Princely states of Pakistan
The princely states of Pakistan (; ) were princely states of the British Indian Empire which acceded to the new Dominion of Pakistan between 1947 and 1948, following the partition of British India and its independence. At the time of the withdrawal of British forces from the subcontinent on 15 August 1947, West Pakistan was less than half of its ultimate size. It took a year of negotiations and accidents to bring the princely states into Pakistan, and a long process of integration followed. Options of the Princes With the withdrawal of the British from the Indian subcontinent, in 1947, the Indian Independence Act provided that the hundreds of princely states which had existed alongside but outside British India were released from all their subsidiary alliances and other treaty obligations to the British, while at the same time the British withdrew from their treaty obligations to defend the states and keep the peace. The rulers were left to decide whether to accede to one of the newly independent states of India or Pakistan (both formed initially from the British possessions) or to remain independent outside both. As stated by Sardar Patel at a press conference in January 1948, "As you