Bahawalpur was a semiautonomous Princely State within British India, lying along the left bank of the River Sutlej in areas now comprising southwestern Punjab. At the time of independence in 1947, it acceded to Pakistan.The two senior battalions of Bahawalpur Regiment trace their origin to 1827, when the Nawab of Bahawalpur first organized his forces. In 1848, Bahawalpur State actively supported the British war effort during the Second Sikh War with 7000 infantry and 2500 cavalry, who were engaged in operations near Multan. During the Great Indian Rebellion of 1857, Bahawalpur State troops aided the British "in quelling mutinies in Oudh, a Bahawalpur contingent of 1000 men occupying Sirsa and maintaining quiet in the district." During the Second Afghan War of 1878-80, “Five hundred men of