Gorchani

Gorchani, one of the main branches of the Baloch nation, chiefly in the Jampur division of the Dera Ghazi Khan district on the Afghan frontier. There are a large number of septs grouped under twelve or thirteen separate divisions, of which the most important are the Shiketni, Hotwetni, Khalilani, Jaskeini, Pitafi, Lisheiri, and Durkani, comprising altogether 2,600 fighting men, and 23,000 souls. The Gorchani are not of pure Baloch stock, and are even regarded by some ethnologists as of Jat origin. Their historic traditions go back to the eighth century, when they were settled in Sindh, and after their enforced conversion to Islam removed by the Arab conquerors to the northern parts of Saravein. In the eighteenth century they migrated towards the Indus, where they wrested their present territory from the Afghans. With the British conquest of Punjab they passed under English rule, and are at present chiefly grouped round the frontier fortress of Harrand in the upland valleys of the Soleimein Range. (Macgregor, Gazetteer; Bruce, Major Minchin.)