Sind Province (1936–1955)

Sind, sometimes spelled Scinde, was a province of Pakistan from 1947 till its amalgamation into West Pakistan in 1955; and prior, a province of British India from being granted provincial status in 1936 till Pakistan's independence in 1947. Karachi was the capital of the province till 1948, succeeded by Hyderabad.
Under the British, it encompassed the current territorial limits excluding the princely state of Khairpur. In 1948, Karachi was separated from the province to form the Federal Capital Territory and serve as the federal capital of Pakistan; this resulted in the provincial capital being shifted to Hyderabad. The province was dissolved alongside Baluchistan, the North-West Frontier Province, West Punjab, and a number of Pakistani princely states to form a unified province of West Pakistan in 1955, upon implementation of the One Unit Scheme.

Administrative divisions

On 1 April 1936 Sind division was separated from Bombay Presidency and restored its status as a State. BjS
At that time the Province's Administration division are listed below:

Division	Districts in British Territory / Princely State	Map
Hyderabad Division
Total area, British Territory
Native States
Total area, Native States
Total area, Sind

Geography

The province was bordered by Karachi and the princely states of Las Bela and Kalat on the west. To the north were the provinces of Baluchistan and West Punjab. The province bordered the princely state of Bahawalpur on the northeast and it enclosed on three sides the princely state of Khairpur. The Indian states of Rajasthan and Gujarat were beyond its borders to the east and south. On the southwest lay the Arabian Sea, with the Sind's coastline consisting entirely of river deltas, including the Indus River Delta up to Sind's border with the city of Karachi, now the capital of present-day Sindh.

History

Sindh was first settled by the Indus Valley Civilization and Mohenjo-Daro, as early as 1750 BC. It had Greek influence during its history after the expansion of the Macedonian Empire, and developed trade with surrounding regions. Several Sunni Muslim and Rajput kingdoms were set up there, beginning with the Rai dynasty and ending with the Arghuns. The Mughal Empire conquered Sindh under the rule of Akbar in the year 1591. Soon after the coming of European companies, in particular the East India Company, the Mughal hold on the area loosened, and in 1843 Sindh became part of the British India and its Bombay Presidency on 1 October 1848. Later it became Sindh province on 1 April 1936 under All India Act of 1935.

1936–1947

On 1 April 1936, Sind was separated from the Bombay Presidency and given the status of a province, with Karachi as the provincial capital.

1947–1955

Following a resolution in the Sindh Legislative Assembly about joining Pakistan, with the independence and Partition of India in August 1947 Sindh became part of Pakistan.
In 1948, Karachi city separated from Sind to form the Federal Capital Territory of Pakistan. Apart from the city, the remaining areas of Karachi district remained part of Sind and a new district of Thatta was formed from these areas.
On 11 December 1954, the Sindh Legislative Assembly voted by 100 to 4 in favour of the One Unit policy announced by Prime Minister Chaudhry Mohammad Ali, and Sindh was merged into the new province of West Pakistan on 14 October 1955.

Government

The offices of Governor of Sindh and Premier of Sindh were established in 1936 when Sindh became a province. This system continued until 1955 when Sindh was dissolved.

Tenure	Governor of Sindh
1 April 1936	Province of Sindh established
1 April 1936 – 1 August 1938	Sir Lancelot Graham
1 August 1938 – 1 December 1938	Joseph Garrett
1 December 1938 – 1 April 1941	Sir Lancelot Graham
1 April 1941 – 15 January 1946	Sir Hugh Dow
15 January 1946 – 14 August 1947	Sir Robert Francis Mudie
14 August 1947	Independence of Pakistan
14 August 1947 – 4 October 1948	Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah
4 October 1948 – 19 November 1952	Sheikh Din Muhammad
19 November 1952 – 1 May 1953	Mian Aminuddin
1 May 1953 – 12 August 1953	George Baxandall Constantine
12 August 1953 – 23 June 1954	Habib Ibrahim Rahmatullah
23 June 1954 – 14 October 1955	Iftikhar Hussain Khan
14 October 1955	Province of Sindh dissolved

Elections

Demographics

By the time of independence in 1947 Sindh had a Muslim majority for centuries but there were significant minorities of Hindus throughout the province. In 1947 due to communal tensions and partition two million Muslim muhajir migrated to Pakistan while most Sindhi Hindus fled to India.
The Muslims from India were mostly Urdu speaking.