29th March. A Black Day For The Punjabi Nation.

In 1758, Punjab came under the rule of Marathas who captured the region by defeating Afghan forces of Ahmad Shah Abdali. Abdali's Indian invasion weakened the Maratha influence, but he could not defeat the Sikhs. At the formation of the Dal Khalsa in 1748 at Amritsar, Punjab had been divided into 36 areas and 12 separate Sikh principalities, called misl. From this point onward, the beginnings of a Punjabi Sikh Empire emerged. Out of the 36 areas, 22 were united by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The other 14 accepted British sovereignty.

Ten years after Ranjit Singh's death, the empire broke up and the British were then able to defeat Punjab with the help of some Hindu Dogra kings. The Sikh State of Punjab was the only Indian state which was not under European rule at that time.

The death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in June 1839 was followed by political instability and rapidly changed of government in Punjab. Selfish and corrupt leaders came to the front. Ultimately, power fell into the hands of the brave and patriotic but utterly undisciplined army. This led the British to look greedily across the Sutlej upon the land on the five rivers even though they had signed a treaty in 1809.

The First Anglo-Sikh War (1845-1846): The decisive battle was fought at Sobraon on February 10, 1846, and the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh Majithia were routed. The English then crossed the Sutlej on February 13 and captured the capital of Lahore on February 20. The Sikhs were defeated due to treachery and half-heartedness of their leaders. The war came to an end by the Treaty of Lahore which was signed on 9th March 1846. This treaty left the Sikhs with no capacity for resisting the English. Another treaty was made with the Sikhs on 16th December 1846, this treaty is known as Second Treaty of Lahore or the Treaty of Bhairowal

The second Anglo-Sikh war began in 1848 as the Sikhs were feeling humiliated due to their defeat in the first Anglo-Sikh war. However, the immediate cause was the rebellion of Mulraj, Governor of Multan, against the company. This provided the new Governor-General Lord Dalhousie, a chance to interfere in the affairs of Punjab and annex Punjab in the British empire. The English and the Sikh forces fought at Ramnagar, Chillianwala, and Gujarat. The battle at Gujarat under the command of Sir Charles Napier was decisive. Punjab was annexed to the British dominion on 29th March 1849. Dalip Singh, the minor son of Ranjit Singh, and his mother, Rani Jindan, were pensioned off and sent to England.

The transfer of the Delhi territory from the North-Western (later the United) Provinces to Punjab, Punjab with its dependencies was formed into a Lieutenant-Governorship, Sir John Lawrence, then Chief Commissioner being appointed the first Lieutenant-Governor on January 1, 1859. In this office, he was succeeded by Sir Robert Montgomery (1859), Sir Donald McLeod(1865), Sir Henry Durand (1870), Sir Henry Davies (1871), Sir Robert Egerton (1877), Sir Charles Aitchison (1882), Sir James Lyall (1887), Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick (1892), Sir Macworth Young (1897), Sir Charles Rivaz (1902), Sir Denzil Ibbetson (1907) and Sir Louis Dane (1908).

In 1866, the Judicial Commissioner was replaced by a Chief Court. The direct administrative functions of the Government were carried out through the Lieutenant-Governor through the Secretariat, comprising a Chief Secretary, a Secretary, and two Under-Secretaries. They were usually members of the Indian Civil Service.

The territory under the Lieutenant consisted of 29 Districts, grouped under 5 Divisions, and 43 Princely States. Each District was under a Deputy-Commissioner, who reported to the Commissioner of the Division. Each District was subdivided into 3 to 7 tahsils, each under a tahsildar, assisted by a naib (deputy) tahsildar.

At the time of partition in 1947, the province was split into East and West Punjab. East Punjab (about 35%) became part of India, while West Punjab (65%) became part of Pakistan. Punjab bore the brunt of the civil unrest following the end of the British Raj, with casualties estimated in the millions.

The British Raj had political, cultural, philosophical and literary consequences in Punjab, including the establishment of a new system of education. During the independence movement, many Punjabis played a significant role, including Ajit Singh Sandhu, Bhagat Singh, Udham Singh, Kartar Singh Sarabha, Bhai Parmanand, Ilam Din Shaheed and Lajpat Rai.

In a matter of fact, after Bengali nation and Hindi-Urdu Speaking UP, CP people of Gunga Jumna culture, Punjabi was the third biggest nation in South Asia and for the British, Punjab was a frontier province of British India because, Punjab had boundaries with Afghanistan, Russia, and China. Therefore, to rule South Asia, the prime factor for the British rulers was to control Punjab by dominating or eliminating the Punjabi nation.

British rulers were well aware of the fact that, they succeeded to capture Punjab but they have not concurred the Punjabi nation. Therefore, British rulers imposed martial law in Punjab to govern Punjab and due to a fear from Punjabi nationalism; British rulers started to eliminate the Punjabi nation into fractions by switching over the characteristics of Muslim Punjabi, Hindu Punjabi, and Sikh Punjabi from  “ Affinity of Nation to Emotions of Religion”.

For demolishing the nationalism and promoting the religious fundamentalism in the Punjab, British rulers, not allowed the Punjabis to use their mother tongue as an educational and official language. Therefore, the British rulers first introduced the Urdu as an official language in Punjab and they brought the Urdu-speaking Muslim Mullahs and Hindi-speaking Hindu Pundits from UP, CP to Punjab for the purpose of educational teaching of Punjabi people along with, UP, CP bureaucracy, and establishment for the purpose of Punjab administration.

It resulted in the supremacy of UP-ites and UP-ite mindsets in policy making and decision taking in national affairs and foreign relationship of Punjabi nation, managed, motivated and sponsored by the British rulers to eliminate the Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Christian Punjabi’s into different religions and languages to secure their rule over last captured land and martial race of the subcontinent.

As a result, the Punjabi nation became a socially and politically depressed and deprived nation due to the domination of Urdu-Hindi language, the hegemony of Gunga Jumna culture and the supremacy of UP-ite traditions.

However, beside all the efforts of British rulers to demolish and eliminate the Punjabi nation, due to struggle of Punjabi nationalists during British rule in India, beside the dissimilarity of religion, because of natural affinity on ground of similar language, culture and tradition, Muslim Punjabi, Hindu Punjabi, Sikh Punjabi and Christian Punjabi were still a nation. Religion was a personal subject for building the moral character and spiritual development for the life of the hereafter. Punjabi nationalism was a subject for the worldly life affairs. Whereas, clans moreover, communities were the institutions for social interaction and charity work. Punjab was a secular region, the Punjabi language was a respectable language, Punjabi culture was an honorable culture and the Punjabi nation was a wealthy nation in British India.

In the 19th century, due to politics of Congress, dominated by the Hindi speaking, UP-ite Hindu leaders of UP, CP, Hindu Punjabi's started to prefer the Hindi language instead of Punjabi by declaring the Hindi as a language of Hindus and started to become clones of Gunga Jumna culture and traditions with the loss of their own Punjabi identity. Later on, Muslim Punjabi’s did the same and started to become the clones of Gunga Jumna culture and traditions with the loss of their own Punjabi identity, because of preferring the Urdu language upon Punjabi by declaring the Urdu as a language of Muslims, due to the influence of the Muslim League, dominated by the Urdu speaking, UP-ite Muslim leaders of UP, CP and presence of UP-ite Muslims in Punjab. 

As a consequence of preferring Hindi language by Hindu Punjabi’s by declaring the Hindi as a language of Hindus and preferring the Urdu language by the Muslim Punjabi’s by declaring the Urdu as a language of Muslims, the characteristics of assimilation to accomplish the sociological instinct started to switch over from “ Affinity of Nation to Emotions of Religion” and “A Great Nation of Sub-Continent Got Divided on Ground of Religion with Partition of Punjab and Got Emerged into Muslim and Hindu States, Pakistan and India”.

Hence, it started the fall of Punjabi nation and Punjabi people started to receive the reward of hate and regret from every honorable nation, in addition, the humiliation, loathing, and abuse from Hindi-Urdu speaking persons too.

This was the punishment of Punjabi's for not respecting their motherland, language, culture, and traditions, due to avoiding, ignoring and rejecting the act of unity by natural affinity and attraction of the various tribes, castes and the inhabitants of Punjab into a broader common "Punjabi" identity.

Therefore, since the partition of British India, socially and politically, the Punjabi nation is a confused, depressed and deprived nation due to "Dilemma of Division of Punjab and Punjabi Nation", "Trauma of Massacre of 2 Million Punjabis" and " Shock of World Largest Mass Migration". Therefore, Punjabi's are hanging to relocate their ideology that; The dominant factor of their identity should be their nation? The dominant factor of their identity should be their religion? The dominant factor of their identity should be their state?

At present, the Punjabi nation is composed of 56% Muslim Punjabi community of Punjabi nation, 26% Hindu Punjabi community of Punjabi nation, 14% Sikh Punjabi community of Punjabi nation, 4% Christian Punjabi community of Punjabi nation.

After the division of British India with the creation of Pakistan, the Muslim Punjabi community of Punjabi nation and Christian Punjabi community of Punjabi nation opted Pakistan as their state, whereas, the Hindu Punjabi community of Punjabi nation and Sikh Punjabi community of Punjabi nation opted India as their state.

Although, Pakistani Muslim Punjabis are the majority population of Pakistan and they have total control on the agricultural sector, trade sector, industrial sector, educational institutions, skilled professions, media organizations, political organizations, civil bureaucracy, the military establishment and foreign affair institutions of Pakistan. But, since from creation of Pakistan, Pakistani Muslim Punjabis has felt uncomfortable and upset due to the insulting attitude and behavior with Pakistani Muslim Punjabis regarding social respect and regard for Punjabi people by the Non-Punjabi Muslims, victimization with the Punjabis in Sind, Karachi, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, hurdles in socioeconomic stability of the Pakistani Muslim Punjabi Community in Pakistan, conspiracies in the prosperity and integrity of Punjab by the Non-Punjabi Muslims of Pakistan.

Lot’s of time, Punjabi nationalists tried to gather and unite the Pakistani Muslim Punjabis for the struggle to achieve the goal of social respect and regard of Punjabi people, for fair treatment with the Pakistani Muslim Punjabis in Sind, Karachi, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to remove the obstacles in socioeconomic stability of Pakistani Muslim Punjabis, to counter the conspiracies in prosperity and integrity of Punjab. But, the effort of uniting Pakistani Muslim Punjabis without stimulating awareness of their Punjabi identity in Punjabi masses and without providing them the consciousness of their Punjabi ideology, the effort of Punjabi nationalists always remained frail, fruitless and useless.

However, now it seems that Punjabi nationalists are succeeded in stimulating awareness of Punjabi identity in Pakistani Muslim Punjabi masses, therefore, now Punjabi nationalists are in the struggle to promote Punjabi language, culture, and traditions, along with, demand from Government of Punjab to implement Punjabi as an educational and official language of Punjab. But, it is an initial stage.

Punjabi nationalists are required to move forward and relocate the ideology of Punjabi nation too. Because, ideology is an orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group or nation and due to becoming clones of Urdu speaking, Gunga Jumna culture, people of UP, CP, Pakistani Muslim Punjabis had lost their characteristic of thinking as a Punjabi and they became addicted to acting as a Pakistani Muslim only by ignoring or withdrawing from their natural Punjabi affinity.

As the nation, religion, and state are realities, because their functions, intentions, principles, purposes, reasons, rules, and utilities are different, therefore, now Punjabi nationalists are required to provide the consciousness of Punjabi ideology too, to the Pakistani Muslim Punjabi masses, that;

1. They are inhabitants of the historic land of five rivers called as Punjab, their language is Punjabi, their culture is Punjabi and they attain the Punjabi traditions, therefore, without discrimination of race, color, creed or religion, they are Punjabi and they are the part of Punjabi nation. That's why, as a Punjabi and being the largest population in the 9th biggest nation and Punjabi speaking population of the world and the 3rd biggest nation of South Asia, they are supposed to build up the respectable social, economic and political interaction with other religious communities of the Punjabi Nation, as well as, political stability, economic growth and social respect of their nation in the worldly life affairs.

2. They follow the teachings of Islam, therefore, without discrimination of race, color, creed or nation, they are Muslim and they are the part of Muslim Ummah. That's why, as a Muslim Punjabi and being the 3rd largest ethnic community in the Muslim Ummah, they are supposed to practice Islam for their moral character building and the spiritual development of the life of the hereafter, moreover, respectable social, economic and political interaction with other ethnic communities of the Muslim Ummah.

3. They are the citizens of Pakistan, therefore, without discrimination of race, color, creed or nation, they are Pakistani and they are the part of the Pakistani State (A state composed of the area of Indus Valley Civilization). That's why, as a Pakistani Muslim Punjabi and being the largest ethnic population in Pakistan, they are supposed to take part in the political stability, economic growth and social respect of their state Pakistan, furthermore, respectable social, economic and political interaction with other ethnic communities of Pakistan.

After division of British India with creation of Pakistan, the Christian Punjabi community of Punjabi nation also opted Pakistan as their state, therefore, revival of Punjabi nationalism in the biggest religious community in Punjabi nation, i.e; Muslim Punjabi community of Punjabi nation will directly benefit the Christian Punjabi community of Punjabi nation due to creation of atmosphere and circumstances to accelerate the respectable social, economic and political interaction of Punjabi Muslims with the Punjabi Christians because, both the communities are part of same nation. For the purpose, Pakistani Christian Punjabis are required to determine that;

1. They are inhabitants of the historic land of five rivers called as Punjab, their language is Punjabi, their culture is Punjabi and they attain the Punjabi traditions, therefore, without discrimination of race, color, creed or religion, they are Punjabi and they are the part of Punjabi nation. That's why, as a Punjabi and being the largest population in the 9th biggest nation and Punjabi speaking population of the world and the 3rd biggest nation of South Asia, they are supposed to build up the respectable social, economic and political interaction with other religious communities of the Punjabi Nation, as well as, political stability, economic growth and social respect of their nation in the worldly life affairs.

2. They follow the teachings of Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, without discrimination of race, color, creed or nation, they are Christian and they are the part of Christian Ummah. That's why, as a Christian Punjabi, they are supposed to practice Christianity for their moral character building and the spiritual development of the life of the hereafter, moreover, respectable social, economic and political interaction with other ethnic communities of the Christian Ummah.

3. They are the citizens of Pakistan, therefore, without discrimination of race, color, creed or nation, they are Pakistani and they are the part of the Pakistani State (A state composed of the area of Indus Valley Civilization). That's why, as a Pakistani Christian Punjabi and being the largest ethnic population in Pakistan, they are supposed to take part in the political stability, economic growth and social respect of their state Pakistan, furthermore, respectable social, economic and political interaction with other ethnic communities of Pakistan.

The Pakistani Muslim Punjabi community of Punjabi nation and Christian Punjabi community of Punjabi nation is the 60% population of Pakistan and Punjabis has total control on the agricultural sector, trade sector, industrial sector, educational institutions, skilled professions, media organizations, political organizations, civil bureaucracy, military establishment and foreign affair institutions of Pakistan. But, due to only 2% population of India, the Hindu Punjabi community of Punjabi nation and Sikh Punjabi community of Punjabi nation is not in a position to dominate the state of India. However, to participate in the revival of Punjabi nationalism, Indian Hindu Punjabi community of Punjabi nation and Indian Sikh Punjabi community of Punjabi nation is also required to determine their role; 1. As a Punjabi 2. As a Hindu/Sikh Punjabi. 3. As an Indian Hindu/Sikh Punjabi.