The Source Book On Sikhism

Consolidation of Defence in Hazara:

Hazara, the country west of Kashmir, east of Peshawar and Northwest of Attock was conquered and annexed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1820. Its first Nazim under Ranjit Singh was Amar Singh Majithia who ruled over the territory for two years. He was successful in suppressing the rebellion of Muhammad Khan Tarin and was able to defeat Dhund, Tarin, Tanel and Kharel tribes who were fighting against him. Lepel Griffin writes about the battle: “The battle was over, the enemy had taken to flight and the Sikh forces had retired from the field, when Amar Singh, thirsty and fatigued, went down to the little stream Samandar to bathe and drink. He had only a few horsemen with him, and a number of the enemy returning and seeing the weakness of the little party, came down and killed Amar Singh and his followers after a desperate defence (7)”.

After the death of Amar Singh Mejithis who is also known as Amar Singh Kalan, Hari Singh Nalwa was appointed the Nazim of Hazara. He was not known to the Hazara tribes. When Maharaja Ranjit Singh led his army to conquer Makerm in 1821, he ordered Hari Singh Nalwa, who was in Kashmir, to join him there. At that time, Hari Singh had only seven thousand army. On the way he was opposed by twenty thousand wild mountaineers living in the Pakhly hills. Pakhly or Hazara was the spot dreaded by merchants for these tribes demanded toll on the merchandise. Hari Singh, after his vain efforts to induce the enemy to yield him a passage, attacked them with vigour and storming their stockade defeated them with great slaughter. (8) This was no mean achievement to defeat about twenty thousand Hazara tribes with seven thousand men. Maharaja was much pleased over this exploit of Hari Singh Nalwa. This incident indicates how precarious were the conditions N.K. Sinha has rightly states, “In Pakhli Damtaur, Torbel and Darband region, Sikh sway was still precarious. Hari Singh Nalwa was about this time sent there to create a tradition of vigorous and efficient administration”. (9) According to Griffin, “Hazara was the most turbulent province under the Sikh rule.” (10)

Hari Singh Nalwa joined his assignment in Hazara in February, 1822 and undertook to punish the murderers of Amar Singh, his predecessor. He attacked Hasham Khan who was supposed to have had a hand in the murder. He surrendered and produced the real culprits who were punished. Hasham Khan promised to be loyal. (11)

In order to understand the defence measures of Hari Singh Nalwa it is essential to understand the geographical conditions of this region as well as tribal distribution. Hasham Khan belonged to the northern area and was the leader of the Krel tribe (or Karlani tribe which is a branch of the Khattak tribe). In order to have full control over this area Hari Singh built a fort at Nara, modern Tehsil Abbottabad. (12) Army was stationed there to keep in check the Pathans on this side.

On the western side of Hazara territory partly the River Indus partly forms the natural defence but on the north and eastern side is bounded by partly River Jhelum and partly by the mountainous range known as Pakhli range.

In the Ain-i-Akbari the entire territory is known as Pakhil. (13) The word Pakhli appears to have been derived from Pactyan nation, mentioned by Herodotus. (14) According to Ibbetson the following tributes chiefly occupied the Hazara territory - Dilzak, Swati, Jadun, Tanaoli and Shilmani. (15) In the lower range, according to Prem Singh, the main Pathan tribes were Tarin, Utmanzai, Tarkhoali and Mashwani. (16) Tanaoli and Tarkhoali appear to be identical. In order to check these ferocious tribes Hari Singh Nalwa adopted a well thought out policy. He built a very strong fort in the valley surrounded by mountains and named it after the eighth Guru of the Sikhs as Harkrishangarh (17) and also founded a town named Haripur. The town was surrounded by a wall which was four yards thick and sixteen yards high and had only four openings. Drinking water was provided to the town by digging a tank. Many small drains were dug to carry sullage water. (18) Baron Hugel visited the town on December 23, 1835 and he found the town humming with activity. (19)

In the upper ranges of Pakhli there lived mainly Jadun, Tanawali and Swatis. (20) They were very warlike tribes and it was very difficult to control them. There were the tribes who blocked the passage of Hari Singh Nalwa in 1821 and had been defeated by him with much lesser force. Since Hazara had been annexed with the kingdom of Ranjit Singh and Hari Singh being Nazim of Hazara adopted measures to keep under control these warlike tribes. The measures were to build forts at strategic places and garrison them with an army. The roads were built to link them so that reinforcement could be sent from one fort to another fort at the time of crisis. This policy of building forts proved very successful and very deterring for these tribes. The forts built in the upper ranges of Pakhli were: Fort Nowan, Shekar, Fort Dhamtaur, Fort Darband and Fort Shinkiari. (21) An old fort at Tarbel was repaired.