Parsees of the Punjab/Rawalpundi

Parsees of the Punjab/RawalPindi

Parsee/Parsi community is among protectors of the oldest religions who fought with the world of magic since ancient times. The Punjab, Kashmir, Baluchistan, KyberPK and kabul, Gandhar has a long relationship with Parsees and Persian since ages. The center of Parsees was Bulkh and the kingdom of Bulkh was consists of vast areas from Kashmir, Punjab till Bukhara, Tashkend, Iran till syria. Afrasyab, the king was also from Bulkh. It was a shortest trade route and Junction and whosoever got control of the Bulkh, he got control on the trade and spread his thoughts too. Buddhists, Parsees and Muslims examples are enough to understand the phenomenon. Our region has a strong linkage with parsees and Achaemenid Empire as well as Sasanian Empire are proof of that linkage. Even in the historic tale of Tilsim e Hoshruba three forces are in conflict and agreement i-e Muslims, Gabbars (parsees) and magicians. It was a pre-islamic tale yet retold as par tradition after 6th century. we have yet to explore our common Parsi past partly due to some prejudices and partly due to our disconnect with ancient forms of Parsi language and Kharoshti script. here am introducing a good piece written by Umad ali and Published by dawn Blog.
It is a good column about Rawalpindi and Prasee presence in the Punjab  yet it has some errors too. Pindi was created during Mharaja Ranjeet Singh's time and lot of travelers including Brian Hugeal visited it and recorded about the city in their books. It was a mandi (market) much before its creation. Even Chinese travelers pinpointed history of trade in thiat area well. Newly formed Pindi was a strategic city not only regarding military campaigns but also regarding huge trade from the Punjab till Bukhara and Bulkh.Mharaja recognized its importance yet it was  colonial master who converted that area into garrison city and established its regional military headquarter there after annexation in 1849. Rawalpindi District was a muslim majority area and even in 1941 census Rawalpindi district was thickly populated by Muslims. Non-Muslims had more presence in the city centres yet in districts they were in minorities.
Parsees were traders and had presence at that trade route much before Muslim entry in those lands. Persian was common language or lingua franca in the region from Central Asia till West Asia and Kashmir, Punjab region.Fall of Blukh Empire effected parsees and due to rise of Mongols they shifted to numerous places especially in the Sindh, Kashmir & the Punjab. Their presence at Lhori Bandar (A port near Thatta) was recorded by Tarikh e Tahiri of 16th century. Conversion of Khurasan region and Central Asia to Islam after 11th century effected Parsee community yet Mongols of 13th century destroyed their power. Their numerical power reduced much before British entry in that region.  

Now you read what Umad wrote
راولپنڈی کا 150 سال قدیم پارسی قبرستان