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Phone Code : 083                                                                                


 

 

Before 1947 the local government system in Sibi district was governed by the Bazar Regulations introduced in 1910 by the British Government. The members of local bodies were nominated members and they were administrated by deputy commissioners. During 1947-58, local bodies stayed inactive in Sibi district, like in the rest of the Province. Local bodies were reactivated in 1958 with the introduction of the Basic Democracies system, as laid down in the Basic Democracies Order of 1959, issued by the martial law regime of General Mohammad Ayub Khan. The Basic Democracies system had four tiers. These were 1) union council, tehsil council, district council, divisional council, in the case of rural areas, and 2) town committee, municipal committee, district council, and divisional council in the case of urban areas.

The Basic Democracies system was amended and superseded by the present system introduced with the Balochistan Local Government Ordinance of 1980. It is a two - tier system comprising union councils and district councils for rural areas, and town committees/ municipal committees and district council for urban areas. For a list of villages, union councils and tehsils.

Sibi district has one district council, 13 union councils, one town committee, and one municipal committee. Membership of union council is by election, through universal adult franchise. The same applies to town committee and municipal committee. The members of the district council are drawn from the elected members of union councils. The elected chairmen of town committee and municipal committee are ex-officio members of the district council.

Customs of Co-operation Sibi
In rural areas, the traditional institution of communal cooperation in socio-economic spheres is still in practice among all ethnic groups, but not as much as half a century ago. It is also found in the urban settlements Sibi town and Harnai town, where a number of social welfare organisations are in operation. In the rural areas, there are no formal community based organisations. Instead, communal cooperation is linked to specific occasions or situations, and when these arise, the community becomes active. The most well-known occasions are harvesting of crops, marriage and irrigation management. In the urban centres, there are formal organisations oriented to specific purposes, such as emergency medical aid, education and other socio-economic issues. Among instances of communal cooperation, collective harvesting of crops is perhaps one of the oldest traditions.

Harvesting of Crops: Hasher, or use of communal labour for harvesting, is an age- old institution in the district as it is all over the province. Under this custom, the farmer who needs help to harvest his crop, invites fellow villagers to help him. He does not pay them, but has to provide food. However, the custom is now on the decline, because most farmers are able to provide enough men for the work in their own households and more particularly, because of availability of mechanical thrashers, which are time as well as cost saving. Hasher labour must be served with the best of food, and that can turn out to be more expensive than renting a thrasher. Moreover family labour can cope with harvesting.

Marriage: The nature and extent of communal cooperation on the occasion of marriage varies from tribe to tribe. The common element in all these customs is to facilitate the bridegroom's marriage feast arrangement and to give gifts to the bridegroom. The gift may take the form of cash or animals. In some cases, donation is raised for the bridegroom; in local terminology it is called phoori.

Gifts in cash and kind in some cases meet a substantial part of the feast expenses. Thus, in a way, the bridegroom's marriage feast is a sort of communal function. The recipient of gifts, in cash or in kind, is supposed to reciprocate the goodwill when there is marriage in the family from where the gift is received. There are tribes where the bridegroom is presented cash after the feast. The amount is duly recorded as soon as it is received. The custom demands that, whenever a male from the gift making family is married, the gift receiver must give a gift in cash equal to or more than that received by him on his marriage from that family.

Assistance in cash is usually provided to the needy on the occasion of marriage or funeral.

Irrigation Management: Construction and cleaning of water courses is the community's responsibility. All beneficiaries of an irrigation system are supposed to participate in this activity or pay for substitute labour.

Labour support: is provided, on request, by the community for house construction. This is not very common, though.

Tribal vendetta: One of the age-old institutions of communal cooperation, still persisting in undiminished force, is that of helping and protecting the members of one's tribe against the threats to lives from another. When members of two tribes fight, it becomes a tribal conflict and the target is any member of the opponent tribe, until the conflict is settled.

Sibi background

Origin

Sibi district was established in October 1903 then covering the present districts of Sibi, Ziarat, Dera Bugti, Kohlu, and Nasirabad.

Name
The district is named after its headquarters, the town of Sibi, which in its turn derives its name from Siwi, a Hindu lady of Sewa race who is said to have ruled over this part of the country in former times.

Boundaries

The district borders on Ziarat district in the north, and in the north east on Loralai district. In the east and south east it borders on Kohlu district. To the south and south west lies Bolan district and in the north west it borders on Mastung district and Quetta district.

History of Colonial Administration

The British colonial influence started extending to Sibi region in the late forties of the 19th century, when in 1839, Misri Khan, the head of Panri tribe, tendered his services to Shah Shuja, and was taken into British service with a number of his followers, who were styled the "Baloch Levy. Subsequent events are a story of long and intense tribal wars that paved the way for ultimate annexation of the Sibi region to the British colonial empire. An entertaining account of the political events after Misri Khan's induction into British service is given in an old (undated) Gazetteer of Sibi; of which relevant excerpts are presented below:

"In March 1841, Mr. Ross Bell, the Political Agent in upper Sind, deputed one of his assistants with a detachment of troops, under the command of Colonel Wilson of the Bombay Cavalry, to collect the arrears of revenue due from Khajaks of Sibi on behalf of Shah Shuja. The detachment was accompanied by Misri Khan, and on the Khajaks refusing to comply with the demands, attacked the town, but were repulsed with heavy loss. Reinforcements from Bagh were sent up under General Brooks. But before they could arrive the Khajaks abandoned their town, the defence of which were then demolished. The Khajaks were permitted to return during the following year and the town was rebuilt. From November 1841 to September 1842 an Assistant Political officer, resided at Sibi. When the British troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan on the termination of the war, the district was handed over by the British to the Khan of Kalat, but it does not appear to have been occupied by him, and in 1843 again came under the Baruzai rule upto the second Afghan war Sibi continued to be held by the Baruzai chiefs as governors of the Afghan rulers; but owing to the constant raids and encroachments of the Marris, the country was, at the request of the Sardars and people, occupied at the commencement of the war by a detachment of troops from Jacobabad. In November 1887 the Kach-Kowas and Harnai valleys, Sibi, Duki and Thal-Chotiali were declared parts of British India. Owing to the disputes between the Zarkuns and the Marris, Kohlu was brought under the British protection and added to the Thal-Chotiali district in 1892. In February 1891 Sanjawi was again transferred to Thal-Chotiali, and Barkhan was added in April 1892. On reconstruction of the district in October 1903, the Barkhan, Duki and Sajawi tehsils were transferred to the new Loralai district, and the name of the Thal-Chotiali district was changed into that of Sibi district."

Post-Independence Period

The district underwent reorganization in the post-independence period to create Nasirabad division, Dera Bugti district, Kohlu district and Ziarat district. Following the post-1947 administrative re-organisation, the district's territorial jurisdiction has shrunk from 11,390 sq. miles as it was in 1903, to 7.796 sq. miles. The old description of it being a district covering vast and varied climatological zones, as it once was, is no longer true.

Important Places/Buildings

Important places/buildings are:
1. Fort Mir Chakar Khan.
2. Victoria Hall built in 1903; now named Jirga Hall.
3. Nari Gauge; from where the Nari canal takes off.
4. Sohbat Sarai (Inn).