076. The Chenab Colony

During my childhood, my favourite genre of movies was Westerns. These films were simple, packed with action, and easy to understand. The typical storyline involved a young lady travelling on a stagecoach who comes under attack by bandits, only to be rescued by a dashing hero. Or a caravan of settlers ambushed by Native Americans, with John Wayne—guns blazing in both hands, defending them alongside other brave men. The beauty of these films was that you didn’t even need to know English; everything was self-explanatory. The rugged life of the frontier, with all its dangers and excitement, deeply fascinated me.

At the time, I had no idea that just a century earlier, we had our own frontier—right in the heart of Punjab, the most populous province of present-day Pakistan. And that the settlers who moved there faced many of the same challenges as those in the American West: lack of communication, isolation, and even tension with the local population, who, while not openly hostile, often expressed resentment and displeasure toward the newcomers. I first heard such stories in Chak 127/EB near Arifwala, where my aunt’s father-in-law was granted 25 acres of land sometime around 1930.

It all began in the last decade of the 19th century. After defeating the Sikh State of Lahore in the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the British annexed Punjab in 1849, making it the last major independent region of India to fall under British rule. The new administration quickly realized the province’s enormous potential for agricultural development. By the 1890s, large-scale projects were launched, and soon millions of acres of barren land were brought under cultivation.

These ambitious schemes came to be known as the Canal Colonies. Over the following decades, nine such colonies were developed. A Wikipedia article succinctly describes the government’s intention in these words:

To relieve the pressure of population upon the land in those districts of the Province where the agricultural population has already reached or is fast approaching the limit which the land available to agriculture can support and to colonise the area in question with well-to-do yeomen of the best class of agriculturists, who will cultivate their own holdings with the aid of their families and the usual menials, but as much as possible without the aid of tenants, and will constitute healthy agricultural communities of the best Punjab type,

 The government hoped to “create villages of a type superior in comfort and civilisation to anything which had previously existed in the Punjab”, which in turn would increase productivity. This increased productivity would then boost revenues for the government. To finance this ambitious project, capital was raised through the sale of governmental bonds in Britain, offering investors the chance to benefit from the interest charges remitted by the provincial government. 

As the above table shows, the Chenab Colony, with an area of almost 2 million acres, was the biggest of all these colonies. The following paragraph from Wikipedia gives further information about the colonization policy:

There were three types of grants in the Chenab Colony, namely peasant, yeoman and capitalist grants. Peasants had to remain as tenants of the government and could not acquire proprietary rights. This was designed to curtail the powers of alienation of peasant grantees. Yeoman and capitalist grantees were allowed to acquire proprietary rights after a five-year qualification period. Upon acquiring the grants, the yeoman and capitalist grantees were required to pay a fee to the government in lieu of the size of their holdings. Peasant and yeoman grantees were required to be resident on the land. 78.3 per cent of the total land in the colony was allotted to peasant grantees.

In identifying immigrant colonists, the government had two objectives; to provide relief from population congestion and to procure the most skilled agriculturalists. As such grantees were selected from seven districts, Ambala, Ludhiana, Jullundur, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Sialkot. Between 1891 and 1921, the population densities in all seven districts declined, thus avoiding the potential for rural instability. These immigrant colonists were granted over 60 per cent of the allotted land in the Colony. The strict allocation of land to immigrants from just these seven districts led to criticism of neglect in the west of Punjab, and thereafter 135,000 acres of land was granted to individuals from Gujrat, Jhelum, Shahpur, Rawalpindi, Multan,Lahore, Ferozepur and Bannu. It was decided that peasant grantees would be hereditary and landholding agriculturists, and would be drawn from the established Jatt, Saini, Kamboh and Arain castes. The Jats formed the largest group of grantees, holding 36 per cent of the entire colony. Hindus and Muslims were each given around 31 per cent of the total allotted area. Amongst the yeoman and capitalist grants, substantial allotments went to Rajputs.

This vast agricultural settlement was named Chenab Colony because it was designed to irrigate a large area known as Sandal Bar, located in the Rechna Doab, using the waters of the River Chenab. To achieve this, the Lower Chenab Canal was dug, beginning at Khanki Headworks and flowing southward into the heart of the Bar. This canal had three major branches: the Jhang Branch, the Rakh Branch, and the Gugera Branch.

The importance of the Chenab’s waters to the success of this project was symbolized by the construction of a monument called the Gumti. I do not know why it is called Gumti or what the word means.

Gumti. Monument of Chenab Colony, Faisalabad. (21.07.2017.)

Gumti. Monument of Chenab Colony, Faisalabad. (21.07.2017.)

برکت دریائے چنہاں دی۔ 

Blessing of the River Chenab. 

ਬਰਕਤ ਦਰਯਾ ਝਨਾਂ ਦੀ

 Blessing of the River Chenab. 

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022169414006593

Lower Chenab Canal Crossing the Qadirabad-Balloki Link Canal at Sagar Head through an aqueduct. (20.12.2016.)

Lower Chenab Canal Crossing the Qadirabad-Balloki Link Canal at Sagar Head through an aqueduct. (20.12.2016.)

Lower Chenab Canal Crossing the Qadirabad-Balloki Link Canal at Sagar Head through an aqueduct. (20.12.2016.)

Qadirbar-Balloki Link Canal at Sagar Head, 5 kms east of Hafizabad. (20.12.2016.)

While collecting material for this post, I came across an excellent scholarly work by Mr. Imran Ali on the Punjab Canal Colonies. This is his doctoral thesis, submitted in 1979 to The Australian National University, Canberra, for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The complete thesis is available at the following link:

https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/112646

The area was colonized between 1892 and 1905. This vast colony primarily covered parts of the Jhang and Montgomery districts, with some areas also included from the Gujranwala and Lahore districts. In 1904, a new district was created, comprising mainly the areas carved out of Jhang and Montgomery. The condition of this region during that time is described in the following words by Mr. Imran Ali:

It was a level, alluvial plain, virtually unbroken by ridges or natural drainages. A weir situated appropriately on the Chenab River could render vast areas commandable by canal irrigation. Just such a function was performed by the head works of the Chenab Canal at Khanke. Colonisation was facilitated by the large area that had been appropriated by the government as Crown Waste Land. Traditionally, in the Punjab land that was barren or uncultivated was normally claimed by the State as its own property. In the Rechna Doab, private ownership in land existed only in the riverain tracts, or Hithars, which contained settled agricultural communities.

The vast upland or inter-fluve, known as the Sandal Bar, was inhabited by a semi-nomadic pastoral people, who were collectively called Janglis. Since they did not actually cultivate them, the government did not recognize the claims of these people over their grazing areas as amounting to proprietary rights; but instead it asserted its own ownership over this land. It was on this Crown Waste that the canal network was constructed and colonisation took place.

The government preferred to colonize the area with immigrant agriculturists, but it did not entirely ignore the local population. Thirty-five percent of the land was eventually allocated to the Hitharis, cultivating communities living along the riverbanks, and the Janglis, semi-nomadic pastoralists.

The government professed to have three main objectives for the colonization of the Chenab Colony:

1. To relieve population pressure in those districts of the province where the agricultural population had already reached, or was fast approaching, the limit that the available land could support.

2. To settle the area with well-to-do yeomen, selected from the best classes of agriculturists, who would cultivate their own holdings with the help of their families and customary servants. The aim was to avoid reliance on tenants as much as possible, thereby establishing healthy, self-sufficient rural communities of the best Punjabi type.

3. To improve rural standards of life and to create a class of people who would be content with the government and loyal to it.

The following three categories were made for the purpose of allotment of lands:

Nazara was the amount to be paid at the time of the transfer of proprietary rights. 

Chenab Colony – Colonisation Scheme

Distribution of Land, As Finally Allotted

The above table shows that almost 80% of the land was allotted to the small farmers, as was originally intended. There were two categories of grantees on the basis of their origin:

A basic division existed between ‘immigrant’ and ‘indigenous’ grantees. The former received 64.6 percent and the latter 35.4 percent of total allotted area in the colony. The ‘indigenous’ grantees were those who belonged to Jhang, Gujranwala and Montgomery Districts, whilst the ‘immigrant’ grantees came from districts other than these three. In selecting the districts from which immigrant Peasant colonists were to be obtained, the government adhered to its two principal objectives for the Chenab Colony: to provide relief from population congestion and to procure the most skilled agriculturists. These requirements led it to select seven districts: Ambala, Ludhiana, Jullundur, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Sialkot.

As we have already read, the government selected allottees from districts in order to decrease the density of population in those districts, besides other considerations. The following table shows the population density of all the districts of Punjab.

Density of Population Per Square Mile in Various

Punjab Districts

*Selected districts for the Chenab Colony  **The major canal colony districts.

Chenab Colony: Distribution of  Land to Immigrant Grantees,

by  District of Origin  

The above map of Punjab in the 1890s, shows the location of Lyallpur district and other districts. 

All was not going smoothly, and there was some discontent as well. A British officer Thornburn, wrote as follows:

“The Mussalmans of the Western Punjab are very depressed, think themselves neglected, are in a dissatisfied state and have some reason for their dissatisfaction. They all produce good recruits and belong to sturdy fighting tribes. It will be good policy to offer these districts small allotments . . . . such Mussalmans – Awans excepted -would not make first class peasant colonists, and are therefore protanto objectionable. I think, however, other considerations have greater weight and should prevail . . . . Though commercial principles should perhaps govern the majority of allotments, still in a great State-scheme of colonisation allowance should be made for considerations of good policy. If care is exercised in the selections I have no doubt Mussalman tenants from the districts named will do well.”Note by S.S. Thorburn, PC, 22 January 1898; in PRAP(I), April 1898, No.7.

But we also see that among the immigrant grantees, Muslims and Sikhs/Hindus were allotted lands equally. See the following table:

Distribution of Lands to Immigrant Grantees, 

By Religion & Caste

Mr Imran Ali has noted the impact on the local population and its reaction in the following words:

The ‘indigenous’ grantees, by contrast, did not fulfil either of the two objectives for the settlement of the Chenab Colony. They neither came from congested districts nor could they in the great majority of cases be regarded as skilled, seif-cultivating agriculturists. The allotment of land to them was a response to the disruption and imbalances caused by the development of canal irrigation in the lives of the pcop]c of Jhang, Gujranwala and Montgomery Districts. These ‘indigenous’ grantees comprised two elements: the semi-nomadic pastoralists of the Bar, who were called Janglis, and the settled agriculturists of the riverain, who were called Hitharis. These people ultimately received the very sizeable area of 663,000 acres, or 35% of total allotted land. Initially, however, the government had no plans to make such an allotment. The grants grew out of the need to compensate: the Janglis for the world they had lost; and the Hitharis for the environmental impact of canal irrigation on the riverain tracts in which their homes were situated. 

The pastoralists of the Bar were faced with a revolution in their lifestyles when their grazing areas disappeared under canal irrigation. They were pushed out of their old homes, and their land was taken up by strangers, whom they regarded as usurpers. Their loud protestations, combined with a sudden increase in crime (especially cattle theft, to which they had always been prone), as well as the all too obvious loss of their means of subsistence, forced 8 0 the government to allot land to these Janglis. Those who could produce evidence that they had paid the grazing tax, or O 1 tirni, in pre-colony days became eligible for land grants. This effectively restricted access to land to the owners of cattle, who comprised the dominant elements in Jangli society. The lower strata of the Janglis, which had traditionally been servile to the cattle-owners, had to seek a livelihood as landless labourers with their former masters or with immigrant grantees.

In the end, the Janglis received 448,000 acres, or about 24% of the total allotted area. This was a great deal of land; but even so, the Janglis retained a sense of grievance. Though their leading men received larger grants, most Janglis 8 3 were allotted land at the rate of half a square per family. This was half the size of grants to immigrants, and it allowed for little more than subsistence agriculture. With little or no previous experience in agriculture, they had suddenly to conform to the demands of the market economy. In the following years, many became successful agriculturists; but others remained the most backward of colonists, stranded on their small grants, with their cattle little more than a liability, and bewailing the days of their lost freedom.

However, the following tables show that a substantial quantity of land was distributed among the local inhabitants.

Indigenous Grantees: Distribution of Land to Janglis 

Kaiseri Gate, Faisalabad. (21.07.2017.)

Kaiseri Gate

قیصری دروازہ

IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 60TH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF HER IMPERIAL MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA

لا الہ الا اللہ محمد رسول اللہ 

There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is Prophet of Allah

(Definitely a post-independence addition)

Sir James Broadwood Lyall (6 March 1838 – 4 December 1916) a senior government officer played an important role in the development of the colony and establishment of a new city as its administrative centre. Thus the new city was named Lyallpur after him. A monument was erected in his memory in the city. Which is now located in Jinnah Bagh. I was expecting some plaques at the monument and was sure to find valuable informations. But to my surprise and disappointment, there was no such plaque. However, it was clearly visible that there used to be plaques, which were removed later on. But when and why I could not find in my limited time. 

Monument of Sir James Broadwood Lyall, Faisalabad. (21.07.2017.)

Monument of Sir James Broadwood Lyall, Faisalabad. (21.07.2017.)

Monument of Sir James Broadwood Lyall, Faisalabad. (21.07.2017.)

Besides the thesis of Dr. Imran Ali, the official “Gazetteer of the Chenab Colony, 1904” was also very useful in writing this post. The gazetteer gives the following account of the geography and population of the Chenab Colony:

The total length of the present colony is
101.5 miles, the greatest width being 56 miles, and the average width 38 miles.
It begins half way between the Sukheke and Marh Railway Station on the Wazirabad
– Khanewal Line, and ends just before Shorkot Road Station.

The total area is 3,855 sq. miles of which
2,817square of miles are now allotted for cultivation. Of these again 2,411
square miles, or 85% of the allotted area, were cultivated in 1902-03.

The colony was reckoned as a separate district
for the purpose of census in 1901. Excluding Jhang, of which the colony forms
so large a part, it then stood thirteenth in the order of area (3,706 square
miles) and twelfth in the order of population (782,690) amongst the 32
districts of Punjab as then constituted.

The principal town, Lyallpur, so called after
Sir James Lyall, K.C.S.A., late Lieutenant Governor of the Province is situated
on the Wazirabad-Khanewal Branch of the North-Western Railway, 96 miles from
Wazirabad.

Other towns on the railway, which are
important as export markets, are Sangla, Chiniot Road, Gojra and Toba Tek
Singh. The rest of the colony, which is divided into 1,418 estates, is almost
entirely agricultural.

The average area of each village is 1731 acres
or 62.5 squares, the average allotted area being 1,278 acres or 46 squares.

The colony comprises the whole or parts of the
following tahsils:

The Gazetteer gives the following description of the bar before its development:

The bar has often been spoken of as a country of extreme desolation, and though this description may be justified by the almost entire absence of crops which could only be grown in the most favoured localities and favoured years, yet the landscape though monotonous was far from unpleasing, and after a fall of rain might almost be called beautiful. It certainly possessed a peculiar fascination of its own, to which the wilderness and the vastness of the scene doubtless contributed. Few of those who knew it in the past and felt its freedom will regard its disappearance without a sense of genuine regret, despite the enormous benefits which have accompanied the change. There was, however, one part of the Bar which natured conceived in her most unkindly mood. The tract around Toba Tek Singh was almost void of trees and grass. The clump of frashes at the dak bungalow were a perfect oasis in a hideous prairie, and Dabanwala kikar, a solitary tree about 8 miles distant from Toba Tek Singh, acquired a fame which it could not have won even on the road from Khiwa to Jhang, of which Mr Monckton (Deputy Commissioner of Jhang from 1853 – 57) wrote: “It stand probably unrivalled in the world for its combination of the most desolate features a landscape is capable of offering.”

It was natural that the earlier settlers faced a host of problems and hardships. The Gazetteer mentions the conditions of those settlers in the following words:

Further, the irrigation arrangements, as was only to be expected, were by no means perfect; The first levels taken by the Irrigation Department were not so close or so accurate as those at later stages of the scheme; and only the main watercourses were constructed -before the arrival of the settlers; Even tb1s had not always been done, and the settlers had still to make the channels, often of a very considerable length, for conveying water to their own squares. When this too bad been accomplished they might find that their squares were still unirrigable. Moreover, the rainfall iu the previous years had been very scanty and the Bar consequently presented a particularly desolate appearance. Many, therefore, refused to believe that the land was worth cultivating. Faced by these difficulties,· real or fancied, large numbers of selected settlers returned to their homes without attempting to cultivate the lands offered to them. 

Those who persevered and were not carried off by a severe epidemic of cholera were rewarded by an excellent crop, and once the virtue of the virgin soil of the Bar had been thus demonstrated, there was no lack of fresh settlers to take the place of those who fled. But the trials of early settlers were not quite at an end. Their crop matured, there was not sufficient labour available to harvest it, and large quantities of cotton were left unpicked. When harvested there was still the difficulty of disposing of the produce which bad to go the same perilous ways by which, the settlers came. It was largely for this reason that so many of the larger grantees still thought it not worth their while to take up the liberal grants then offered to them and the colony was not fully popularised with all classes until the railway was constructed as far as Lyallpur in 1896.
 Meanwhile the opposition offered by the Bar nomads at one time reached an acute phase. It had been left to the Colonization Officer to dispose of their claims, but probably it had not been realised to the full how numerous they were or how troublesome they would prove. They not only made perpetual attacks on the colonists who were for some time no match for them, but at first they also declined to “take land themselves. Their criminal ardour was cooled by vigorous repressive measures, and their disinclination to take land by the great patience and tact with which it was met. The belief that the canal had come to stay began to force itself upon them, and they found it at last advisable to
make for themselves the best terms they could. 

They were then treated with great liberality, their grants being proportioned rather to their prolific qualities than their actual present needs.

But once the improvements were made in the colony, like better provision of water, with a more extensive network of channels and extension of railways, greatly increased the pace of settlement, and from 1892 to 1903, 1,813,501 acres of land were allotted. Indeed, the transformation of the land was so fast and complete that soon people were generally happy, content, and prosperous. The following words of the Gazetteer tells us the effect on the public mind in general:

The following is an extract of a Punjabi ballad of 43 stanzas which was sung by a. blind-poet· known as the Kana, when Captain Popham Young was leaving the colony in 1899. The Raja referred to is Chaudhri Aurangzeb Khan, Khan Bahadur, then Assistant Colonization Officer, while Lala Pindi Das, who was then Tahsildar of Lyallpur, afterwards held the same post. The ballad gives some idea of the impression which the colony made on the native mind.

As we have already noted that most of the land was allotted to the settlers from other districts. The following table gives the origin of the settlers:

 * Princely State.

The balance of 338,352 was mainly composed of people born in the Districts of Gujranwala, Jhang and Montgomery, which provided the following numbers:

Religious Composition (1901)

Religious Composition By District Of Origin & Caste (1901)

Literacy Rate In Chenab Colony

The new settlements were known by the numbers given to each of them. These numbers were given according to the canal irrigating that area. So Chaks in the areas irrigated by Rakh Branch were named as Chak No. 1 RB, along Jhang Branch 1 JB and similarly, Chaks along Gugera Branch had GB fixed with their numbers.  

Chenab colony was an agricultural project. The following table gives the prices of different commodities in the year 1903.

A few words about the cattle:

Goats usually belong to the Bikaner, Bahawalpur and Shahpur breeds. The
maximum supply of milk is about 2 seers. Goats are sheared twice a year, the
average yield being from 3 to 6 chitaks. The hair (jat) is made into ropes, bags and floor cloths, and is worth from Rs. 7 to
Rs. 10 a maund. The skins which are used as water bags (mashak) are sold at the rate of eight annas to a rupee each. A good many are
exported to Bombay and Ka.rltohi. The price of goats varies considerably, from
Rs. 4 to Rs. 10 in the case of she-goats, he-goats costing from Rs. 3 to Rs. 6.
A really good she-goat may,
however, be worth Rs. 15 or 16.

Despite the vast network of canals, the rapid development of the colony was not possible without a fast and reliable network of communication. The government was not oblivious to this fact and paid full attention to the extension of the railway network. The railway line started from Wazirabad in 1895 and reached Lyallpur in 1896, covering a distance of 96 miles. In 1899, it was opened to Toba Tek Singh and linked up with Khanewal in 1900. The total cost was Rs. 7,741,000/-, including the cost of rolling stock. 

The successful agricultural schemes also provided a base for industrial development. The abundant provision of raw materials induced businessmen to invest in the industry, especially in the textile industry. That industry expanded to such an extent that today, Faisalabad is called the Manchester of Pakistan.  

The story of the Chenab Colony would be incomplete without the mention of the biggest symbol of this gigantic undertaking, the Clock Tower of Lyallpur. It was constructed in 1903-05, in memory of Queen Victoria, at the cost of Rs 40,000, which were collected by the landowners at the rate of Rs 18 per square of land. 

Wikipedia gives the following account of the resources gathered to finance this project:

The foundation of majestic Clock Tower was laid on 14 November 1903 by the British lieutenant governor of Punjab Sir Charles Riwaz and the biggest local landlord belonging to the Mian Family of Abdullahpur. The fund was collected at a rate of Rs. 18 per square of land. The fund thus raised was handed over to the Municipal Committee which undertook to complete the project.  

The Clock Tower of Lyallpur. (Ghanta Ghar of Faisalabad). 21.07.2017.

Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Faisalabad. (21.07.2017.)

This gurdwara in Faisalabad tells us about a time when society was more pluralistic and people of different communities were living and working together to make this colony a success and share prosperity.

http://pakgeotagging.blogspot.qa/2017/11/as-i-mentioned-in-my-previous-post.html 

This tower is a testimony to the great planning and administration of the government and the hard work and indomitable spirit of the cultivators who turned this desolate piece of land into a most productive agricultural land in the whole of India, or probably the whole world. All four communities of India, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians, participated in its development. To me, it was a symbol of peaceful coexistence and cooperation. Unfortunately, it lasted for just half a century, and after the partition of 1947, all changed. Hundreds of thousands of Hindus and Sikhs had to leave their homes and farms and migrate to the east. But this colony opened the doors of prosperity to those Muslims who were coming from the other side of the border.

Here I am sharing stories of some people who inhabited this colony at some stage or are still living there.

Many historical personalities belonged to this area. One of them is Rai Ahmad Kharal of Jhamra, the only man in Punjab who rose against the British Raj with significant power. He is buried near Sial.

http://pakgeotagging.blogspot.qa/2014/06/tomb-of-rai-ahmad-khan-kharal-grave-of.html

The love story of Heer and Ranjha is the most famous love story of South Asia. Ranjha belonged to Takht Hazara, a village in Kirana Bar (Sargodha), but Heer was a resident of Jhang. For details:

http://pakgeotagging.blogspot.qa/2014/05/tomb-of-heer-ranjha-in-jhang-takht.html

Characters
of another very famous story, Mirza Sahibaan also lived in this Bar. Sahibaan
belonged to Kheiwa and Mirza to Danabad. For details:

http://pakgeotagging.blogspot.qa/2014/06/mirza-sahiban-graves.html

Famous freedom fighter Shaheed Bhagat Sigh was also born in this colony on 28 September, 1907, in Chak No. 

http://pakgeotagging.blogspot.qa/2014/06/birthplace-of-shaheed-bhagat-singh.html

Baba Badan Singh Ji.

Baba Badan Singh Ji was the son of Sardar Hazara Singh Dhillon, a resident of Leel, district Ludhiana. Hazara Singh ji was allotted 4 murabbas (100 acres) in Chak No. 68 JB Leelan ( ਲੀਲਾਂ لیلاں). Baba Badan Singh Ji was born in 1898, the first person of his family to be born in this colony. Like all other non Muslims, his family had to leave their home and a gurdwara, which they had constructed with so much love and care. In their Chak, many Muslim refugees settled. One of them was father of Rana Shoaib.  For detail, see the link below:

http://pakgeotagging.blogspot.qa/2017/10/gurdwara-of-baba-badan-singh-dhillon-in.html

As
I mentioned above, in 1947, Hindus and Sikhs had to leave, who made up about one-third of the district of Lyallpur. In their place, Muslim refugee families were
settled. One of such families was that of the elder brother of Chaudhry Rahmat
Ali, the man who gave a name to this new country. For details see the following
link:

http://pakgeotagging.blogspot.qa/2017/10/choudhary-rahmat-ali-man-who-named.html

Muhammad Bashir Ahmad sahib. 

Similarly, another person who settled here after the Partition was Muhammad Bashir Ahmad Minhas, son of Amir Ali. He belonged to village Dunga, tehsil Nakodar, district Jalandhar. I could not locate this village on the map. He was 25 years old in 1947. They left their village on bullock carts, but since his brother and a cousin were in the navy, they managed to find trucks and reached Jalandhar city. From there, they traveled by train and arrived in Lyallpur. Eventually, he settled in Chak Jhumra, where he still resides.

I learned many things about our history and culture while writing this post. I hope my readers will enjoy it as well and share their valuable suggestions with me.

Tariq Amir

December 5, 2017.

Doha – Qatar.