The Khetrans are an ethnolinguistic group primarily native to Barkhan in Balochistan and Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab, Pakistan. The total population was estimated to be about 150,000 in 2017, at least two-thirds of which are speakers of their native Khetrani, an Indo-Aryan language. A sizeable population in Barkhan can speak Balochi, while Khetrans who have settled to the east in the Dera Ghazi Khan speak Saraiki.[1][2] and the others in areas of kpk speak pashtu
Origins
editAccording to the 1st Encyclopedia
khetrans originiate from "kasis" , kasis are the pashtuns primarily found in quetta, afghanistan, and nangarhar. they are classified under sarbanis. The eastern afghans . due to migrations and being native to barkhan . they have influence of balochis,siraikis,sindhis and depending on different areas they either speak balochi or pashto.
1918 rebellion against British rule
editOperations against the Marri and Khetran tribes (also known as the Marri Punitive Expedition) was the British name for a punitive expedition carried out against the Marri and Khetran tribes of Balochistan, British India between February and April 1918. The Marri rose against the British authorities around 18 February, encouraged by rumours that the British were short of manpower due to the First World War. British attempts at conciliation were repulsed and, on 20 February, a major attack was made by 1,000 – 3,000 Marri upon the British post at Gumbaz. This attack was repulsed by a much smaller British force that inflicted heavy losses upon the Marri. A subsequent withdrawal of British forces from Kohlu and its occupation by the Marri led the Khetrans to join the rising. The town of Barkhan was occupied by Marri-Khetran forces and raids were made upon villages in the Sibi and Loralai districts; railways in the area were also attacked.
The British assembled the Marri Field Force of British Army and British Indian Army troops under Major-General Richard Wapshare to combat the rising. Two columns under Brigadier-Generals T. H. Hardy and Philip Miles went on the offensive into territory occupied by the tribes. Miles inflicted a heavy defeat upon a Marri-Khetran force at Fort Munro on 15 March and then captured Barkhan, ending Khetran involvement in the rising. Hardy defeated a large Marri force at Hadb on 3 April and afterwards, assisted by bombing by the Royal Flying Corps, captured the Marri capital of Kahan. The Marri sardar Khair Bux Mari surrendered to the British on 8 April.
The campaign caused a significant reduction in tax revenue from the area and damage to private and government property. A council of elders was assembled after the campaign which recommended compensation payments be made by the Marri and the imprisonment of members of both tribes. The rising inspired rebellions by the Mengal and Gurgnari tribes, who killed their own sardars, and by the Musakhel, which was put down by part of the Marri Field Force.References
edit- ^ Birmani, Ali H.; Ahmed, Fasih (2017). "Language of the Khetrans of Barkhan of Pakistani Balochistan: A preliminary description". Lingua. 191–192: 3–21. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2016.12.003. ISSN 0024-3841. pp. 3–5
- ^ "Balōčistān". Encyclopaedia of Islam, First Edition. Brill. 24 April 2012. doi:10.1163/2214-871x_ei1_com_0035.
- ^ McConaghey & Rai 1907, p. 264