Shamsabad, Pakistan

History

Chiefs and notable families in Punjab declared Shamsheer Khan as the first settler of the village on the bank of Sindh River, though others claim that the village was established by Abdul Majeed (the head of the Malik family in the village) and his family. The exact cause of his migration to the area is not known. Later Awans, as a caste group, belonging to Ghaznavide armies, settled in Shamas Abad and the village became a small cantonment on the route used by the Ghaznavides from the north-west of India.

Shamas Abad was a marshy land, which was locally called Chachh. There was an oral claim that Shames-u-din was the first settler of this village. However, this claim has not been proved by any textual history or genealogical table. These orally explained history agrees that the area was visibly populated by Mehmood Ghaznavi and his army. Mahar Majeed came to Shamas Abad during Akbar's reign. His descendants succeeded in achieving lands and confidence of the people of the area. They were settled near Attock Fort. After the downfall of the Mughals, Afghans made Shamas Abad the center of their Army with the support of a famous ethnic group Awan. Later, Maharaja Ranjeet Singh bought Attock soil from Jahan Dad Khan and defeated the Afghans. Most of the population of Shamasabad did not support the Sikh army in the battle because of the atrocities committed by the Sikh army against the Muslims in different parts of the Punjab. They were fearful about their life and wealth, which turned out to be well grounded as Shamasabad was plundered thrice by the Sikhs.

The forefather of the writer Malik Younis temporarily migrated to Afghanistan and returned on the condition of acceptance of their ownership of Shamas Abad's lands and obedience of its people. Thus, Malik Allah Yar Khan resettled in Shamas Abad. When Punjab was annexed to the British Empire, many people challenged the sole ownership of Malik Allah Yar khan. Eventually, the British court decided in favor of Malik Allah Yar khan. One of Malik Allah Yar’s descendent; Malik Feroz Khan earned fame in the vicinity for supporting the British.

Awans of Shamasabad

Awan is a South Asian Zamindar tribe, generally believed to be of Arab origin, living predominantly in northern, central, and western parts of Punjab, Pakistan, and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. The Awans subscribe to the belief that they are the descendants of the fourth Caliph, Ali.

Aziz Ahmad, was an academic who compiled and collected a great deal of information about the origin and family tree of the Awan family. He provided his hand written material to Younus Malik. Aziz Ahmad research produced a detailed family tree for the majority of the Awan residents of Shamasabad. Later on, this work was researched and extended by Younus Malik over a period of 60 years and described in exhaustive detail.

The forefather of the Awan inhabitants of Shamsabad, Mahr Majid s/o Noor Ahmad, migrated from Sialkot to settle here with his two sons Usman and Beema. Detailed family trees from Usman to the present generations are available. It is narrated that Mahr Majid left his two sons Amir and Hamza in Sialkot. It is believed that it was the late period of Mughal king Akbar (1542 - 1605 AD). Ain-I Akbari of AbuAl-Fazl mentioned Shamasabad as one of the Mahals (Tehsil) fetching huge amount of revenue and providing 500 foot-soldiers & 50 horsemen to the Mughal kingdom. He described the residents as Khokars and according to Aziz Ahmad this is one of the reasons that many Awans of this village describe themselves as Khokar Awan.

The son Beema of Mahar Majid is known by his nickname. The names of his descendants up to ninth generation are available but not very detailed. The other son of Mahar Majid, Usman, had six sons by the names of Taj Khan, Khan Mohammad, Shadi Khan, Lattaf Khan, Dadoo Khan and Fateh Mohammad. Fateh Mohammad, grandson of Mahr Majid went to live in the newly founded village of Fattu Chack near old Attock. Almost all other residents of Shamsabad (except Gondals, Dhoond, Juts, Moeens, Moghuls and Pathans) are the offspring’s of the five sons of Usman and they can produce a Genealogical map up to Usman and Mahr Majid.

It appears that the first hand written family tree appeared around 1860. It was found in the papers of Mian Siraj Din, a junior revenue official of Bannu. He was the 10th generation descendants of Mahr Majid.

It was asserted in 1939 that "the Awans seem to have settled initially in Rawalpindi, where Shamir Khan built a town on the Indus river which he called Shamirabad, after his name". This reference does not identify any specific period. The Shamsabad is not near Rawalpindi!! It is not logical to consider Shamasabad and Shamirabad as the same village. It is not clear as to how the name was changed from Shamirabad to Shamsabad.

It is well documented that Awans were also settled in Sialkot. The Awan descendants gave their name to Bajar or Bajra Garhi in Sialkot. It appears that around 16th century some of their descendants decided to migrate to the present village of Shamasabad. It is difficult to determine the cause of their immigration

Azeem Khan, a contemporary of Aziz Ahmad, stated that the name Shamsabad eventuated from one of their elders by the name Shams & that they are in the 28th generation of him. There is no family tree or document available to authenticate this claim. The forefathers of Azeem Khan were settled in the raised hilly top (Dhakki). It is logical to assume that only the earliest immigrants to the Shamasabad could occupy the top of this hilly place (Dhakki). Their ownership in the village is limited to the hilly top. Their descendants are not in majority in the village to justify that Shamas was the founder of the village. There is no documentary or historical evidence available to substantiate that Shamir or Shamas was the founder or forefather of the Awan family of Shamasabad.

The word Malik represented ownership and it was used by all the headmen of Awan of Attock District. According to Aziz Ahmad the word, "Malik was never used or spoken in Shamsabad before Malik Allah Yar, a 7th generation descendant of Mahr Majid. The ownership of Shamsabad was recognised and transferred by the Indian (British) Govt. during 1863 in the name of Allah Yar Khan, captioned as Awan Qureshi. Awans are reckoned to be the descendants of Hazrat Ali, and as such, a number adopt the title, Alvi or Awan Qureshi as Caliph Ali was from the tribe of Quraish of Makkah. Qutb Shah or Qutab Shah, who came from Ghazni with Sultan Mahmud, was the common ancestor of the Awans.". Qutab Shah, took a wife from Khokar Rajputs and for this reason they call them as Khokar Awan or Qutab Shahi Awan also.

Division of Jagir (estate)

The decision of Chief Court, Lahore of 19 April 1938 recorded the Awan family history in the following manner, "Allah Yar Khan, the common ancestor of the parties, was the sole proprietor of Shamasabad. On his death the affairs of the family were managed by his eldest son Ghulam Ahmad. About the year 1844 Ghulam Ahmad retired from the management of the estate and devoted himself to the study of the Quran, for which reason he began to be described as Hafiz.
Feroz Khan, though he was the youngest of the brothers, then took over the management of the estate, and both under the Sikh Rule and after the conquest of this part of the country by the British, he increased the family property considerably and acquired great influence locally. The British Government conferred a substantial jagir on him; and he was appointed the lambardar of Shamasabad and the zaildar of the ilaka. During the period that Feroz Khan was the head of the family, the abadi of Shamasabad was considerably extended; a new mohalla was formed by Feroz Khan and was named after him as Ferozpura. (It is in respect of certain rights in this mohalla that the present dispute has arisen). At the time of first settlement, dispute arose between Feroz Khan and Mohammad Nasim as to the shares in which they were to be entered as owners of the family landed property. This dispute was ultimately decided by the Chief Court (C. A. No. 369 of 1866) on 26 January 1867, it being held that Feroz Khan was entitled to one-half, and Ghulam Ahmad and Mohammad Nasim to one-fourth each. About the same time, it was settled by the executive authorities that the jagir shall be held by Feroz Khan alone. Feroz Khan died in 1867 and on his death a peculiar mode of succession was adopted: his eldest son Roshan Din was given one-half of the estate and his other seven sons divided remaining half among themselves in equal shares. The whole of the jagir was of course continued in the name of the eldest son Roshan Din alone, who was also appointed zaildar and lambardar in place of his father. Roshan Din died in 1893, leaving four sons: Mohammad Amin (defendant), Sher Mohammad, Mohammad Ahsan and Abdul Haq, who have appeared as witnesses in this case. On Roshan Din’s death one-half of his estate went to the eldest son Mohammad Amin and the remaining half was taken by the other three sons in equal shares. The jagir was continued in the name of Mohammad Amin alone and he succeeded his father as the zaildar and lambardar.

The Appellant in this case was Abdul Muqsit, the great-grandson of Mohammad Nasim. He was a gold medallist from the Aligarh University (India) from where he obtained B.A. and LLB. The descendant of Allah Yar Khan regretted privately this highly discriminatory division of jagir (estate) in 1867 but showed unity publicly. Awans used to have the institution of sirdari whereby the eldest son of a chief used to get an extra share. Since 1867 Nasim divided his portion of jagir (estate) equally among his descendants. Hafiz Ghulam Mohammad had no male descendant.

The affairs of Shamsabad were organised in an orderly manner by the descendants of Allah Yar Khan. The most notable personalities of his descendants were Malik Feroz Khan, Sir Malik Mohammad Amin Khan and Malik Mohammad Qasim. In 1915 the title of Khan Bahadur was conferred on Malik Amin Khan and powers of Honorary Magistrate 1st Class were held by him. His descendants are active in the political sector of Pakistan since its independence in 1947. The descendants of Mohammad Nasim and Feroz Khan are highly qualified professionals and are scattered in education, law, engineering, army, medicine, politics, and business in different sectors of life in Pakistan and abroad. Their professional details and family trees up to Mahr Majid are available in reference.

Khan Clan of Shamasabad

There are about 56 Pathans' villages in the Chhachh. About 78% land of good quality is owned by Pathans of Chhachh. There is a narrated version that Mahboob Khan, a Pathan, migrated around 1880 from North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and married a girl of Shamasabad. Later on he also married a girl of nearby village Kamra, Mahboob. He was nicknamed locally as Booba Thekedar (contractor). He made a reasonable fortune from contracting business.

The Imperial British East Africa Company was established in 1888. During the railway construction era in Kenya a lot of Indian peoples were taken to provide the skilled manpower. Some of Mahboob's descendants migrated to Kenya and later on during the rule of Jomo Kenytta migrated to UK, USA and some other European countries. A glance at the history of inhabitants of Shamasabad reveals that Mahboob Khan descendants had a better vision to migrate for economical progress as compared to Awans, Malik and Mughals. The notables of Khan's Clan are Snober Bhanhu, Dr Alweena Zairi and Parvez Khan. Dr Alweena Zairi appears the first descendant of Mahboob Khan who obtained a Ph.D.; Snober Bhangu is a recipient of MBE award from Her Majesty the Queen of UK and Parvez (Peiji) married with American Linda is a USA diplomat. The Khans married many Awan girls and their descendants claim to be either Awans or Khans.

Mughals of Shah Pur (Shamasabad)

The Mughals of the village Shah Pur claim that they are descendants of Mirza Abdul Rahim Baig Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana. The owners of the village Shah Pur are known as Mughal Barlas. There is no documentary evidence available to confirm their lineage from Abdul Rahim Khan.

According to Qissa Al-Mashaikh Hazrat Mohammad Masoom bin Sheikh Ahmad Qabli visited Shamasabad to see his followers from tribe of Qaqshall Mughals. They were followers of the Naqshbandi school of thought. Mirza Behram Baig was a judge during Mughals Indian dynasty and Incharge of Attock Fort.