World Sikh News pre­sents a photo fea­ture of the Sikhs of Pe­shawar, who for the first time in decades, paid re­spects to the Sikh gen­eral -Hari Singh Nalwa in­side the his­toric Jam­raudh fort on the oc­ca­sion of his death an­niver­sary. 

Sikhs from the Pe­shawar re­gion of Pak­istan en­tered the his­tor­i­cal en­vi­rons of the Jam­raudh fort build by Hari Singh Nalwa and ob­served his death an­niver­sary amidst re­call­ing his heroic con­tri­bu­tion in build­ing and pro­tect­ing this his­toric fort and the en­tire re­gion near the Khy­ber pass.

For the first time since the par­ti­tion of the In­dian sub-con­ti­nent, in the pres­ence of the of­fi­cers of the Pak­istan army, scores of Pe­shawari Sikhs wit­nessed the his­tor­i­cal her­itage of the Sikh king­dom in­side the Jam­raudh Fort, sit­u­ated in the Khy­ber Pakhtoonwa re­gion of the city of Pe­shawar.

At the young age of 46 years, on April 30, 1837, Hari Singh Nalwa of the Suk­er­chakia Misl was shot in­side this fort and was cre­mated there by his adopted son Maha Singh Mir­puria in the pres­ence of Misl Sar­dars.  The death an­niver­sary was ob­served near his tomb, in the fort by the Guru Kalghi­dar Singh Sabha Gur­d­wara Bhai Joga Singh with recita­tion of Gur­bani and Kir­tan.

Pe­shawari Singhs were de­lighted to see the Fort in­te­rior which had wit­nessed the hey-days of the Sarkar-e-Khalsa. The pi­ous and ded­i­cated Sikhs of Pe­shawar re­called the gi­ant Sikh per­son­al­ity, who to this day is rem­i­nisced for his hold in the re­gion.

While a few Sikh face­book war­riors shared the photo of Sikh gen­eral Hari Singh Nalwa, last week, Sikh so­cial, re­li­gious and po­lit­i­cal or­gan­i­sa­tions for­got to re­mem­ber the con­tri­bu­tion of Ma­haraja Ran­jit Singh’s gen­eral Hari Singh Nalwa on his death an­niver­sary.

Be­long­ing to Gu­jran­wala, Hari Singh Nalwa fought 11 bat­tles in his life­time for Ma­haraja Ran­jit Singh.

It is com­fort­ing to note that the Pak­istan Sikh Gur­d­wara Par­band­hak Com­mit­tee, in as­so­ci­a­tion with the Pak­istan gov­ern­ment is work­ing to­wards re­newed ef­forts to pre­serve and pro­tect the sa­cred and his­tor­i­cal sites of the Sikhs.

The sig­nif­i­cant role of Hari Singh Nalwa as a pow­er­ful com­man­der in the North West Fron­tier Province led to moth­ers in­still­ing fear in their way­ward chil­dren say­ing, “Hari Ara­gle -Sleep soon, oth­er­wise Hari Singh will come.”

To­day, I wish I could say, Hari Singh, come soon. The com­mu­nity badly needs you!

PHOTO FEA­TURE OF VISIT OF PE­SHAWARI SIKHS TO JAM­RAUDH FORT

      

     

  

Photo credit: Face­book Ac­count of Pe­shawari Singhs.