# Sindhis of Balochistan

The Sindhis of Balochistan are an indigenous Sindhi population living in Balochistan, Pakistan.

## History

The true Balochs along with Kurds were natives of northwestern Iran, near caspian sea, their language also supports this, which is based on one of the Western Iranian languages, the balochs first migrated to eastern Iran like Kerman, Khorasan during late Sasanian period. The Arab writers also mentioned them living in eastern regions of Iran around 9th century, from eastern Iran later migrated to southeast of Iran, while some also migrated to Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.
The second eastward migration of balochs took place in 971–972, when they were pushed eastwards by Persian, Turkic and Arab dynasties like Buyids, Ghaznavids and Seljuqs, who were fed up of acts of plundering and looting of caravans in those routes.
The Balochs called all the Indigenous Sindhis they interacted with as "Jadgals" which is an umbrella term for all Sindhi communities, including Jats, Meds, Sammats and Gurjars. Historically Jadgal term was used by balochs to distinguish between a Sindhi and pure baloch.
Over the time, Balochs started to call the local people by different names of their area of living or by the language they speak, for example, the Buledis of Buleda, and the Kolachis of Kulanch. The Buledi and Kolachi are now tribes of Balochistan, which probably can also be Jats originally. For others, the Balochs called them by their language, like Jadgali for Sindhi-speaking people, Jatki for Sindhi and Saraiki speaking, and Kurdgali for Brahui speaking.
The fourth migration of balochs happened in 13th–14th into present day Sindh and south Punjab.
In 635 or 636 CE, the Sindhi Hindu Brahman dynasty of Sindh ruled parts of balochistan under Chach of Aror. Later in the rule of Kalhoras, Arghuns, Sammas, Soomras, and Talpurs many areas of Balochistan were under Sindh province.
Over the time, Sindhis of Balochistan divided into different regional communities, the Jadgals of Makran speak the Jadgali dialect of Sindhi language; the Lasis of Lasbela speak the Lasi dialect of Sindhi; the Jamotes and Jats of Kachhi Plain speak Firaqi Sindhi or Siraiki dialects, the Khetrans and Jaffars of Kohe Sulaiman speak Khetrani and Jaffarki language of Sindhi origin, there are also other Jat/Jutt people scattered all over Balochistan. They were mentioned as "Zutts" in early Arab writings and "Jat-an" in Persian, In the 7th century, when Arabs came to Sindh, they found Sindhi Jats living in the lower Indus valley and Makran region, which at that time were all part of Sindh.
These regional Sindhi people of Balochistan have many tribes/Castes and clans of their own. Most of them are Sindhi Muslim Sammat/Jamote, Jats, Jadgals, Meds, Rajputs, Gurjar, Khojas etc, Hindu/Muslim Lohana, Bhatia, Brahmins, Kshtriyas, Shudras, other trading Hindu tribes, Rabari, and other tribal Hindu Sindhi tribes like Bheel, Meghwar, etc. Many Hindu tribes converted to Islam, the remaining Hindus migrated first to Sindh and then after partition into India, but there is still a small minority of Hindu Sindhis living in Balochistan, and there are also some Arab, Mughal and Sheedi origin Sindhi tribes of Balochistan.