This letter refers to the article ‘Stories from Hazara’ (June 30, 2024) by Dr Naazir Mahmood. The 'history' depicted in the works of Akhtar Raza Saleemi makes for a good fictional narrative but it would be a mistake for anyone to take it as serious, factual history. For example, Saleemi goes at length in his volumes to imagine some kind of general native resistance in the Hazara region against British colonial rule. Prior to British rule, the Hazara region remained under Sikh rule. No doubt, many of the local people and tribes resisted or rose up against what was, to the best of my knowledge, a cruel and unjust regime.
When Major James Abbott arrived in this region in 1846, sent by Sir Henry Lawrence to make a fair revenue assessment and restore basic law and order, almost all the people and tribes of Hazara found Abbott sympathetic to their plight. During the 1857 war, the vast majority of the Hazara chiefs and tribes gained rewards for their service in 1857-1858 and these are well-documented. Indeed, even later postcolonial historians, foreigners and local residents, attest to this fact.
Ilyas MB Khan
Mansehra