The Khokhar are people from the Punjab region. They were designated as an agricultural tribe during the British Raj era. The term agricultural tribe, according to the Punjab Land Alienation Act, 1900, was at that time synonymous with martial race.
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History
Muhammad Ghori undertook many campaigns against the Khokhars in Punjab before he was killed by the Khokhars of the Salt Range in March 1206.
In 1240 AD, Razia, daughter of Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, and her husband, Altunia, attempted to recapture the throne from her brother, Muizuddin Bahram Shah. She is reported to have led an army composed mostly of mercenaries from the Khokhar tribe of Punjab.
From 1246 to 1247, Balban mounted an expedition as far as the Salt Range to chastise the Khokhars. His objective for this last campaign was to subjugate the turbulent Khokhars of the Salt Range.
Although Lahore was reoccupied by Delhi,, it remained in ruins for the next twenty years, being attacked multiple times by the Mongols and their Khokhar allies. Around the same time, a Mongol commander named Hulechu occupied Lahore, and forged an alliance with Khokhar chief Raja Gulchand, the erstwhile ally of Muhammad's father.
Jasrath Khokhar
Raja Jasrath Khokhar (sometimes Jasrat or Dashrath) was the son of Shaikha Khokhar. He became leader of the Khokhars after the death of Tamerlane and after his escape from prison with the intent to take leadership. He supported Shahi Khan in the war for control of Kashmir against Ali Shah and was rewarded for his victory. Later, he attempted to conquer Delhi, after the death of Khizr Khan. He succeeded only partially, while winning campaigns at Talwandi and Jullundur, he was hampered by seasonal rains in his attempt to take over Sirhind.
Modern era
In reference to the British Raj's recruitment policies in the Punjab, vis-à-vis the British Indian Army, Tan Tai Yong remarks:
The choice of Muslims was not merely one of physical suitability. As in the case of the Sikhs, recruiting authorities showed a clear bias in favor of the dominant landowning tribes of the region, and recruitment of Punjabi Muslims was limited to those who belonged to tribes of high social standing or reputation - the "blood proud" and once politically dominant aristocracy of the tract. Consequently, socially dominant Muslim tribes such as the Gakkhars, Janjuas and Awans, and a few Rajput tribes, concentrated in the Rawalpindi and Jhelum districts, ... accounted for more than ninety percent of Punjabi Muslim recruits.