Thanks SanjayKumar, Parsuram, VikasRaina and others.
by VikasRaina
Sbajwa/Parsuram ji: I had assumed that all these Kabila/Invader practices of Muslims in Punjab and
adjoining areas were crushed and curbed by rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. I was surprised to
read that pre-47, this still was prevalent in areas now under Paki occupition.
Are there areas in India where Hindu/sikh girls are still abducted like they way it
used to happen in West Punjab?
I think the ferocity of reaction by Hindus/Sikhs during 47 riots was culmination of
the anger and fear that had been bottled up for so many centuries.
Well!! Punjab and sorrounding areas traditionally been the area between these rivers
Chenab - Ravi - Beas (Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Lahore, Jalandhar, Virkgarh(Sheikhupura), Jammu and Kashmir (as you go up.
Gujranwala was the outpost and Rawalpindi was the border on foothills.
In this area post 1000 A.D. Muslims lived in cities while Hindus lived in countryside. Cities were basically
a garrison town of the local Zamindar paying tribute to the Delhi kingdom. Villages were all self sufficient.
Women were free to roam around and study from the schools attached to the temple. This changed
as population and islamic raids increased. by 1500s when Babar attacked there already was a rift among
Hindus and Muslims (Evident from the Gurbani of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji)., this shows that muslims were almost
10-30% of some villages. Muslim population hovered around 10-30% in villages till the rule of Jahangir/Aurungzeb
when it shot up in Kashmir and Western Punjab (not in the heartland of Chenab-Ravi-Beau).
When Aurungzeb was ruling he declared to convert whole of Kashmir to Islam (Guru Tegh Bahadur stepped in)
and his governors (Lahore under Zakriya Khan, Sarhind under Wazir Khan) stepped up their persecution. Aurungzeb
died in 1707., after executing Guru Tegh Bahadur in 1675, Guru gobind singh in 1705/6, Between 1710 - 1716
Banda Bahadur defeated the Mughal governor of Sarhind (Wazir Khan) and established his writ between Delhi
and Lahore. He also passed the law for farmers to only pay him 10% (as oppose to 67% that mughals levy) if they
could afford. Banda Bahadur is the reason that Khalsa and Sikhs were called "SARDARS" Sardar in Persian means
"leaders" which were all mughals before this.
During Aurungzeb's rule the men of Haryana/Punjab always carried weapons as a protection from Ranghars.
On hearing that some sikhs are visiting an X village people from all over the area would come to complain
about various isuues (abductions, banditry, killings, etc).
Banda Bahadur was executed in 1716 but by that time the light had been lit. People knew that they
had to protect their own Kith and kin.
Sikh soldier became "Sardar" of the whole district. Then when Nadir Shah invaded india in 1738 Sikhs
were alredy established power under Jathedar Kapur Singh. By 1760s Mughals and Rohillas were paying
tribute to Sikhs. in 1765 the three Sikh Misls captured Lahore. T
Ranjit singh became emperor in 1799 by taking the city of Lahore from another Sikh family (Lahina Singh Dhillon aka Bhangi)
and not from Mughals. His genious is consolidating his emperor by not attacking the British held/protectorate areas
but by attacking the western and across river Indus.
Rest of the punjab before British was very sparsely populated. during the times of Slaves, Khiljis, Lodis, and Mughals.
Western Punjab had very few towns and mostly on the banks of the rivers. In these towns Pathans and Baluchs would
raid the villages to get anything they could.
The cities of Faisalabad/Lyallpur, Sahiwal/Montgomery, Rawalpind (cantt) were created by British when they created many canals
joining the five rivers to improve the agricultural output (very successful endeavour). Hindus and Sikhs
were mostly civil enginners (Sir Ganga Ram of Lahore fame (hospital) was such civil engineer) and soldier/farmers.
Soldier farmers as at that time British instead of giving Pension use to gave away land in a measure called
Murabbae i.e. 25 Acres. An exceptional soldier would get 10 Murabbae (250 acres) while a normal soldier would get
1-5 murabbae.
Most of this land was jungles which retired soldiers converted to agricultureable land by moving away the
rocks, digging small canals, uprooting trees, killing snakes, etc. Once the land was good it became an
attractive point for Pathans and Baluchs to raid.
Between 1860 - 1880 The western punjab was safe. In 1880 the city of Lyallpur was created (now called Faisalabad)
then Canals were dug to between the River Ravi and River Chenab (Sir Ganga Ram of Mangatawala worked on this)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Ganga_Ram It is because of Sir Ganga Ram the civil engineer that Montgomery/Sahiwal
got Water.
Even in 1901 the city of Lyallpur only had 10,000 folks but it shot up after first world war when many
soldiers were retired with land aroud Lyallpur.
When this land was being cleared pathans and baluchs use to raid to get money and sometimes women., which
retired soldiers always defended.
Slowly muslims moved into these new cities as labourers in the cotton factories of Lyallpur, farm workers, etc.
Which they forcefully took in 1947.
Historically Islamic society has always given precendence to take over (land,money,women)
forcefully from non-muslims over working hard to earn.
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Coming back to abductions in India do you remember
the very famous incident of Rawal Ratan Singh/Rani Padmani and Sultanate emperor Alaudeen Khilji?
That was nothing but a try to abduct (earliest incident).
Before Marathas and Sikhs freed the North/West India from Mughals all of Indian women were fair game for nawabs/Zamindars and emperors (under islamic protection) depending upon the reach of their armies.
hmm... The fringe are the majority all right. Truth will always slip out even from a Pakhani.