Media Coverage: 165th Annexation of the Punjab day
At 29th a meeting was organized jointly by PunjabPunch & Lhore Press
Club Literary committee at the Library of LPC Davis road Shimla Phari
lhore.
The meeting was conducted by Aamir Riaz who shared his view
regarding History of the Punjab with special emphasis on Post Aurangzeb era in
which Subcontinent witnessed growth of independent or semi-independent regional
powers. Had French and Britishers not intervened, those independent
states may join in loose federation like US finally yet E.I.C out maneuvered
all other players by using conspiracies as well as open or proxy wars. Yet
under Lhore darbar Punjab, Kashmir, Peshawar, FATA remained independent until
1849. From 1809, Britishers wanted to go to Kabul yet Ranjeet did not
allow it. So after annexation of the Punjab they had a plan under which they
did
1.
Social engineering
2.
Stopped river channel trade by introducing canal system
3.
Removed sufi tradition literature from learning
4.
Removed mother tongues
5.
Introduced religion base historiography
6.
Called Lhore darbar a Sikh rule
7.
Started military recruitment
8.
Laid foundations of a garrison State
9.
Destroyed all past trade routes by establishing Durand Line Fiasco
10.
Introduced Urdu for Punjabis, Pukhtoons, Kashmiries,
Baltastanies, balochs etc
Under Frontier Forward Policy
they changed traditionally tolerant and peace loving region.
The session was presided by qazi
javed, writer & columnist & currently Director of Institute of Islamic
culture. Among prominent People who attended the session and shared their view
were Muhammad shabaz mian , Vice president of LPC, Advoctae Khalid mahmood ,
Punjabi writer and co-director JAAG, Mushtaq sofi, President Punjabi Adabi
Board, Rana Abdur Rahman Awami jamhori forum, Professor Saeed Bhutta, Punjabi
writer & researcher, Zahier watto, editor Punjabi magazine, Kashif Bukhari,
Pervaiz Majeed, Aamir Butt Punjab Urban resource Centre, Muhammad waseem, M
Anwar ul Haq, Saeed
Akhtar, Qamar Bhatti, Hammad Raza, Tariq Khursheed, Raja Jalil Akhtar, Sarfraz
Kashar Butt and Iqbal Bukhari secretary literary committee of
LPC.
people shared their diverse views yet all agreed to continue such efforts to explore History of the Punjab.
The Links of various papers are
Daily Express
They marked this considering that the day, which
has a great and strong impact on the lives of the inhabitants of Punjab, was
ignored or suppressed by the alien rulers (British) and their local supporters
(nawabs) deliberately for their individual incentives, twisting the local
history in favour of British Raj and raising misconceptions against the local
rulers, especially dividing them on the religion, caste, language and
profession basis.
A good number of progressive people attended the
debate and expressed their point of views about the ‘Fall of Lahore Darbar in
1849’, while Punjabi writer and historian Amir Riaz delivered a lecture on the
issue.
Prominent progressive intellectual who spoke on
the occasion included Qazi Javed, Mushtaq Sofi, Syed Kashif Bukhari, Muhammad
Pervez, Javed Akhtar, Abdur Rehman, M Waseem, Mian Shahbaz, Saeed Akhtar, Qamar
Bhatti, Hammad Raza, Tariq Khursheed, Raja Jalil Akhtar, Sarfraz Kashar Butt
and Iqbal Bukhari.
Highlighting different aspects and reasons for
the failure of the local ‘kings’, the speakers said that the British Raj was
just succeeded to capture Punjab as Maharaja Ranjeet Singh did not establish
any mechanism of transfer of power in a peaceful manner for his heirs, while
lack of establishment of any kind of institutions or the systems was also a
strong issue.
They also clarified some misconceptions
forwarded by some biased historians on the behest of their English masters, or
on their personal religious grounds, like the English Raj provided stability
and peace in India after their possession, or gave democracy or a system and
mechanism for transfer of power in society.
Pointing out one of main misconceptions, they
said that it was wrong that the East India Company took the throne from Muslim
King Bahadur Shah Zafar in Dehli or Sikh rulers in Punjab as they (Englishmen)
did not get the rule from King Bahadur Shah Zafar but Marhatas because the
Delhi King was getting a salary (stipend) himself from Marhatas who were
opposing the Company.
The speakers also coined the view that though
the locals have some knowledge about the Mutiny Day of 1857 on May 11, but the
day of annexed of Punjab on March 29, 1849, was intentionally ignored by the
reasons and never highlighted in the past, as the people of Punjab resisted the
British Raj for a long time after the annex too.
Anyhow, they said that the day should be
remembered at all formal and informal stages to bring forth the details and the
truth about the Fall of Lahore Darbar to correct the history. They also
emphasised to celebrate the day next year with more enthusiasm.
At the end, Lahore Press Club’s Literary
Committee representatives, as organisers, gave thanks to the participants and
assured to continue such debates to promote intellectual activities in the
future.
Daily Express
Daily Times
Dunya newspaper
daily times story is
‘Annexed Day’ of
Punjab observed for the first time
* British colonialists
formally annexed the region on this day in 1849 * Punjabi intellectuals hold
debates on several aspects of ‘Fall of Lahore Darbar’
LAHORE: This is for the first time that some Punjabi intellectuals in
collaboration with the Lahore Press Club, Punjab Punch and Readings observed
the ‘Annexed Day’ of Punjab by the British 165 years ago, holding a special
debate on different aspects of the ‘Fall of Lahore’ on March 29, 1849.
They marked this considering that the day, which has a great and strong impact on the lives of the inhabitants of Punjab, was ignored or suppressed by the alien rulers (British) and their local supporters (nawabs) deliberately for their individual incentives, twisting the local history in favour of British Raj and raising misconceptions against the local rulers, especially dividing them on the religion, caste, language and profession basis.
A good number of progressive people attended the debate and expressed their point of views about the ‘Fall of Lahore Darbar in 1849’, while Punjabi writer and historian Amir Riaz delivered a lecture on the issue.
Prominent progressive intellectual who spoke on the occasion included Qazi Javed, Mushtaq Sofi, Syed Kashif Bukhari, Muhammad Pervez, Javed Akhtar, Abdur Rehman, M Waseem, Mian Shahbaz, Saeed Akhtar, Qamar Bhatti, Hammad Raza, Tariq Khursheed, Raja Jalil Akhtar, Sarfraz Kashar Butt and Iqbal Bukhari.
Highlighting different aspects and reasons for the failure of the local ‘kings’, the speakers said that the British Raj was just succeeded to capture Punjab as Maharaja Ranjeet Singh did not establish any mechanism of transfer of power in a peaceful manner for his heirs, while lack of establishment of any kind of institutions or the systems was also a strong issue.
They also clarified some misconceptions forwarded by some biased historians on the behest of their English masters, or on their personal religious grounds, like the English Raj provided stability and peace in India after their possession, or gave democracy or a system and mechanism for transfer of power in society.
Pointing out one of main misconceptions, they said that it was wrong that the East India Company took the throne from Muslim King Bahadur Shah Zafar in Dehli or Sikh rulers in Punjab as they (Englishmen) did not get the rule from King Bahadur Shah Zafar but Marhatas because the Delhi King was getting a salary (stipend) himself from Marhatas who were opposing the Company.
The speakers also coined the view that though the locals have some knowledge about the Mutiny Day of 1857 on May 11, but the day of annexed of Punjab on March 29, 1849, was intentionally ignored by the reasons and never highlighted in the past, as the people of Punjab resisted the British Raj for a long time after the annex too.
Anyhow, they said that the day should be remembered at all formal and informal stages to bring forth the details and the truth about the Fall of Lahore Darbar to correct the history. They also emphasised to celebrate the day next year with more enthusiasm.
At the end, Lahore Press Club’s Literary Committee representatives, as organisers, gave thanks to the participants and assured to continue such debates to promote intellectual activities in the future.
They marked this considering that the day, which has a great and strong impact on the lives of the inhabitants of Punjab, was ignored or suppressed by the alien rulers (British) and their local supporters (nawabs) deliberately for their individual incentives, twisting the local history in favour of British Raj and raising misconceptions against the local rulers, especially dividing them on the religion, caste, language and profession basis.
A good number of progressive people attended the debate and expressed their point of views about the ‘Fall of Lahore Darbar in 1849’, while Punjabi writer and historian Amir Riaz delivered a lecture on the issue.
Prominent progressive intellectual who spoke on the occasion included Qazi Javed, Mushtaq Sofi, Syed Kashif Bukhari, Muhammad Pervez, Javed Akhtar, Abdur Rehman, M Waseem, Mian Shahbaz, Saeed Akhtar, Qamar Bhatti, Hammad Raza, Tariq Khursheed, Raja Jalil Akhtar, Sarfraz Kashar Butt and Iqbal Bukhari.
Highlighting different aspects and reasons for the failure of the local ‘kings’, the speakers said that the British Raj was just succeeded to capture Punjab as Maharaja Ranjeet Singh did not establish any mechanism of transfer of power in a peaceful manner for his heirs, while lack of establishment of any kind of institutions or the systems was also a strong issue.
They also clarified some misconceptions forwarded by some biased historians on the behest of their English masters, or on their personal religious grounds, like the English Raj provided stability and peace in India after their possession, or gave democracy or a system and mechanism for transfer of power in society.
Pointing out one of main misconceptions, they said that it was wrong that the East India Company took the throne from Muslim King Bahadur Shah Zafar in Dehli or Sikh rulers in Punjab as they (Englishmen) did not get the rule from King Bahadur Shah Zafar but Marhatas because the Delhi King was getting a salary (stipend) himself from Marhatas who were opposing the Company.
The speakers also coined the view that though the locals have some knowledge about the Mutiny Day of 1857 on May 11, but the day of annexed of Punjab on March 29, 1849, was intentionally ignored by the reasons and never highlighted in the past, as the people of Punjab resisted the British Raj for a long time after the annex too.
Anyhow, they said that the day should be remembered at all formal and informal stages to bring forth the details and the truth about the Fall of Lahore Darbar to correct the history. They also emphasised to celebrate the day next year with more enthusiasm.
At the end, Lahore Press Club’s Literary Committee representatives, as organisers, gave thanks to the participants and assured to continue such debates to promote intellectual activities in the future.
