khan Tareen represented Duki as a member of the Shahi Jirga on the advice of Political Agent Loralai Captain A. R. Siddiqui. Acting on the counsel of Khan Abdul Samad Khan Shaheed, he raised the issue of the Frontier Crimes Regulation. President Bhutto was kind enough to order the abolition of F.C.R. throughout Balochistan on that occasion.
He later served as Caretaker Minister for Health during 1997–1998.
A Measured Legacy
Khan Bahadur Murtaza Khan’s career reflects a model of governance grounded in restraint, cultural understanding, and personal responsibility. At a time when coercion was often the default instrument of rule, he demonstrated that authority could also be exercised through patience, credibility, and dialogue.
During his lifetime, he held over 10,000 acres of agricultural land in several districts of Balochistan, including Duki, Harnai, and Quetta–Pishin—holdings typical of senior tribal families of the period and acquired over the course of a long administrative career.
His legacy—quiet, disciplined, and largely absent from popular histories—remains a significant chapter in the administrative history of Balochistan and in the enduring tradition of public service carried forward by his family.