ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>ZAKAR&#298Y&#256 KH&#256N (d.1745)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="ZAKAR*Y"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279ZAKAR&#298Y&#256 <u>KH</u>&#256N (d.1745), who replaced his father 'Abd us-Samad <u>Kh</u>&#257n as governor of Lahore in 1726, had earlier acted as governor of Jamm&#363 (1713-20) and of Kashm&#299r (1720-26). He had also taken part in Lahore government's operations against the Sikh leader Band&#257 Si&#7749gh Bah&#257dur. After the capture of Band&#257 Si&#7749gh and his companions in December 1715 at Gurd&#257s-Na&#7749gal, he escorted the prisoners to Delhi, rounding up Sikhs he could find in villages along the route. As he reached the Mu<u>gh</u>al capital, the caravan comprised seven hundred bullock carts full of severed heads and over seven hundred captives. After becoming the governor of the province in 1726, <u>Kh</u>&#257n Bah&#257dur Zakar&#299y&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257n, shortened to <u>Kh</u>&#257n&#363 by Sikhs, launched a still severer policy against the Sikhs and let loose terror upon them. His moving military columns forced the Sikhs to seek shelter in remote hills and forests. Yet Sikh bands continued harassing the administration attacking government caravans and treasuries. Such was the effect of their depredations that Zakar&#299y&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257n was obliged to make terms with them. In 1733, he decided to lift the quarantine forced upon the Sikhs and made an offer of a grant. His envoy, Subeg Si&#7749gh, a Sikh resident of the village of Jambar, near Lahore, who was for the time <i>kotwal</i> or police inspector of the city under Muslim authority, reached Amritsar where the Sikhs had been allowed to assemble and celebrate the festival of Bais&#257kh&#299 after many years of exile, and offered them on behalf of the government the title of Naw&#257b and a <i>j&#257g&#299r</i> consisting of the <i>parganahs</i> of D&#299p&#257lpur, Ka&#7749ganv&#257l and Jhab&#257l, worth a lakh of rupees in revenue. But the entente soon came to an end, before the harvest of 1735, Zakar&#299y&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257n sent a force and occupied the <i>j&#257g&#299r</i>. The Sikhs were driven away towards the M&#257lv&#257 region by Lakhpat R&#257i, the Hindu minister at the Mu<u>gh</u>al court at Lahore. In the clashes that followed many officers of the Lahore army, including Lakhpat R&#257i's nephew Dun&#299 Chand, were killed. Zakar&#299y&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257n took the field himself to re-establish his authority in the region. He had the fortress of &#7692allev&#257l blown up and ordered village officials to capture Sikhs and hand them over for execution. A graded scale of rewards was laid down ---a blanket for cutting off Sikh's hair, ten rupees for information about the whereabouts of a Sikh, fifty rupees for a Sikh scalp. Plunder of Sikh homes was made lawful; giving shelter to Sikhs or withholding information about their movements was made a capital offence. Zakar&#299y&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257n's police consisting of nearly 20,000 men especially recruited for this purpose, scoured the countryside and brought back hundreds of Sikhs in chains. Prominent Sikhs including the revered Bh&#257&#299 Man&#299 Si&#7749gh and Bh&#257&#299 T&#257r&#363 Si&#7749gh were, after the severest of torments, publicly beheaded at the Na<u>kh</u>&#257s, the horse-market of Lahore, renamed by Sikhs Shah&#299dgañj in honour of the martyrs. Yet Zakar&#299y&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257n remained unsuccessful in his object of vanquishing the Sikhs. He died at Lahore on 1 July 1745 a dispirited man, bequeathing to his sons and successors chaos and confusion.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Bha&#7749g&#363, Ratan Si&#7749gh, <i>Pr&#257ch&#299n Panth Prak&#257sh</i>. Amritsar, 1914<BR> <li class="C1"> Gi&#257n Si&#7749gh, Gi&#257n&#299, <i>Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u> Gur&#363 <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257</i>. Patiala, 1970<BR> <li class="C1"> Ga&#7751&#7693&#257 Si&#7749gh <i>Sard&#257r Jass&#257 Si&#7749gh &#256hl&#363v&#257l&#299&#257</i>. Patiala, 1969<BR> <li class="C1"> Gupta, Hari Ram, <i>History of the Sikhs</i>, Vol. IV. Delhi, 1982<BR> <li class="C1"> Gandhi, Surjit Singh, <i>Struggle of the Sikhs for Sovereignty</i>. Delhi, 1980<BR> <li class="C1"> Bhagat Si&#7749gh, <i>Sikh Polity in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries</i>. Delhi, 1978<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Bhagat Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>