1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nushki

NUSHKI, a town and district of Baluchistan. The town lies 70 m. south-west of Quetta, and is situated in a plain at the base of the Quetta plateau, 2900 ft. above the sea. Pop. (1901) 644. From this point the flat Baluchistan desert stretches away northwards and westwards to the Helmund river. The administration of the Nushki district was taken over from the khan of Kalat by the Indian government in 1896, and was leased from him on a perpetual quit rent in 1899. In 1902 a railway of 91 m. was sanctioned from Quetta to Nushki, which was completed in 1905. This railway makes Nushki the starting-point of the caravan route to Seistan. From the strategic point of view a force operating from Nushki would flank any advance from the north on Kandahar, and would also guard the south-west approach to the fortress of Quetta.