Osmanistan was a hypothetical name that was proposed by Choudhary Rahmat Ali (but which never materialised) for an independent state to be created as a successor to the Princely State of Hyderabad which existed in the Presidencies and Provinces of British India before the departure of the British. The princely states that existed before independence of India in 1947 were given the choice of joining one of the new dominions, Pakistan or India, or in some cases, remain independent. The Nizam of Hyderabad initially chose to join neither India nor Pakistan. He later declared Hyderabad a free, self-governing independent state but the Government of India refused to accept his point of view as Hyderabad was surrounded by India on all sides and did not have access to the sea. When the Indian Army