Noorulain Shaikh graduated with an LLB (Hons.) degree from the University of London. She is keen on geographical, sociopolitical, and legal aspects of world affairs. She is a published author of articles concerning international law and regional policy affairs.

Pakistan became independent on 14 August 1947, comprising a significant area of modern-day Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Sindh, and Balochistan. However, it’s not common knowledge that many major cities joined Pakistan later, let alone the fact that those areas formed more than one-third of Pakistan’s map, and were mainly self-governing states, or riyasats, as we call them in Urdu, Sindhi, and Balochi. These riyasats were independent of Pakistan and included Bahawalpur, Swat, Chitral, Dir, Amb, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Lasbela, Kalat, and Khairpur. All of them are now a part of Pakistan. The state of Khairpur, or Khairpur Riyasat, joined Pakistan on October 3, 1955, alongside the Bahawalpur state, and formed a large part of the province of Sindh.

The decline of the Mughal Empire in the early 18th century exacerbated the emergence of smaller empires and dynasties that ruled different areas of the Indian subcontinent. The Kalhora and Talpur Dynasties emerged as two major dynasties in Sindh. However, when the Kalhoras killed the Talpur leader Mir Abdullah Khan, the battle of Halani took place between the two forces, from which the Talpurs emerged as the only powerful dynasty in Sindh, courtesy of Mir Fateh Ali Khan Talpur, who formed his government ruling over the state of Hyderabad, leaving Mirpurkhas to Mir Tharo Khan Talpur, and Khairpur to........

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