Kachhi district: a scorching plain at the mouth of the Bolan Pass

Introduction and location

Kachhi is a plain district of Balochistan. It stretches south from the mouth of the Bolan Pass. Citing the geographer Holdich, the British-era gazetteer describes Kachhi as “a flat, triangular desert tract thrust northwards into the hills from the Indus valley”. It is known for its level surface, intense summer heat and shortage of water. According to the same gazetteer, no part of the plain is more than 500 feet above sea level, and without irrigation it is “little better than a desert”. Local records called these barren parts “Dasht-e-Amwat”, meaning the desert of death.

According to the 2023 census of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Kachhi district covers 5,682 square kilometres and has a population of 442,674. This includes 233,584 men, 209,056 women and 34 transgender persons. The population density is about 78 persons per square kilometre, and 18.17 per cent of the people live in urban areas. The average household has 8.8 members. In 2017 the population (within the current boundaries) was 308,000, which means an annual growth of about 6.25 per cent.

According to the census table, the administrative parts of the district are as follows: Sunni sub-division (area 2,011 square kilometres, population 150,821), Bhag sub-division (1,308 square kilometres, 83,687), Mach sub-division (708 square kilometres, 75,272), Balanari sub-tehsil (402 square kilometres, 60,158), Dhadar sub-division (976 square kilometres, 49,836) and Khattan sub-tehsil (277 square kilometres, 22,900). According to the provincial census report, some villages of Bhag tehsil were separated from the district after 2017.

According to reports on the administrative restructuring of July 2026, Kachhi has been placed in the new “Sivi” division (the former Sibi division), which also includes Sivi (Sibi) and southern Dera Bugti (ProPakistani, 12 July 2026). In 2023, Kachhi was part of Naseerabad division. The text of the notification is not yet before us, so this page follows the boundaries of the 2023 census.

History

For centuries, the history of Kachhi was tied to that of Sindh. According to the Imperial Gazetteer (1908), in the seventh century Raja Chach of Sindh seized its capital, Kandabil, which is probably present-day Gandava. The Arabs called the region “Nadha” or “Budha” and sacked Kandabil several times. Later the area remained under the Soomra and Samma rulers of Sindh.

The Baloch arrived here in the fifteenth century. The Arghuns, Mughals and Kalhoras followed. According to the gazetteer, in 1740 Nadir Shah forced the Kalhoras to hand over Kachhi to Mir Mohabbat Khan, the Khan of Kalat. Since then Kachhi remained part of the state of Kalat. According to the gazetteer, the Khans of Kalat spent their winters in Bhag and Gandava.

During the first Afghan war (1839 to 1842), Kachhi lay on the British supply route and remained under their administration.

People and languages

According to the mother-tongue table of the 2023 census, Kachhi is a multilingual district. The largest language is Balochi, the mother tongue of 260,630 people, or about 59 per cent of the population. It is followed by Sindhi (75,238, about 17 per cent), Saraiki (54,408, about 12 per cent) and Brahui (45,355, about 10 per cent). The number of Pashto, Punjabi and Urdu speakers ranges between about 1,400 and 2,500 (Urdu 1,444, Punjabi 1,631, Pashto 2,492).

This diversity is old. According to the Imperial Gazetteer, in 1901 the majority in the whole of the then Kachhi division were Jat cultivators. The major Baloch tribes included the Rind, Magsi and Lashari, while the Domki, Kehri and Umrani lived in the east. According to the same source, the commonly spoken language at the time was Sindhi, along with Western Punjabi and Balochi. In winter, many Brahui families came down here from the hill country.

According to the religion table, the district has 436,547 Muslims, 3,944 Hindus and 2,034 Christians. According to the census, the literacy rate among people aged 10 and above is only 30.20 per cent (men 36.47 per cent, women 23.29 per cent). The provincial report counts Kachhi among the eight districts where the out-of-school rate for children is above 70 per cent.

Economy

Agriculture in Kachhi has depended on flood water. The Imperial Gazetteer writes that it is wrong to call Kachhi a desert, because wherever water reaches, its soil is “extremely fertile”. Flood water from the rivers coming down from the hills, namely the Nari, Bolan, Sukleji and Mula, was brought to the fields through large earthen dams (gandha) built jointly by the cultivators. According to the gazetteer, the “Gadi” dam on the Nari was the most important, and almost all cultivation in the Bhag area depended on it.

There were three crops a year. The most important was the kharif “sawani” crop, that is jowar (sorghum), grown along with mung, moth and bajra. According to the Imperial Gazetteer, Kachhi’s jowar was famous for its quality, and Nari bullocks were bought as far away as Punjab. In Dhadar, wheat, jowar, cotton, sesame, melon and indigo were grown with water from the Bolan.

According to the provincial report of the Bureau of Statistics, the Kachhi Dam has been built on the Bolan river. It supplies irrigation and drinking water to Dhadar town. Official figures on the district’s current agricultural production were not available while this page was being prepared.

Places of interest

Bhag: According to the gazetteer, Bhag is a town about 300 years old. It is named after a shepherdess called Bhagwan, who settled here with her flocks from Dajal in the Dera Ghazi Khan area. To the south-west of the town stands the dome of the “Qubba-e-Shuhada”, and to the north-west is the tomb of Mir Mustafa Khan, built in 1809.

Dhadar: This town at the eastern end of the Bolan Pass is famous for its heat. According to the gazetteer, the temperature here sometimes reached 120 degrees Fahrenheit. A local saying recorded in the gazetteer asks why hell needed to be made once Sibi and Dhadar had been created. To the west of the town is the shrine of Pir Dopasi.

Bolan Pass: According to the Imperial Gazetteer, the pass is about 54 miles long from Kolpur to Rindli, and its elevation varies from 750 to 5,900 feet. The provincial census report names the Bolan valley as the site of the Pir Ghaib waterfall and the shrine of Bibi Nani.

Ancient settlements: The Bureau of Statistics report counts Mehrgarh, a settlement dating to about 7,000 BC, among the oldest farming settlements in Balochistan. Its details are in the first chapter of this newspaper’s series “Balochistan: A Journey Through History”.