Poonch District (or Poonch Jagir) was a district of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is currently divided between India and Pakistan. The Pakistani part of the erstwhile district is now the Poonch Division in the Azad Kashmir territory, whilst the Indian part of the district is the Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir. The capital of the Pakistan-controlled side is Rawalakot; while the capital of the Indian-controlled side is Poonch.
In ancient times, Poonch was part of the Abhisara region and formed part of Alexander the Great's conquests. In later sources, the region is called Paranotsa, but also known by its capital city, Lohara, which gave rise to the Lohara dynasty of Kashmir (c. 1003–1320 CE). Afterwards Poonch came under the control of the Mughal Empire, then the Durrani Empire and finally the Sikh Empire. The Sikh monarch, Maharaja Ranjit Singh gave Poonch to the Dogra noble, Raja Dhyan Singh, as a fief. After the death of Ranjit Singh, Dhyan Singh was murdered in Sikh intrigues, and the region was transferred to Gulab Singh as part of the Jammu and Kashmir state under British suzerainty. After the departure of the British in August 1947, the tribesmen of Poonch rebelled, inviting Pakistani assistance and giving rise to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war ended a year later with the region being divided between India and Pakistan.
When Alexander invaded the lower Jhelum belt to fight Porus, the Jhelum valley region was known as Abhisara. [1] It is likely that the Kashmir Valley was under the control of this region. The Abhisaras submitted to the invader, along with Ambhi of Takshashila (Taxila), and the region was consolidated into the Alexander's empire. [2]
The Rajatarangini mentions Poonch under the name Paranotsa. Xuanzang in the 7th century transliterated it as Pun-nu-tso. [3]
Based on the Mahabharata evidence, [4] and evidence from 7th century Chinese traveler Xuanzang, [5] the districts of Rajouri, Poonch and Abhisara had been under the sway of the Republican Kambojas during epic times. [6]
At the time of Xuanzang's visit, the Kashmir Valley controlled all the territories adjacent to it in the south and the west, including Taxila, which is said to have been subjugated at a recent date. [7]
Around 850CE, Poonch became a sovereign state ruled by Raja Nar, who was basically a horse trader. According to Rajatrangani, Raja Trilochanpal of Poonch gave a tough fight to Mahmood Ghaznavi who invaded this area in 1020. Ghaznavi failed to enter Kashmir, as he could not capture the fort of Lohara (modern day Loran, in district of Poonch). [8]
In 1596, Mughal emperor Jahangir made Siraj-Ud-Din the ruler of Poonch. Siraj-Ud-Din and his descendants Raja Shahbaz Khan, Raja Abdul Razak, Raja Rustam Khan and Raja Khan Bahadur Khan ruled this area up to 1792.
In 1819 this area was captured by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. [8] Brothers Gulab Singh, Dhyan Singh and Suchet Singh, belonging to the House of Jammu, enrolled in the Maharaja's army and rose to high positions.
In 1822, Ranjit Singh appointed Gulab Singh as the Raja of Jammu and, in 1827, appointed Dhyan Singh as the Raja of Bhimber, Chibbal and Poonch [9] (covering the Mirpur and Poonch districts as of 1947 [10] ). Dhyan Singh spent most of his time in Lahore, subsequently becoming the diwan (prime minister) in the Sikh court. Gulab Singh is said to have managed his jagirs on his behalf. In 1837, the hill tribes of Poonch launched a rebellion, which Gulab Singh suppressed with some cruelty. [9] [11]
After the death of Ranjit Singh in 1839, the Sikh court fell into anarchy and palace intrigues took over. Dhyan Singh, Suchet Singh as well as Dhyan Singh's son Hira Singh were murdered in these struggles. [12] Poonch was confiscated by the Sikh Durbar on the grounds that the Rajas had rebelled against the state and handed it over to Faiz Talib Khan of Rajouri. [13]
After the First Anglo-Sikh War (1845–1846) and the subsequent Treaties of Lahore and Amritsar, the entire territory between the Beas and the Indus rivers was transferred to Gulab Singh, including Poonch. He was recognised an independent ruler, a maharaja, of the newly created state of Jammu and Kashmir. [14] Gulab Singh reinstated the jagir of Poonch to Jawahir Singh, the eldest remaining son of Dhyan Singh. [13]
The brothers Jawahir Singh and Moti Singh were not satisfied. They put forward a claim to being independent rulers of Poonch, maintaining that they were entitled to a share in the 'family property' of all the territories controlled by Gulab Singh. The matter was adjudicated by Sir Frederick Currie, the British Resident in Lahore, in 1852, who confirmed that Gulab Singh was indeed their suzerain. The brothers were to give the Maharaja Gulab Singh a horse with gold trappings every year and consult him on all matters of importance. [15] [16] The House of Poonch however continued to contest this arrangement right up to 1940. [17]
In 1852, the brothers Jawahir Singh and Moti Singh quarrelled and the Punjab Board of Revenue awarded a settlement. Moti Singh was awarded the territory of the Poonch district, and Jawahir Singh that of the Mirpur district. Christopher Snedden remarks that Moti Singh's territory amounted to two-thirds of Dhyan Singh's estate. [17] [18]
In 1859, Jawahir Singh was accused of 'treacherous conspiracy' by Maharaja Ranbir Singh (r. 1857–1885), who succeeded Gulab Singh. The British agreed with the assessment and forced Jawahir Singh into exile in Ambala. Ranbir Singh paid Jawahir Singh an annual stipend of Rs. 100,000 until his death, and confiscated his territory (the Mirpur district) afterwards because Jawahir Singh had no heirs. [19]
Moti Singh's son, Baldev Singh contested this action claiming that the territory should return to him as the sole surviving descendant of Dhyan Singh. The British did not accept the claim saying that Jawahir Singh forfeited his territory when he agreed to the annual stipend. [19]
After Maharaja Ranbir Singh was succeeded by Pratap Singh (r. 1885–1925), a 'Council of Administration' was imposed on Jammu and Kashmir by the British. The Council is said to have started encroaching on Poonch, egged on by Pratap Singh's brother Amar Singh. Complaints were made to the British, who continued the original line that Poonch was a feudatory of Jammu and Kashmir and so it was an internal affair of Jammu and Kashmir. [19] [20]
Raja Baldev Singh (r. 1892–1918), who succeeded Moti Singh, complained in 1895 that Jammu and Kashmir started referring to Poonch as a jagir, whereas he maintained that it was a 'state'. This was apparently a very emotive issue for Baldev Singh and, subsequently, to the residents of Poonch. Baldev Singh's successor Sukhdev Singh (r. 1918–1927) and Jagatdev Singh (r. 1928–1940) continued the complaints. In 1927, the British resident in Kashmir Evelyn Howell got involved and he advised Maharaja Hari Singh that, while Poonch was clearly subsidiary to Jammu and Kashmir, it was only referred to as an illaqa in the original grant, not as a jagir. [21]
Jagatdev Singh ascended as the Raja in 1928 at a young age, and the reigning Maharaja Hari Singh (r. 1925–1949), son of Amar Singh, imposed a sanad (instruction) on him. The sanad mentioned, among others, that Poonch was a jagir and implemented several encroachments on the administration of Poonch. Frictions continued. In 1936, Jagatdev Singh sent a 'memorial' to the Viceroy of India, seeking a review of the relationship between Poonch and Jammu and Kashmir. The Government of India responded that, since Poonch was part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, all submissions should be made through the British Resident of Jammu and Kashmir government. The Resident stated that the order of 1928, eventually based on Currie's original award, definitely settled the status of Poonch as a 'subordinate Jagirdar of Kashmir'. Jagatdev Singh's claims were dismissed without further comment. [22]
With the death of Jagatdev Singh in 1940, his son Shiv Ratandev Singh became the new Raja while being a minor. Maharaja Hari Singh appointed a guardian, who was his military secretary, to look after the Raja's 'property'. The Raja's mother was prohibited from participating in the minority administration. In July 1940, a gathering of Poonch public passed a resolution expressing 'profound sorrow and deep indignation and resentment' at the Maharaja's proclamation and his description of Poonch as a jagir. By 1945, the Maharaja's administration was deeply unpopular in Poonch, especially among the families of military servicemen, who contrasted it with that of their counterparts in Punjab. [23]
Until Jagatdev Singh's accession in 1928, the Poonch jagir was autonomous, except for the payment of a token tribute of Rs. 231 to the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. The jagir had its own officials, including a bureaucracy, police and a standing army of one company. It is said that the local officials, most of whom were Hindus, were disgruntled because their salaries were lower than in the rest of state. This led to inefficiency and corruption. [24]
The Raja of Poonch owned all the land in the jagir. The actual 'holders of land' were referred to as assamis (agents) of the Raja. In the 1930s, 40 percent of the earnings were collected as tax, amounting to Rs. 1 million. Whereas proprietary rights were granted to landholders elsewhere in Kashmir following the Glancy Commission recommendations in 1933, the Poonchis did not benefit from the reforms due to the jagir's autonomy. For some unknown reason, the residents of the Mendhar tehsil were granted ownership rights, which caused further resentment in the other tehsils. [25]
After 1928, Maharaja Hari Singh started encroaching on the administration of Poonch and, a dual system of rule was established. A resident administrator of the Maharaja was appointed in the Poonch jagir and further officials were loaned from the state. The Raja's courts had jurisdiction only in petty cases. All serious crimes were referred to the courts in Srinagar. The Raja of Poonch lost his prestige and power. [26]
The Maharaja also imposed additional taxes to generate his own revenue from the jagir. They included taxes on cattle and sheep, export/import taxes on items like soap and silk, and imaginative taxes on wives and widows. A 'horse tax' required a payment of 50 percent of the purchase price of a horse. Evidently, these taxes generated considerable resentment. [27]
Scholar Christopher Snedden states that, being a mountainous area, Poonch accorded small farms with poor soil, but had high costs of living. The Kashmiri tax burden made the situation worse. Many Poonchi men worked outside the jagir to alleviate the situation. They worked in Punjab, the railways, British Indian army and the British merchant navy in Bombay. [28] The army was an especially important employer. It was said that every male Muslim in the jagir was, had been or would be a soldier in the British Indian army. During World War I, 31,000 men from Jammu and Kashmir served in the army, a great majority of them from Poonch. During World War II, over 60,000 men from Poonch served in the army, while the rest of the state contributed only about 10,000 men. The physical proximity of Poonch to the military recruiting grounds in Punjab, such as Sialkot and Rawalpindi, facilitated their enrolment. Poonchis enlisted as 'Punjabi Musalmans' and served in the Punjab Regiment. [29] [30]
After independence in 1947, there was a rebellion in the western part of the-then Poonch district. The rebels led by Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, sought support from the Dominion of Pakistan, which provided arms, and then launched an invasion of its own using Pashtun tribals. In response, the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir joined India, and the conflict turned into an Indo-Pakistani War. When a ceasefire was effected, the Poonch district was split across the two countries. The former capital city, Poonch, came under the Indian Poonch district. A new capital at Rawalakot was established by Pakistan in the Pakistani Poonch district. The district itself was eventually converted into a 'Poonch Division' and divided into four separate districts: Poonch, Sudhanoti, Bagh and Haveli.
Mirpur, officially known as New Mirpur City, is the capital of Mirpur district located in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan which has been subject of the larger Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India since 1947. It is the second largest city of Azad Kashmir and the 74th largest city in Pakistan.
Bagh District is a district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. It is one of the ten districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Previously part of Poonch District, Bagh was established as a separate district in 1988.
Poonch District is a district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. It is one of the 10 districts of this Pakistan-administered territory. It is bounded on the north by Bagh District, on the north-east by Haveli District, on the south-east by the Poonch District of Indian-administered Kashmir, on the south by Azad Kashmir's Sudhanoti and Kotli districts, and on the west by Rawalpindi District of Pakistan's Punjab Province. The Poonch District is part of the greater Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. The district headquarters is the city of Rawalakot. It is the third most populous district of Azad Kashmir.
Uri is a town and a tehsil in the Baramulla district, in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Uri is located on the left bank of the Jhelum River, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of the Line of Control with Pakistan.
Maharaja Gulab Singh Jamwal (1792–1857) was the founder of Dogra dynasty and the first Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which was a part of Sikh Empire became the largest princely state under the British Raj, which was created after the defeat of the Sikh Empire in the First Anglo-Sikh War. During the war, Gulab Singh would later side with the British and end up becoming the Prime Minister of Sikh Empire. The Treaty of Amritsar (1846) formalised the transfer of all the lands in Kashmir that were ceded to them by the Sikhs by the Treaty of Lahore.
Rajouri is a district in the Jammu division of Indian Jammu and Kashmir in the Kashmir region. The Line of Control, between the Indian- and Pakistan's occupied Jammu and Kashmir, lies to its west, Poonch to its north, the Reasi district to the east and the Jammu district to its south. Rajouri is famous for its "Kalari". Representing an ancient principality, Rajouri was a joint district, along with Reasi, at the time of the princely state's accession to India in 1947. The two tehsils were separated and Rajouri was merged with the Poonch district. Rajouri again became a separate district along with Reasi in 1968 till 2006 when both were separated again. The Rajouri district comprises 13 tehsils (boroughs). The land is mostly fertile and mountainous. Maize, wheat and rice are the main crops of the area and the main source of the irrigation is the river Tawi that originates from the mountains of Pir Panjal.
Rajouri or Rajauri is a city in the Rajouri district in the Jammu division of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is located about 155 kilometres (96 mi) from Srinagar and 150 km (93 mi) from Jammu city on the Poonch Highway.
Sudhan are one of the major tribes from the Poonch Division in Azad Kashmir with their population centered around Poonch and Sudhanoti, alongside a smaller population in the northern areas of the neighboring Bagh and Kotli.According to the local oral tradition of the tribe, they are allegedly a branch of the Saddozai tribe and originated from Pashtun areas in Afghanistan, and were the founders of their heartland of Sudhanoti.
Bhimber is a town and the headquarters of the eponymous district in Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir. The town and district are between the Jammu region of Indian-administered Kashmir and Pakistan proper, about 47 km (29 mi) by road southeast of Mirpur.
Poonch, is a town and the administrative headquarters of the Poonch district, of the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which is part of the larger disputed territory of Kashmir. It is located near the Line of Control – the de facto border in the disputed region. Poonch shares a de facto border with the Poonch district of the Pakistan-administered, self-governing territory of Azad Kashmir.
The Dogra dynasty of Dogra Rajputs from the Shivalik hills created Jammu and Kashmir through the treaties with the East India Company following the First Anglo-Sikh war. Events led the Sikh Empire to recognise Jammu as a vassal state in 1820, and later the British added Kashmir to Jammu with the Treaty of Amritsar in 1846. The founder of the dynasty, Gulab Singh, was an influential noble in the court of the Sikh emperor Maharaja Ranjit Singh, while his brother Dhian Singh served as the prime minister of the Sikh Empire. Appointed by Ranjit Singh as the hereditary Raja of the Jammu principality, Gulab Singh established his supremacy over all the hill states surrounding the Kashmir Valley. After the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1846, under the terms of the Treaty of Lahore, 1846, the British East India Company acquired Kashmir from the Sikh Empire and transferred it to Gulab Singh, recognising him as an independent Maharaja. Thus, Jammu and Kashmir was established as one of the largest princely states in India, receiving a 21-gun salute for its Maharaja in 1921. It was ruled by Gulab Singh and his descendants until 1947.
Jammu and Kashmir, also known as Kashmir and Jammu, was a princely state in a subsidiary alliance with the British East India Company from 1846 to 1858 and under the paramountcy of the British Crown, from 1858 until the Partition of India in 1947, when it became a disputed territory, now administered by three countries: China, India, and Pakistan. The princely state was created after the First Anglo-Sikh War, when the East India Company, which had annexed the Kashmir Valley, from the Sikhs as war indemnity, then sold it to the Raja of Jammu, Gulab Singh, for rupees 75 lakhs.
The Haveli District is a district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. It is one of the 10 districts of the Pakistan-administered territory of Azad Kashmir. It was previously a tehsil of the Bagh District but was promoted to the district status on 1 July 2009.
Forward Kahuta is a town and the district headquarters of the Haveli District in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. The district was formed in 2009 by separating it from Bagh District. The name "Forward Kahuta" has been used from the 1990s, prior to which the town was known simply as "Kahuta".
The history of Azad Kashmir, a disputed part of the Kashmir region currently administered by Pakistan, is related to the history of the Kashmir region during the Dogra rule. Azad Kashmir borders the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the south and west respectively, Gilgit–Baltistan to the north, and the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir to the east. The region is claimed by India and has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947.
The Jammu division is a revenue and administrative division of the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. It is bordered by the Kashmir division to the north. It consists of the districts of Jammu, Doda, Kathua, Ramban, Reasi, Kishtwar, Poonch, Rajouri, Udhampur and Samba. Most of the land is hilly or mountainous, including the Pir Panjal Range which separates it from the Kashmir Valley and part of the Great Himalayas in the eastern districts of Doda and Kishtwar. Its principal river is the Chenab.
Jammu is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. It is the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an Indian-administered union territory. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of 240 km2 (93 sq mi), is surrounded by the Himalayas in the north and the northern plains in the south. Jammu is the second-most populous city of the union territory. Jammu is known as "City of Temples" for its ancient temples and Hindu shrines.
Christopher Snedden is an Australian political scientist and author. He has studied and published on the long-running Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan. In his book, The Untold Story of the People of Azad Kashmir (2012), he proposed that the origins of the Kashmir dispute lay in the protests and eventual rebellion by the Kashmiri people of Poonch and Mirpur against Maharaja Hari Singh, and not in the subsequent invasion of Kashmir by Pashtun tribal militias from the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan.
After the Partition of India, during October–November 1947 in the Jammu region of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, many Muslims were massacred and others driven away to West Punjab. The killings were carried out by extremist Hindus and Sikhs, aided and abetted by the forces of Maharaja Hari Singh. The activists of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) played a key role in planning and executing the riots. An estimated 20,000–100,000 Muslims were massacred. Subsequently, many non-Muslims were massacred by Pakistani tribesmen, in the Mirpur region of today's Pakistani administered Kashmir, and also in the Rajouri area of Jammu division.
In spring 1947, an uprising against the Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir broke out in the Poonch jagir, an area bordering the Rawalpindi district of West Punjab and the Hazara district of the North-West Frontier Province in the future Pakistan. It was driven by grievances such as high taxes, the Maharaja's neglect of World War veterans, and above all, Muslim nationalism with a desire to join Pakistan. The leader of the rebellion, Sardar Ibrahim Khan, escaped to Lahore by the end of August 1947 and persuaded the Pakistani authorities to back the rebellion. In addition to the backing, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan authorised an invasion of the state, by the ex-Indian National Army personnel in the south and a force led by Major Khurshid Anwar in the north. These invasions eventually led to the First Kashmir War fought between India and Pakistan, and the formation of Azad Kashmir provisional government. The Poonch jagir has since been divided across Azad Kashmir, administered by Pakistan and the state of Jammu and Kashmir, administered by India.