The Fruit Basket of Pishin, Pakistan

Visit Pishin at this time of the year and one will find thousands of acres of fruit orchards. The rich harvest of apples, grapes, plums, peaches, and apricots is seen everywhere. I discovered the area, and the taste of the fruit, during my stay at the School of Infantry and Tactics, Quetta when we used to walk miles and miles for training maneuvers. It is still the same.

Legend attributes the origin of the name Pishin to a son of the Emperor Afrasiab. Until the middle of the 18th century, when Quetta finally passed into the hands of Brahvi rulers, the history of Pishin is identical with the province of Kandahar. The earliest mention of Pishin is found in the ancient writing in which "Pishinorha" is described as a valley in an elevated part of the country containing a barren level plain.

Little is known of the history of Pishin up to the 13th century. It was in 1221 that Kandahar and its dependencies passed into the hands of the Mughals. During the first half of the 15th century, Kandahar was under the rule of the Timurs' successors. It was probably at the beginning of this century that the Tarins emigrated from their original homes in the Takht-i-Sulaiman and made their way into Pishin.

Between 1530 and 1545, the province of Kandahar was in the possession of Mirza Kamran – the brother of the Emperor Humayun. After his death in 1556, Kandahar and its dependent territories were restored to the Safavid kings of Persia and they remained under Persia until 1595, when they were again acquired by the Mughals.

It is mentioned in Ain-i-Akbari that Shal and Pushang (Pishin) were included in the eastern division of the Kandhar Sarkar. In 1622, Kandahar was again brought under the Safavid dynasty and, with the exception of a short period, remained under Persia. The Safavid Monarch Shah Abbas gained possession of Kandhar in 1622. He conferred the government of Pishin and tribal adjacent areas upon Sher Khan.

The end of the 17th century witnessed the rise to prominence of the Brahvis power. Quetta and Pishin both suffered from the encroachment of Brahvis and fell into the hands of Mir Ahmed, whose reign lasted 30 years – from 1666 to 1696. Mir Wais obtained possession of Kandhar in 1709. It is curious that this feat was accomplished in connection with Pishin Brahvi.

Article Author: S A J Shirazi

S A J Shirazi is a Lahore based writer. His writing on information technology, travel, heritage, behavioral sciences, political economy, public relations and management practices appear in Dawn, the News, Nation, Spider, BootsnAll and some other publications. …

Visit S A J Shirazi's author page — S A J Shirazi's Blog