KALABAGH

KALABAGH HISTORY

KALABAGH A TOWN AND UNION COUNCIL OF MIANWALI DISTRICT . IT IS LOCATED ON THE WESTERN BANK OF INDUS RIVER. KALABAGH IS A BLEND WORD COMPRISING KALLRA HINDU TRIBE AND BAGHOO THE SUN GOD WHOSE TEMPLE WAS ERECTED ON THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN, ONCE WHERE THE SUN GOD HAD BEEN WORSHIPPED BY KALLRA HINDUS. KALLRA HINDUS CAME OF KAUROO TRIBES. AFTER INTRODUCTION OF ISLAM, IT WAS CAPTURED BY KAMBHO, LODHI AFGHAN, KHEMAT, GAHROO, SO ON AND SO FORTH. ALEXANDER THE GREAT, CAPTURED THIS AREA FOR SAKE OF SALT. SALT WAS BEING EXCAVATED BY HINDU TRIBES BEFORE INVASION OF GREEKS.

THE NAMING CLEARLY IS OF TURKIC AND PERSIAN ORIGIN, MEANING “BLACK GARDEN”, TRANSLITERATURE OF WORDS CANNOT OBLITERATE FOOTPRINTS OF ANCIENT TRIBES, (WHETHER IT IS TURKIC OR PERSIAN) AND HISTORICITY AND REALITY CANNOT BE SUPPRESSED BY ANY MEANS. KALABAGH WILL REMAIN CONSPICUOUS AMONG ALL CHAPTERS OF HISTORY, AND THE TEMPLE IS HOMOLOGOUS TO GRANDEUR OF HUMAN HERITAGE. THIS LEGENDARY TEMPLE BELONGS TO HINDUS,IT IS AN ADMITTED FACT, BUT IRRESPECTIVE OF PREJUDICES AND CONTRA RELIGOUSITY IT IS INCLUDED IN HUMAN CIVILIZATION. THE GREEKS ERECTED A COLOSSUS OF RHODES, WAS ONE OF THE ELDEST OCEANIDS, A DAUGHTER OF TETHYS AND OCEANUS. SHE WAS REMEMBERED BY FOUR NAMES: HALIA, APHRODITE, AMPHITRITE, AND KAPHEIRA. SHE IS THE GODDESS OF SALT WATER.KAFIR THE STATUE ON PODIUM WAS PLACED WHERE NOW A DAYS KALABAGH CITY IS SITUATED.IT WAS DESTROYED BY INVADERS, SAKA TRIBES, AVER HUNS (REAL FATHERS OF A’OONA) AND PARTHIANS. KAPHEIRA, WAS THOUGHT TO BE DAUGHTER OF POSEIDON, WHOSE WORSHIPERS USUALLY PAINT THEIR BODY WITH COLOURS AND MEHDI, AND DANCED BEFORE THE GODDESS AND EXPOSED THEIR PAINTED PARTS OF BODIES FOR RECEIVING BLESSING FROM SACREDOS (CHIEF PRIEST). FURTHERMORE, THE GROIN OF THE GODDESS WAS GLABROUS, AND WORE A WHITE SILK GOWN. HER STATUE WAS ALMOST NUDE. SHE WAS SELECTED BY THE SACREDOS AND TATTOOED IN THREE SPOTS IN TRIANGULAR SHAPE: THE EARTH, THE SUN AND THE PALUTO. AND HER FIRST CHILD WAS NOMINATED AS POLUTICUS. FROM THAT TIME WE ARE STILL CALLING OUR FIRST CHILD “PLOTHEE KA BACHHA.”

THE LAND OF NAWABs

KALABAGH IS A STATE RULED BY THE NAWABS OF KALABAGH. THEY HAVE RULED THIS AREA SINCE THE TIME OF MAHMUD OF GHAZNI, I.E. AROUND 900 YEARS. KALABAGH REMAINED A PRINCELY STATE THROUGHOUT THE BRITISH RAJ. KALABAGH IS ALTERNATIVELY REPORTED TO DESCEND FROM THE PERSIAN AND TURKISH WORDS KALA “BLACK” AND BAGH “GARDEN AS A REFERENCE TO THE GARDEN. HISTORICALLY KALABAGH REMAINED A FAMOUS AWAN STRONGHOLD IN THE DISTRICT AND MALIK ATTA MUHAMMAD KHAN (FATHER OF MALIK AMIR MUHAMMAD KHAN) WAS DECLARED “KHAN BAHADUR” DURING THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

FAMILY TREE

OF

NAWABs OF KALABAGH

KALABAGH WAS A JAGIR THAT HAD BEEN RULED BY THE NAWABS SINCE THE TIME OF SULTAN MAHMUD OF GHAZNI; WHILE MOST OF THE OTHER STATES WERE MERE INVENTIONS OF THE BRITISH. NAWAB OF KALABAGH MALIK AMIR MUHAMMAD PAKI SAKI (1910-1967), EX-GOVERNOR WEST PAKISTAN.MALIK AMIR MOHAMMAD KHAN (DIED 1967) ALSO KNOWN AS NAWAB OF KALABAGH .HE WAS A PROMINENT FEUDAL LORD, POLITICIAN AND THE SEVENTH NAWAB OF KALABAGH STATE, IN MIANWALI DISTRICT OF NORTH WESTERN PUNJAB, PAKISTAN.HE BELONGED TO THE AWAN TRIBE OF ANCIENT REPUTE. HE WAS CROWNED AS NAWAB OF KALABAGH AFTER THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER MALIK ATA MUHAMMAD KHAN IN 1924. HE ALSO SERVED AS GOVERNOR OF WEST PAKISTAN. HE BELONGS TO THE NOBILITY OF THE SWORD AS HIS ANCESTORS WERE NAWABS FOR NEARLY 900 YEARS.THE STATE WAS CAPTURED BY HIS ANCESTORS.

HE ALWAYS MAINTAINED THAT HE WAS DESCENDED FROM AN INDIVIDUAL NAMED QUTB SHAH, A RULER OF HERAT AND A GENERAL IN THE ARMY OF MAHMUD OF GHAZNI, WHO HIMSELF WAS A HASHEMITE DESCENDANT OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD’S COUSIN AND SON-IN-LAW, ALI (BUT BY A WIFE OTHER THAN THE PROPHET’S DAUGHTER, FATIMAH). AS SIR LEPEL HENRY GRIFFIN STATES:

“ ‘ALL BRANCHES OF THE TRIBE (AWANS) ARE UNANIMOUS IN STATING THAT THEY ORIGINALLY CAME FROM NEIGHOURHOOD OF GHAZNI TO INDIA, AND ALL TRACE THEIR GENEALOGY TO HASRAT ALI THE SON-IN-LAW OF THE PROPHET. KUTAB SHAH, WHO CAME FROM GHAZNI WITH SULTAN MAHMUD, WAS THE COMMON ANCESTOR OF THE AWANS…….IT WAS ONLY IN THE RAWALPINDI, JHELAM AND SHAHPUR DISTRICTS THAT THEY BECAME OF ANY POLITICAL IMPORTANCE……. IN SHAHPUR DISTRICT THE AWANS HELD THE HILLY COUNTRY TO THE NORTH WEST, JALAR, NAOSHERA AND SUKESAR, WHERE THE HEAD OF THE TRIBE STILL RESIDES. ”—FROM ”SIR LEPEL H. GRIFFIN, THE PANJAB CHIEFS’ (1865 EDITION) P.570-571.

IT IS ASSERTED THAT QUTB SHAH AND SIX OF HIS SONS ACCOMPANIED AND ASSISTED MAHMUD IN HIS EARLY ELEVENTH CENTURY CONQUESTS OF WHAT TODAY FORMS PARTS OF AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN AND NORTHERN INDIA. IT IS CLAIMED THAT IN RECOGNITION OF THEIR SERVICES AND VALOUR, MAHMUD BESTOWED UPON QUTB SHAH AND HIS SONS (WHO, ACCORDING TO TRIBAL TRADITIONS, SETTLED PRIMARILY IN THE SALT RANGE) THE TITLE OF AWAN, MEANING “HELPER”.HE WAS APPOINTED CHAIRMAN PAKISTAN INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION WITH THE RANK OF A CENTRAL MINISTER IN 1959, AND SUBSEQUENTLY GOVERNOR OF WEST PAKISTAN ON 12 APRIL 1960 BY PAKISTAN PRESIDENT GENERAL AYUB KHAN. BOTH NAWAB AMIR MOHAMMAD KHAN AND SANDHURST TRAINED GENERAL WAJID ALI KHAN BURKI WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN AYUB KHAN’S RISE TO POWER, UNTIL TODAY THE THREE FAMILIES RETAIN ADJOINING HOUSES IN ISLAMABAD.

AN AUTONOMOUS AND HARSH RULER WITH GREAT ADMINISTRATIVE CAPABILITIES, THE NAWAB REMAINED GOVERNOR OF WEST PAKISTAN TILL SEPTEMBER 18, 1966. HE IS CONSIDERED A CONTROVERSIAL FIGURE BY MANY HISTORIANS. ALTHOUGH HIMSELF BEING AN AITCHISON COLLEGE AND THEN OXFORD GRADUATE, HIS POLICIES WERE NOT EDUCATION FRIENDLY. HE STRENGTHENED THE MARTIAL LAW GOVERNMENT BY HIS HARSH TACTICS.HE HAD ALL THE QUALITIES OF A FEUDAL LORD.HOWEVER HIS ROLE DURING THE INDO-PAK WAR OF 1965 IS PRAISED AS HE KEPT THE LAW AND ORDER, CONTROLLED THE PRICES, TRAFFICKING OF THE RAW MATERIAL AND PREVENTED THE SMUGGLING.

HE HAS ALSO BEEN DESCRIBED AS A MAN OF PRINCIPLES AND TRADITIONS. HE LIKED TO REMAIN IN THE NATIONAL DRESS AND HIS CABINET MEMBERS TRIED TO PLEASE HIM BY DOING SO. HE ONCE DECLINED TO SHAKE HANDS WITH THE BRITISH QUEEN ELIZABETH II ON HER VISIT TO PAKISTAN. AYUB KHAN ASKED HIM TO RECEIVE HER AT AIRPORT BUT HE DIDN’T DO THAT. ON 26 NOVEMBER,1967 HE WAS FOUND MURDERED UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES.

OTHER NAWABS

OF

KALABAGH

HIS SON MALIK MUZAFFAR KHAN WON THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SEAT FROM NW-44, MIANWALI-I IN DECEMBER 1970 ELECTIONS. HIS OTHER SON MALIK ALLAH YAR ALSO REMAINED THE MEMBER OF MAJLIS-E-SHOORA DURING GENERAL ZIA-UL-HAQ’S MILITARY REGIME. HIS GRANDSON MALIK AMAD KHAN WON THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SEAT FROM NA-71 MIANWALI-I , IN FEBRUARY 2008 ELECTIONS AS AN INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE. HIS GRANDDAUGHTER, SUMAIRA MALIK, IS STILL A MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.

KALABAGH- SALT MINES

KALABAGH SALT MINES ARE LOCATED ON THE BANK OF THE INDUS RIVER. SALT IS EXCAVATED BY ROOM AND PILLAR METHOD. SOME OF THE CHAMBERS ARE MORE THAN 80 METERS DEEP WHERE THE SALT IS STILL MINED MANUALLY. THERE ARE 13 DIFFERENT KINDS OF SALT SEAMS WITH DIFFERENT SHADES OF COLOR. ACTUAL OLD MINES ARE LOCATED NEAR THE VILLAGE KNOWN AS WANDA KUKRANWALA.

Location	286m from Islamabad or 50km from Mianwali
Leased Area (Two Leases)	3,837.81 acres
Geological Horizon	Pre-Cambrian
Purity of Salt (NaCl)	Average 96%
Shades of salt	White and Pink
Rock Salt Resources	Over One Billion tons
Production (2006-07)	76,228 tons

IT IS ALSO FAMOUS FOR ITS RED HILLS OF THE SALT RANGE AND SCENIC VIEW OF THE INDUS RIVER TRAVERSING THROUGH THE HILLS. IT ALSO PRODUCES HANDICRAFTS ESPECIALLY FOOTWEAR AND MAKHADI HALWA