Page 24 - Muzaffargarh Gazzetteer

References to the settlement of the first Baloch chiefs along the Indus are
found in the work of famous historian, Ferishta, and in a Persian manuscript
translated by Lieutenant Maclagan – a British civil servant in India and a
historian. The account given by the latter is that in 874 Hijri (1469) Sultan
Hussain, son of Qutab-ud-Din, obtained the government of Multan. He held
the forts of Shor and Chuniewat (in Jhang) and of Kot Karor (Karor Lal Isan)
and Dinkot (near Kalabagh). Soon after, Malik Suhrab, a Dodai Baloch, along
with his son Ismail Khan, and Fateh Khan and others of his tribe, arrived
from Kech Mekran and entered the service of Sultan Hussain. As the hill
robbers were then becoming very troublesome in the province of Multan,
Sultan Hussain rejoiced in the opportune arrival of Malik Suhrab, and
assigned to him the country from the fort of Karor to Dinkot. "On this
becoming known, many Bilochs came from Kech Mekran to the service of
Sultan. The lands, cultivated and waste, along the banks of the Indus were
assigned to the Bilochs, and the royal revenue began to increase. The old
inhabitants of Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan relate that, after Suhrab's
arrival, Haji Khan, with his son Ghazi Khan and many of their kindred and
tribe, came from Kech Mekran to enter the service of Sultan. When the tracts
along the Indus were in the hands of Malik Suhrab and Haji Khan, Malik
Suhrab founded a town or dera named after Ismail Khan, and Haji Khan
another with the name of Ghazi Khan." This account is confirmed, though in
less detail, by Ferishta.
We next hear of these chiefs in 1540. In that year the Emperor Sher Shah
visited Khushab and Bhera in the District Shahpur, and made arrangements
for bringing into submission the south-western portions of the Punjab.
Among other chiefs who then appeared and tendered their submission were
Ismail Khan, Ghazi Khan and Fateh Khan – the Dodai Balochs. These were
probably descendants of the men mentioned above, it being the custom in
these families to have a common name by which the ruling chief for the time
being was always known. Thus, the Hot chiefs of Dera Ismail were always
called Ismail Khans, while the Miranis of Dera Ghazi were called Ghazi Khans
and Haji Khans. The Balochs are spoken of in the accounts of that time as a
barbarous and daring tribe that had long been settled in great numbers in
the lower Punjab. Mr. Fryer in his Settlement Report of the District Dera
Ghazi Khan mentions that the first Ghazi Khan is proved by the date on his
tomb to have died in 1494. This would agree with the date in the manuscript
quoted above, and would fix the latter half of the fifteenth century as the
period when the main Baloch immigration took place. It would also allow
sufficient time for the Baloch headmen to have become recognized chiefs of
the country by the time of Sher Shah's visit to Khushab in 1540.
The main facts established appear to be that the early settlers were grouped
under two leading families: the Ismail Khans and Ghazi Khans. Both of these
were probably of one stock, viz., the Dodai Balochs; but this name Dodai
disappears altogether, and in the local history Ghazi Khan's tribe is known
as Mirani Balochs, and Ismail Khan's as Hot Balochs. The Dodais are,

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