Khayrpur (princely state)

Infobox Former Pakistan subdivision
subdivision = Khayrpur

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capital = Khayrpur
area = 15,730
languages = Sindhi or Saraiki
established = 1775
abolished = 14th October 1955
footnotes = [http://www.lgdsindh.com.pk Local Government Department of Sindh]

Khayrpur or Khairpur was a princely state on the Indus River in what is now Pakistan, with its capital city at Khayrpur. Together with Bahawalpur to the north-east, the state was counted amongst the Punjab states rather than the neighbouring Rajputana states (now Rajasthan) to the east.

History

The state was originally founded as the kingdom of Upper Sindh 1783 by Sohrab Khan who was a member of the junior branch of the ruling Talpur clan of the state of Sindh.cite web| url=http://www.uq.net.au/~zzhsoszy/ips/k/khairpur.html| title=Khairpur (Princely State)| author=Henry Soszynski, University of Queensland| accessdate=2007-10-03] The capital city was developed in 1786. When the British took over responsibility for foreign affairs in 1838, the status was reduced to that of a Princely State. The gun salute was reduced from 19 to 17 and then to 15, as the area of the state diminished to 15,670 km². Khairpur closed its mint and currency in 1903 and gave legal tender to the British imperial currency in order to utilize the benefit of the economic market of the empire. In 1947, the ruler of Khairpur acceded to the newly-formed Dominion of Pakistan.cite book| last=Allen| first=Charles| authorlink= |coauthors=Dwivedi, Sharada |title=Lives of the Indian Princes |publisher=Random House |date=1987 |location= |pages= |doi= |id =] After almost two centuries of varying degrees of independence, the state became part of Pakistan in 1947 and was merged into the province of West Pakistan on 14th October 1955. When that province was dissolved in 1970, the former state of Khayrpur became part of the new province of Sind (the spelling was changed to Sindh in 1990).cite web| url=http://www.statoids.com/upk.html| title=Provinces of Pakistan| author=Gwillim Law, Statoids.com| accessdate=2007-10-03]

Government

The form of government was traditional monarchy. However, in 1950 the Mir Ali Murad II introduced democracy with universal adult franchise. The rulers of Khayrpur were styled as Amir - thus the correct title of the state was the Emirate of Khayrpur. The royal privileges of the Amir were abolished in 1972 in violation of the original merger agreement, along with those of most of the other sovereign princes that had acceded to Pakistan.

ee also

* Kot Diji Fort
* Princely States
* Khairpur

References

External links

* [http://www.lgdsindh.com.pk Local Government Department of Sindh]