When Kakar Pashtuns wiped out the entire Baloch army of Mir Naseer Khan of Kalat

In the 18th century, a chieftain of the Kakar Pashtuns managed to annihilate the entire Baloch army of Mir Naseer Khan of Kalat in about 1867. This catastrophic defeat of the Baloch army occurred in the Dozakh Tangi of present-day Ziarat district, Balochistan. The scale of this Baloch defeat bears striking resemblance to the catastrophic losses suffered by Mughal armies in the Pakhtunkhwa hills during the 16th and 17th centuries. Ahmad Shah Durrani bestowed the territory of Shal (Quetta) as a jagir upon Naseer Khan, the Khan of Kalat, a vassal state within the Durrani Empire. Shortly thereafter, Naseer Khan found himself embroiled in conflict with the Kakar Pashtuns, who were raiding his territory. The incident shook the Balochs so much that they were said to be hesitant to confront them again.

Mountstuart Elphinstone writes in 1810 (c):

"This warlike chief (Tahmas Khan) principally obtained his distinction by the success of a war with the Beloches, who had long been exasperated by the border incursions, which had long been subsisted between them and the Caukers (Kakars), to attack that tribe in a manner which gave the expedition the appearance of a national war. Six thousand Beloches were assembled at Shawl (Quetta) by the orders of Nuseer Khaun, the prince of Beloches; and the Caukers, alarmed at this serious invasion, retired with their flocks to Dozukh, a stony plain, elevated on the highest part of the mountains west of Zawura, a difficult of ascent in all places, and on most sides surrounded by inaccessible precipices. The Beloches, aware of the strength of this place on the side of the Shawl, proceeded up the valley of Hunna, crossed the ridge of 68 longitude, passed through Zawura, and advanced up a narrow valley, which afforded the only practicable route to Dozukh. Tahmas Khan allowed them to advance till they reached the last steep ascent, when they were surrounded, attacked and cut off almost to a man, with Fauzeb Khan, their commander. "

Muhammad Hayat Khan, the author of Hayat-i-Afghani (completed in 1867), writes: -

Of all their external foes (of Kakars), the Baloch is the much ancient and hated. Though for a long time past they had no hostile collision of any importance, they are divided by the remembrance of mutual injuries, and are ever on the lookout against each other. About 100 years since a famous engagement took place in which Tamas Khan (a Panizai Kakar) led his clan to signal victory. The occasion happened; thus, Nasir Khan, a Wali of Baluchistan, angered by the raid of a Kakar, marched into Shal (Quetta) at the head of 6,000 men with intent to crush his troublesome neighbors. A force like this was not rashly withstood, and the Kakar clan (the Santiya) retreated in a body to Dozakh or Dozhak , a stony tableland lying west of Zori valley high up among impassable mountains, and the only access to which is a steep pass. The Baloch, finding no means of approach from Shal, came from the side of the Hanna valley, and after climbing a high hill, reached the mouth of a narrow precipitous defile from whose summit they could easily pour down upon the entrapped Kakar. The wary Santiya leader Tamas Khan allowed the enemy to reach the last steep, and as they were struggling up this, already within sight of success, suddenly burst upon them with impetuous onslaught, drove them down headlong and destroyed them almost to a man. Since then, the Baloch have shown disposition to keep aloof from the Kakar.

References

1- 'Account of the Kingdom of Caubul', pp.453-454.
2-  Afghanistan and its inhabitants", pages-150, English translation of Hayat-i-Afghani by Muhammad Hayat Khan, published in 1865.

A Kakar Pashtun (on left) and a Brahui (on right), 1840 (c). Painting by James Atkinson.