The princely states of Pakistan (; ) were princely states of the British Indian Empire which acceded to the new Dominion of Pakistan between 1947 and 1948, following the partition of British India and its independence.
At the time of the withdrawal of British forces from the subcontinent on 15 August 1947, West Pakistan was less than half of its ultimate size. It took a year of negotiations and accidents to bring the princely states into Pakistan, and a long process of integration followed.
Options of the Princes
With the withdrawal of the British from the Indian subcontinent, in 1947, the Indian Independence Act provided that the hundreds of princely states which had existed alongside but outside British India were released from all their subsidiary alliances and other treaty obligations to the British, while at the same time the British withdrew from their treaty obligations to defend the states and keep the peace. The rulers were left to decide whether to accede to one of the newly independent states of India or Pakistan (both formed initially from the British possessions) or to remain independent outside both. As stated by Sardar Patel at a press conference in January 1948, "As you are all aware, on the lapse of Paramountcy every Indian State became a separate independent entity."
Only two rulers acceded to Pakistan in the first month of its independence, August 1947, while the others considered what to do, but most of those states with a Muslim majority population had acceded to Pakistan within a year, prompted in several cases by the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.
The Instruments of Accession made available for the rulers to sign transferred only limited powers to the Dominion of Pakistan, namely external relations, defence, and communications; in most cases signing was believed to leave the states in the position they had under the suzerainty of the British Crown. The Wali of Swat commented that the states' accession "did not change very much". However, within a generation all of the princely states had lost their internal autonomy. The last to fall were Hunza and Nagar, in October 1974.
Attempts by Junagadh and Bantva Manavadar to accede
The princely state of Junagadh, a coastal state on the Kathiawar peninsula, had a mostly Hindu population but a Muslim ruler, Muhammad Mahabat Khan III, and in August 1947 he decided to accede to Pakistan, the first ruler of a state to do so. The Nawab's dewan, Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, delivered the Instrument of Accession to Jinnah in person, and on 13 September Jinnah accepted the accession. However, some of the Hindu subjects who formed the majority of the population revolted, and seeking to force the Nawab of Junagadh to change his decision, India imposed a blockade on the state. On 8 November, after giving up on all hope of assistance from Pakistan, Bhutto asked the Indian government to take over the administration of the state as a temporary measure to restore order. This arrangement was pending a final settlement through negotiations and did not mean that Junagadh had acceded to India. The Government of India installed a governor and arranged a referendum on the status of the state, which took place on 20 February 1948 and voted overwhelmingly for union with India. This led to the integration of Junagadh into India. India maintained that it had not invaded Junagadh, but had taken it over only after the Nawab’s government had completely collapsed.
Ghulam Moinuddin Khanji, Khan of Bantva Manavadar, a subordinate or vassal state of Junagadh, also signed an accession to Pakistan on 24 September 1947. The Indian police invaded Manavadar on 22 October, and the Khan was arrested. Following a plebiscite, the state was merged with the newly federated state of Saurashtra on 20 February 1949. The Khan was released as a result of the Liaquat–Nehru Pact of 8 April 1950. He lived in Karachi from 1951, where he continued to be recognized as a prince. He became president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation and died in 2003.