Quetta District

British Era

During the 19th century Quetta (Shalkot) was captured by the British troops during the Second Anglo-Afghan War of 1879.^[6]

On the advance of the British Army of the Indus in 1839, Captain Bean was appointed the first Political Agent in Shalkot, and the country was managed by him on behalf of Shah Shuja-ul-mulk. After Sir Robert Sandeman's mission to Kalat in 1876, the Quetta Fort was occupied by his escort and the country was managed on behalf of the Khan of Kalat up to 1883, when it was leased to the British Government for an annual rent of Rs. 25,000 through a treaty between Khan and the British Empire. It was formed, with Pishin and Shorarud, into a single administrative charge in 1883. Up to 1888 Old Chaman was the most advanced post on the frontier; but, on the extension of the railroad across the Khwaja Amran, the terminus was fixed at its present site, 7 miles (11 km) from that place. The boundary with Afghanistan was finally demarcated in 1895–1896.^[6]

The city area of Shalkot was inhabited by the Kasi tribe and the surroundings were occupied by the Bazai tribe with a few other nomads including the tribes of Sulaimankhail, Kharoti, Nasar, and Baitanai. Being on the outskirts of Kandahar, it was not much developed. With the arrival of British troops, doors of development were opened. Very soon, people saw roads, trains and schools in the area.^[6]

Population

As of the 2023 census, Quetta district has 288,459 households and a population of 2,595,492. The district has a sex ratio of 103.48 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 56.29%: 65.06% for males and 46.96% for females.^[11][12] 720,934 (31.74% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age.^[13] 1,565,546 (60.32%) live in urban areas.^[11]

In 1998, 74% of the population resided in urban areas.^[14]

Language

At the time of the 2023 census, 59.95% of the population spoke Pashto, 15.51% Brahui, 7.38% Balochi, 2.95% Punjabi, 2.56% Urdu, 1.34% Sindhi, 1.09% Saraiki and 0.82% Hindko as their first language. Around 200,000 speakers of 'Other' languages were recorded in the census, mainly Hazaragi.^[15]

Religion

As per the 1998 census, the major religion was Islam (96%), but there were also Christian (2.7%) and Hindu (0.5%) communities.^[16]

In the 2023 census, Islam was the predominant religion at 99.95% of the population, while Christians were 0.05% of the population.^[2]

More information Religious group, Pop. ...

Religious groups in Quetta–Pishin District (British Baluchistan era)

Religious group	1901[17]		1911[18]		1921[19]		1931[20]		1941[21]
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Islam	96,600	84.67%	106,702	83.59%	103,456	75.47%	107,945	73.16%	113,288	72.49%
Hinduism	11,752	10.3%	13,746	10.77%	22,300	16.27%	26,718	18.11%	28,629	18.32%
Christianity	3,743	3.28%	4,564	3.58%	6,139	4.48%	7,370	5%	5,441	3.48%
Sikhism	1,798	1.58%	2,430	1.9%	4,848	3.54%	5,255	3.56%	8,787	5.62%
Zoroastrianism	151	0.13%	137	0.11%	151	0.11%	161	0.11%	73	0.05%
Judaism	43	0.04%	47	0.04%	16	0.01%	15	0.01%	11	0.01%
Jainism	0	0%	9	0.01%	8	0.01%	32	0.02%	7	0%
Buddhism	—N/a	—N/a	12	0.01%	159	0.12%	40	0.03%	42	0.03%
Tribal	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	0	0%	0	0%
Others	0	0%	1	0%	5	0%	5	0%	11	0.01%
Total population	114,087	100%	127,648	100%	137,082	100%	147,541	100%	156,289	100%
Note: British Baluchistan era district borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to district borders — which since created new districts — throughout the region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.

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