The Afghans are a formidable race, who humbled many powers of their times, on their soil, to which history remains eye witness . The ANP leadership rightly claims, as identity and ancestry of all tribes of Pukhtuns of Pakistan to be Afghans , who remain proud Pakistanies by nationality and choice of referendum, held before partition but both genetically and historically Afghans by race and genealogy .
Sadly, Pukhtuns on both sides of the divide have faced many challenges in history and so their lands, one being Mardan. The place where I am right now for the Qul of my late Uncle Khan Aziz Sarfaraz Khan, being held inside the family owned Premier Sugar Mills . These pictures caught my attention in one of the rooms of their house that took me far into the far pavilion of history.
Mardan, being the second largest city of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, home to the British famed Guides Cavalry, now Punjab Regimental Centre, and home to many known politicians, soldiers bureaucrats and traditional notable families whether from Mardan proper, Hoti or Toro.
The importance of the city of Mardan in the backdrop of the British Great Game, can be gauged from the fact of being a subject of books and movies. One being “The Far Pavilion”, an epic novel of British-Indian history, written by M. M. Kaye, published in 1978, which tells the story of an English officer during the British Raj. There are many parallels between this novel and Rudyard Kipling’s Kim that was published in 1900: the settings, the young English boy raised as a native by an Indian surrogate mother, “the Great Game” as it was played by the British Empire and Imperial Russia.
The novel, rooted deeply in the romantic epics of the 19th century, has been hailed as a masterpiece of storytelling. It is based partly on biographical writings by the author’s grandfather, as well as her knowledge of and childhood experiences in India. It has sold millions of copies, caused travel agents to create tours that visited the locations in the book, and inspired a television adaptation and a musical play.
To me, the city of Mardan, has many sentimental attractions, one being home to the Honourable family of late Khan Bahadur Sarfaraz Khan, secondly, a city where today both the Commisioner Honourable Abdul Jabbar Shah and Commandant Punjab Regimental Centre Brig. Saleem, both being my school and home town fellows . It was Honourable Abdul Jabbar Shah, who provided the funeral procession administrative support that enabled us travel hassle free and absolute ease in Mardan, now an over – populated and congested city, to whom I sent a thank you text both for his Deputy Commisioner and District Police Officer .
Late Khan Bahadur Sarfaraz Khan, was a kind human being, as reflected from his facial expressions in the shared picture, who would sit by hours by the hospital bed of my late father in Srinagar, now occupied Kashmir before partition ; when he underwent multiple surgeries to save amputation of his right leg’s tibia bone, infected by the rusted stirrup of the horse saddle that he rode as a child , during one of the family’s bear hunts and so would one day his grandson, the present Khan of Mardan, Honourable Abbas Khan, continue with the tradition and visit my late father in Islamabad before his death of respiratory infection in 2006. I and my children would be ever grateful to this kind family and their future generations, in the unkind world, we live .
