British administrators in the sub-continent wrote meticulous district gazetteers during their service in India from Khyber Pass to Bengal. The gazetteer was the most authentic document in respect of any given district. It contained necessary information pertaining to people, places and practices prevalent there. However, not much work has been done in Pakistan on compiling of the gazetteer since independence in 1947.

Mehboob Ahmed, a bureaucrat serving in Balochistan, has revived the tradition by authoring and publishing the gazetteer for Mastung district while serving as its deputy commissioner. This is a pioneering accomplishment. The book will be formally launched at an event this week.

“During our DMG (now PAS) training programmes, our instructors, who were mainly veteran bureaucrats, told us about the tradition, beauty and benefits of district gazetteers that used to be written and compiled by the deputy commissioners of the colonial era,” says Ahmed, who is now serving as additional secretary at Chief Minister’s Secretariat.

“A deputy commissioner should know his district well and be able to profile it,” he tells The News on Sunday.

Ahmed, who served as Mastung DC for 16 months, took seven months to compile the gazetteer. He says he hopes that it will help the officers posted in the district in future, researchers and residents understand the dynamics of the region.

The Mastung district is located in the Kalat division of northwest Balochistan. It borders Quetta in the north via Lak Pass; Kalat in the south via Kadkucha; Kachhi in the east via Dasht; and Noshki in the west via Kirdgap. Prior to its creation as a separate district in 1991, Mastung was a part of Kalat district.

Sarawan volume of the Balochistan District Gazetteer Series published by British rulers in 1907 discussed Mastung.

The Mastung District Gazetteer 2020 comprises eighteen chapters with a preface and a photo gallery. Every chapter provides basic data and information on important aspects of the main topics.

Separate chapters have been dedicated to Mastung’s brief profile, geography and climate, administration and security, health, education, social welfare and accounts, agriculture, irrigation, water supply and energy, livestock, forests and wildlife, development activities, communication, information technology and telecommunication, customs and excise, archives and literature and natural disasters.

The Mastung District Gazetteer 2020 comprises eighteen chapters with a preface and a photo gallery. Every chapter provides basic data and information on important aspects of the main topics.

A chapter discusses the history of the district in a timeline, starting with the Greek period and Arab period and moving through Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Mongol, Arghun, Mughal and to Ahmedzai rule to British entry and post-independence governance.

Another chapter mainly discusses the major tribes living in the district and data on their population in the three tehsils - Mastung, Dasht, and Kirdgap based on information available with the revenue staff of the district administration.

Mastung was once famous for being the headquarters of Sarawan, a division of the former princely state of Kalat in Balochistan. The chief of Sarawan himself hails from Mastung. During the British period, the political agent for Kalat used to sit in Mastung.

Bangulzai, Shahwani, Kurd, Lehri, Dehwar, Raisani, Muhamamd Shahi and Sarparah are the major tribes in the district. Other Brahvi tribes which live in the area include: Sulaimani, Mengal, Rind, Muhammad Hasani, Sasoli and Langov. The Pashtun tribes include Babri, Tareen and Kakar. Information on languages, dress and tribal, and family structure, nomadic lifestyle and customs and traditions in the district are also included in the gazetteer.

A whole chapter discusses the land revenue system in the district, its history and evolution. Three major sources of revenue collection are Zamindari system, Ryotwari system and Mahalwari system. These remained in practice during British rule and in the state of Kalat and have survived since independence.

The gazetteer also discusses the security situation in Mastung, which has remained one of the hotspots of militancy and insurgency since 2007-8. The gazetteer observes that the socio-political conditions of district, tribal structure and geopolitical location, particularly proximity to Quetta and the fact that three major highways pass through it further complicate the insurgency problem in Mastung,” making the district a trophy for religious and ethno-nationalists insurgents.” However, it says the law-and-order situation has improved following a crackdown on militants in 2014-15.

It is hoped that the Mastung district gazetteer will motivate other administrative field officers in the country, particularly in Balochistan, to follow suit.

The writer works for The News in Karachi. Email:

zeea.rehman@gmail.com and

Twitter: @zalmayzia