Tag Archives: Ramzan Khan

Dhanori: A village of war widows, and warriors in Rajasthan

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Dhanori Village, (Jhunjhunu), RAJASTHAN :

A total seventeen soldiers hailing from Dhanori, have attained martyrdom for the country.

At present, more than 550 from the village are serving the Indian Army, while many are enjoying their post retirement life back in their hamlet. There is not a single house in the village, from where a family member has not served the army.

Dhanori’s war widows with the pictures of their husbands

Jhunjhunu: 

A common thread binds Sayera Bano, Hasan Bano, Anwar Bano, Mumtaj Bano and Alhamdo Bano, of Jhunjhunu’s Dhanori village. They are all war widows. This village in Rajasthan, has given Indian army, soldiers who have given their lives to serve the interest of the nation right from the First and Second World Wars to Sino-India war to  Indo-Pak war and the Kargil war. Name a war, and the village will have a martyr for it, and the war widows.

Sayera’s husband, Azimuddin Khan had been martyred in World War II, Hasan and Anwar had lost their husband Saifi Muhammad and Nizamuddin Khan in 1962, Indo-China war. Mumtaz’s husband Zafar Ali Khan had martyred in 1971 and Alhamdo’s husband Ramzan Khan gave his life, while protecting the Indian soil during the Kargil war. However, the widows of World War I from the village are no longer alive, but there were six army men from Dhanori had attained martyrdom, in the war.

A total seventeen soldiers hailing from Dhanori, have attained martyrdom for the country.

At present, more than 550 from the village are serving the Indian Army, while many are enjoying their post retirement life back in their hamlet. There is not a single house in the village, from where a family member has not served the army.

“I have fought against Pakistan during the Indp-Pak war of 1971,” said retired Captain, Ali Hassan to eNewsroom. The war was not easy for our village, as we lost three of our sons, during this war. The village has also a Veer Chakra recipient. “Major MH Khan was from our village, I was under him. He was martyred in the war, later awarded the Veer Chakra,” recalled the retired captain.

MH Khan, whose father was an IAS officer, is the only army man from the village, to have made it to the rank of a Major in the Indian army. He, back then had pursued his education in Hyderabad.

Ali Hassan’s family has been protecting the Indian borders, fighting wars for safety of the nation for four generations now. Hassan takes immense pride in this and said with an air, “My grandfather and father were in the Indian army, so, I too joined it and now my son is serving our nation.”

Dhanori, is only 15 kilometers away from Jhunjhunu, and has a population of over 10000, of which a little over 70 percent comprises Muslims. They are mostly, Kayamkhani Muslims and have played a vital role in motivating people from every community to send at least one of their sons to serve the nation.

“We guided our friends from other community to join the Indian army,” Perwez Khan, who just retired after serving 17 years. He was youngest to be recruited from the village to Indian Army. He started serving the nation at a tender age of 16 only.

Despite, Dhanori sending so many men to fight for the nation, the government seems to be a little hesitant in acknowledging its contribution towards safeguarding India. “Dhanori has no senior secondary school. The Primary Health Center (PHC) shuts down soon after 4pm; there is no full-fledged hospital here. The roads are also not good. We also need a bank and an ATM,” rued Perwez.

“We also do not understand, why our village has not been adopted by any MP, since there will be no such place in India from where so many people have attained martyrdom,” said Alhamdo, the widow of Kargil war.

source: http://www.enewsroom.in / eNewsRoom India / Home> Freshly Brewed> Rajasthan / by Shahnawaz Akhtar / May 11th, 2017

Rajasthan Assembly Elections 2018: BSP’s prize catch in dargah town

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Ajmer, RAJASTHAN :

Syed Ammad Chishti
Syed Ammad Chishti

In Ajmer North, party fields Ammad Chishti from the Khadim community, which traces its descent to Khwaja Fakhruddin Gurdezi, who accompanied Khwaja Gharib Nawaz on his move to Ajmer around the year 1190.

At first glance, Syed Ammad Chishti looks like an urban professional, juggling career and family. But the 26-year-old is the second member of the Khadim community here to contest an Assembly election.

The community of nearly 800 families occupies a prominent position in the hierarchy of the famed 13th century dargah of Sufi mystic Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti here. It traces its descent to Khwaja Fakhruddin Gurdezi, who accompanied Khwaja Gharib Nawaz on his move to Ajmer around the year 1190.

As the custodians of the monument, the Khadims have unrivalled access to the inner sanctum and perform all the rituals and ceremonies at the tomb.

Religious service

As Khwaja Gurdezi was the Khadim-e-Khas (chief attendant) of Khwaja Gharib Nawaz, Khadims consider it their religious obligation to serve the tomb and receive all offerings.

The Mughal emperors, Hindu kings and later the British government had liberally granted jagirs (land grants), honours and rewards to Khadims.

Almost no Khadim family migrated to Pakistan during Partition, staying back to protect the shrine from pillage and plunder.

Abysmal conditions

Mr. Chishti, the youngest municipal councillor of the Ajmer Municipal Corporation, is contesting on Bahujan Samaj Party ticket in the Ajmer North constituency, where the historical dargah is situated.

“I represent the hopes and aspirations of not just the Khadims but all the people residing here,” he told The Hindu.

Syed M. Ayas Maharaj was the first Khadim to contest an Assembly election.

He won on Congress ticket in 1980, defeating Ramzan Khan of the nascent BJP by a margin of 2,825 votes.

Mr. Chishti points to the “pathetic condition” of the dargah area in the foothills of Taragarh, and the BJP government’s alleged neglect.

“We are supplied water once in three days in this area with a high population density. Pipelines from the Bisalpur dam were laid for Ajmer, but the water has been diverted to Jaipur,” he says.

It is not just the 45,000-strong Muslim electorate in Ajmer North that Mr. Chishti is banking upon. “Education Minister Vasudev Devnani has been elected thrice from here. Look what he has done, other than distorting history and changing the school curriculum. People are fed up,” he says.

Mr. Chishti says he will reach out to all the communities, let they be Sindhi, Vaish or Brahmin, with the promise of better living conditions and good governance.

Mr. Chishti, father of a two-year-old boy, says his political ambitions are rooted in his desire to bring about a change.

It was his father, Shamim Chishti, who had introduced the BSP in the dargah area. The young man went to Lucknow to meet party supremo Mayawati with a request for ticket. “Mayawatiji encouraged me to work for people’s welfare. She may address a public meeting in Ajmer on November 28,” he says.

Justice denied

Though Mr. Chishti does not mention it, there is an underlying bitterness among the Khadims over the government’s failure to punish the perpetrators of the 2007 blast at the dargah, in which three persons were killed.

Though the National Investigation Agency Special Court in Jaipur convicted two RSS functionaries in 2017, the Rajasthan High Court suspended their life sentences and released them on bail.

While Wahid Angara Shah, secretary of the Anjuman Khuddam Syedzadgan, a Khadims’ representative body, says politics should be kept out of dargah affairs, Anjuman member Sarwar Chishti, who had lodged the complaint in the blast case, alleges that the NIA had weakened the case after the change of government at the Centre in 2014.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Elections> Rajasthan 2018 / by Mohammed Iqbal / Ajmer – November 23rd, 2018