Memories of 1940s Campbellpore

Author: 
Joginder Anand

Category:

Dr. Anand - an unholy person born in 1932 in the holy town of Nankana Sahib, central Punjab. A lawyer father, a doctor mother. Peripatetic childhood - almost gypsy style. Many schools. Many friends, ranging from a cobbler's son (poorly shod as the proverb goes) to a judge's son. MB From Glancy (now Government) Medical College Amritsar, 1958. Comet 4 to Heathrow, 1960.

Long retired. Widower. A son and a daughter, their spouses, five grandchildren, two hens (impartially, one black, one white) keeping an eye on me as I stand still and the world goes by.

 

In Campbellpore, now vanished from the maps! (Ed. Renamed as Attock by Pakistan).

In 1942, my mother, tired of seeing my father's difficult journey from Lahore, where he worked as a lawyer, to Muktsar, where she was posted as a doctor, requested the Government to transfer her to a nearer 'station' (the term then used in government service for postings).

However, the Inspector General of Hospitals, Punjab, decided to send her to Campbellpore - more than 400 kilometres from Lahore. The rationale was that instead of two or three changes of train from Lahore to Muktsar, my father could travel straight from Lahore to Campbellpore by Frontier Mail. A ten-hour journey. Then, a tonga ride to our hospital house.

It was Sir Colin Campbell, later elevated to a peerage, whose name was given to the township that sprang  up next to a cantonment where the British troops were quartered. In my time there, the district headquarters were located at Campbellpore. It was described as "District Attock at Campbellpore".

[As it was Sir Colin Campbell who defeated my ancestors at Gujrat in the Second Sikh War in the 1840s, I do not have a soft spot in my heart for him].

As was right and proper for a District Headquarters, the city had a very well-equipped hospital. The government-provided homes of the two doctors, one male, one female, were large with decent courtyards, and had "gardens" where we could and did grow vegetables. Our home already had beautiful lilies, narcissi with heavenly perfume, sweet peas, and nasturtiums. All these flowers were new to me.

Nearby, at the office of the Civil Surgeon (he was the district head of the hospital services), there were more and prettier flowers than any I had ever seen before. And there I ate, for the first time, cape gooseberries (botanical name then was Physalis edulis, Rus bhree in the vernacular), which are altogether different from the gooseberry. The hospital Malee (gardener) was not pleased that I had eaten the ‘Silber Sujjan' (Ed. civil surgeon) Sahib's special delight. I promised to be good.

It was a very dry area. I found myself standing one day, on a sandy, gravelly spot, with may be a score of small and a few large scorpions whizzing around my chappal-clad feet. However, they were very friendly, and they did not seem to mind that in my swift get away I squashed some of the family.

Outside the perimeter of the bungalow, next to the bathroom, there was a large "pit", lined with impermeable concrete - cement. The sweeper, known in the vernacular as Bhangi (reputedly all male sweepers imbibed Cannabis = Bhang), or Mehtar, would empty out the tank. The sweepress was called Mehtrani.

A vagary of language: the sweeper was also known as Jamadar. Unfortunately, the Viceroy's Commissioned Officer was also designated Jamadar\; the next rank up was Subedar, then Subedar Major. The last-named rank merited the highest regard of the colonel, who would address the S-M as Subedar Sahib. All others would call him "Major Sahib".

I do not know what the present etiquette dictates.

Once I chanced upon a wild plant, thick leaved, oozing a white milk if a twig was broken. Poisonous plant, locally known as Uck. Later, studying botany, I learnt that it belonged to Calotropis species. But my interest then was in the beautiful caterpillars feeding on its leaves.  I would put the caterpillars in an empty shoebox, feed them on Uck leaves, watch them pupate and then escape as fully-grown butterflies - out of my room. It took about two weeks to complete the process.

The walled courtyard was big enough for the family to sleep there, in the hot summer, under the stars, on charpoys\; the name is self-explanatory - the bed had four (char) legs (poys). (A tipoy was a three-legged table).

The charpoy was light enough to be carried in to the Verandah (Baraamdah) if it rained. Like many other acquisitions from the Indian languages, verandah is now a respectable English word.

We would roll up the bedclothes, if there were a strong air current swirling rain in to the Verandah.

Our residence was, perhaps, a hundred yards from the "small pox ward". There were occasional cases of patients with suspected small pox.  One telltale sign was my mother calling out to tell us to stay away from her while she disappeared in to the bathroom and divested herself of the possibly infected clothes. Looking back, I am not surprised that one took it so calmly\; it was "normal Indian life". We, the children in the family, were vaccinated every year.

[Nearly fifty years ago, in England, after visiting a suspected small pox case, I too would  call out to my wife and children to get out of the way while I de-robed, put the possibly infected clothes in to a special laundry bag, shower and then join the family.]

It was wartime. As the German troops advanced in to Russia, we started to see people who described themselves as Russian, looking for food. It is hard to believe that the German forces had pushed so close to British India. However, in 1943, the civil defence staff labourers started digging trenches not far from our house. There were just three or four, and I imagine these were meant for anti-aircraft guns, just in case. There were only practice air raid sirens. The trenches were good for playing in.

In 1943, there was the Great Bengal Famine. It was of truly huge. Two to three million Bengalis died. Many more travelled all over India. Some even reached Cambellpore. I remember a poor shrivelled young lady with an equally shrivelled baby, begging me, and anyone else nearby, to take the baby, and that she would do anything in return.

What caused the famine in Bengal? At that time, we knew not. Fate. Karma. In Punjabi, Rub dee Murzee (God's Will). Now we know that Bengalis did not like to eat wheat, and that Churchill preferred to ask for American ships for the War Effort, but not for importing rice.

Although Punjab had had no harvest failure, many things there were in short supply, and there was rationing of food, atta (flour), and sugar. At every entrance to a town or city, there was an "Octroi post"\; translated in to Urdu, the legend read Mehsool ki Chungi. Import of food grains (wheat, maize = corn to the Americans, rice), sugar into the city was banned - heavy fines for smuggling, even for domestic use. Of course, the system meant some extra, "black" income for the regulatory staff, who scared the living day lights out of any who broke the regulations.

My maternal grandfather, a farmer in Central Punjab, was not permitted to send us wheat.

Paper was in short supply. This made the writing of essays etc. difficult. Maths did not suffer too much - the custom was to use "slates" at school. These slates were seldom made of slate, the metamorphic rock. They were metallic, coated with a paint on which you could write with a "slate pencil", rub off and write again.

When writing Urdu, Devanagari, Gurmukhi, or Farsi, we could use the Takhti, a wooden writing slate also known as Phuttee. Children simply had to use the Takhti for practising good handwriting (Khush Khuttee).

A takhti was a flat rectangular piece of wood with a handle at one of the short sides. You painted it with a clay called Gaachi in the vernacular. This Gaachi was sold by stationers. You could also collect it from the banks of certain storm rivulets. [And in the North East Punjab, on the road leading from Pathankot to Dalhousie, in one area, there was a Gaachi da Pahar: a Gaachi mountain. The monsoon rains would wash large boulders of the clay down to the road, and then hurl down the steep gorge (Khud in Punjabi). Often there were accidents involving vehicles plunging down the eroded verge of the road.]

The takhti was a prized possession for us, the school pupils. And not only for calligraphy, which in Urdu and in Farsi, one tried to emulate the writings of the poets of a couple of centuries earlier. Farsi was a worthy hangover from the days of the Mughals. Maharaja Ranjit Singh (Sher-e­-Punjab, Lion of Punjab) kept Farsi as a court language, besides introducing Punjabi in Gurmukhi script. Urdu was merely the language of the lashkars, a military camp language to start with. Later, it received the blessings of the kings and many noted poets and writers, Muslim, and Hindu turned it in to a language of high culture. The British turned Urdu in to a court language, English being the other court language in the whole of the Punjab.

The takhti was also a useful weapon of defence, and sometimes used for pre-emptive strike\; rarely for naked aggression.

We used a black ink for writing on the takhti, and with a "Zed" nib, for writing in Urdu, on paper. The War curtailed the supply of decent paper (which, I recall, was made by Shree Gopal Paper Mills somewhere in the East). Ink too was in short supply. We learnt to mix various ingredients to produce a primitive ink.

Talking of shortages, factory made soap was scarce. Our parents made soap out of sodium hydroxide and sarson da tel (oil of rape seed, botanically, Brassica campestris.) It was fine for washing clothes, though the skin would become very dry and peel off.

For cleaning the teeth, ordinary folk would, as usual, pluck twigs of Neem (Azadirachta indica) or Kikar (Acacia species) to chew, fashion into a brush, clean the teeth and return the twig to Mother Nature - hurling it into the vegetation by the side of the road or mud path as they went for the morning constitutional, uttering Ram Ram (Hindus) or Wahe Guru (Sikhs), or whatever the religion decreed.

It was a little harder for the Anglicised people, who had adopted the toothbrush and toothpaste. No problem getting hold of Made-in-India tooth brushes, except that the bristles came adrift in your mouth. Looking back, I wonder though which animal species supplied (unwillingly, no doubt) the bristles. Toothpaste was not available. So, a substitute was made at home - ground up charcoal mixed with ground salt. In our home, the charcoal came from the kitchen fire in the Chulha on we cooked our food. Our salt certainly came from the Great Salt Range, Khewra mines, situated in District Jhelum, located in the Pothohar plateau.

My headmaster had two sons. One was my classmate. The other, older, was a cadet at the Air Force Flying School at RAF Chaklala. When he was about to pass out of the School, one day he flew low over the School. Next moment, there was a bang. The plane had vanished. In a few minutes, we learned that he had crashed in the woods nearby.

P N Ghai was another of my classmates. Years later, in 1959, I was a house surgeon in a hospital in New Delhi. He was one of the registrars. I wonder where he is now.

The school children were mostly Moslems, reflecting the population composition. There was, in those days, no religious conflict.

In particular, I remember four Moslem boys who were very close friends and always went everywhere together. Once they invited me to their "village". If I remember correctly, it was called Syedan da Mohalla (the Syeds' Quarter). We were not "mates", in modern terminology, but they were exceptionally well‑behaved, very kind young lads. They were three or four years older than the rest of my classmates.

We had scouts in our school. In those days, there were three varieties of scouts:

  • Bharat Scouts - Hindus in Hindu schools
  • Muslim Scouts - Muslims in Islamia schools
  • Boy Scouts - all comers, in government schools.

I was a Boy Scout, who reached the Tender Foot rank, half-way to the point of becoming a Second Class Scout.

As Boy Scouts, we wore:

  • If Sikh, normal Sikh Style turban
  • If Hindu or Muslim, a Muslim style turban-cloth (wound round a Kulla.)

In the Western parts of the Punjab, the Hindus tended to wear, either a round, brown cap, or a Muslim style turban - sensible to "blend" in to the background, rather than stick out as a sore thumb.

In ordinary school life, we - all boys - were bare-headed. The exception, of course, were the Sikhs, who wore their normal turban, wound round the head fresh every day, instead of taking it off on going home and slipping it back in the morning like a cap.

Most of the pupils wore the West Punjabi Salwar Kameez. Some of us wore the Central Punjabi Pajama Kurta - which instantly marked us out as "others".

Funnily, we never thought of the Welsh, the Scots, the Irish, or the English as Brits - they were all English to us. This, in spite of reading history and geography, and learning about the kings and queens, from the time of Henry VII to George VI.

Our studies of history and geography were of a higher order than those taught to English school children. So I found, well over half a century ago, in England. However, we knew next to nothing about the Football Clubs of the British Isles. And that is where the English school boys left me open mouthed with wonder. I still cannot understand this passion. Now, hockey would be a different matter altogether. Would it not?

One day, our Scout master, a Sikh (his religion or his turban, perhaps, was pertinent in this episode), took us for "tracking". Away we went, happily, a couple of miles out of the town, in to the wilderness, to a stream with some muddy water. Not a soul in sight, save us scouts in mufti (a word perhaps now expunged from the lexicons of Indian and Pakistani languages? A hangover from Pax Britannica - and that would never, never do in Resurgent India or Resurgent Pakistan. It is not Bombay English, nor Karachi English.). We were thirsty. The Scout master taught us to scrape a hole in the sand and grit about a foot, (about 30 cm to you who are metricated) from the water's edge, and well below the water level. We watched the water ooze in. It was clear, looking clean, (even if it was not). We cupped our hands and brought the water to our parched lips.

As we were busy quenching our thirst, along came a group of about a dozen teen-agers. Seeing them, some of our group disappeared. Clearly, they knew the area, recognised the bullies and melted away.

The Sikh Scout master, with perhaps a dozen youngsters, would have been no match for the teen-agers, who were also armed with hockey sticks. The young "gentlemen" used some choice Punjabi phraseology towards the teacher who replied in a very civil language. After a few minutes, our visitors told us to go, and away we went. Much relieved.

Did the Scouts who quietly slipped away ever disclose to the Headmaster or to the Scout master, who the bullies were? I do not know but I do not think so. They just returned to the next training session as if nothing untoward had ever happened.

One of the teachers had a very well-deserved reputation for the sadistic punishments that he inflicted on his fifth class (ten year old) pupils. No one seemed to take him to task. One day he over­reached himself and beat a boy so much that even he could see that the child was unconscious. Then, this sadist arranged for a charpoy to carry the boy to the hospital. We saw him following the patient to the hospital, crying to the heavens above to save the child.  The boy must have recovered. The teacher disappeared. We heard no more. Which was odd.

In 1943, we had a normal winter. We school children used to knock holes in the bottom of tins and hook a wire through the upper part to make a handle. Then we would load up the tin with pieces of wood or even charcoal, put a glowing ember at the bottom, and swing the contraption through the air very fast so that nothing dropped out. The fire would light up. This was our mobile "heater". We were permitted to keep it in our classroom. There was no heating of any kind in schools then\; perhaps there is none even now.

One day, the normal winter rain. Then, I saw something totally out of my ken. From the clouds above fell cotton wool. It was - snow flakes. For the first time in fifty years, said the locals, it snowed in the plains of Campbellpore. I had never seen snow in my life, though I had seen ice on the mountain through which Banihal Pass connected Jammu and Kashmir.

In 1943 or 1944, there were two occasions when a live cloud blanketed off the sun for a couple of hours. Swarms of locusts which, we heard, had bred in Africa, flown across the Arabian Sea, gobbled up crops and tree leaves in Western India but left Central Punjab untouched. We heard that the food-less villagers had been driven to eating roast and fried locusts.

We saw a few locusts which dropped off as their fellow travelers wended west. We could not bring ourselves to roast or curry them. They looked like, as they were, grasshoppers. The birds certainly had a feast.

1945 summer, came the orders for my mother to move again. This had been the longest stretch of schooling I had ever had and I had made friends. The time for farewells. But then the Gypsy Life must take over.

______________________________________

© Joginder Anand 2015

Comments

I am dr abdus Salam from Campbellpur. Sir please tell us the name of your school and its location.Can u recall some of your teachers? If you donot mind what was name of your mother who was doctor Thanks

Thank you Doctor Sahib The name of the school was Govt High School. The head at that time was Sardar C S Gill. A mathematics teacher was Mr Gandhi. The location of the school: between the hospital campus and the school games playground was a small river ( rather a stream) bed. It was dry most if the time. Only when it rained upstream did it become a roaring mass of water with stones and small boulders hurtling down. We children living in and around the hospital used to listen out for the distant thunder and the sound of water in the rainy seasons ( both July-August and the winter Dec-Jan) before running down the embankment on the hospital side and then up the embankment on the schppl playground side. By the way the morning school prayers were held in be play-ground. IF it was, in our opinion, risky to cross the dry river bed - because of the rain upstream, we used to go out of the hospital on to the main road, walk up the road, turn left towards the school which had its gates on the main road. My mother's name was Dr Diljit Kaur. I think I have answered your questions. I do not know how young (or old) you are. Campbellpore must have changed since my time ( seventy years ago). May you live long , happy and healthy.

Thanks for detailed and prompt reply .. Government Pilot Secondary School Attock City was probably your school. It is north west to your home in 1942. If you see wikimapia Kamal Pur Syedan is the only feature which has not change. Rest all including name of Campbellpore has been changed. Now it is Attock City since 1980. If you type Girls College Attock Pakistan on wikimapia you be surprised that here was Civil Hospital and your home in 1942. GOVT MC High School Attock City was probably your primary school. I did my middle in 1972 from same school. Civil hospital was shifted to new building in 1961 north of city on Rawalpindi Road.

My thanks to Dr Abdus Salam for the "correction". In my time, my school ( I was there only from 1942, End, to summer 1945, before the War ended. I finished my matriculation from Lahore in 1946) at Campbellpore was definitely called Government High School, Campbellpore. The hospital was called the Civil Hospital. I went to Campbellpore in my 7th class and chose Farsi and Urdu languages, as opposed to Hindi and Sanskrit which was the other option. All good wishes Waddi Ummar howay. Khush raho.

Hello sir my grandfather is also from Campbell pore he was born in 1940 he wants to know more about his birthplace can you share your contact no.

sir my name is AKBAR i am from ATTOCK EX campbellpur YOU can take historical information my whatsapp number is +923465729576

I am also from Attock ex name Campbell pur my name is AKBAR can i talked to your grandfather about the memories of city My whatsapp number is +923465729576

Hi Dr. Salam. Do you know anything about the Shaikhs of saman village? Shaikh fateh ahmed/khan? They were in district Campbellpur and I am trying to research my ancestors from there.

? I never visited Saman village and have no personal knowledge of Shaikh Ahmed Khan. ? I had schooling at Attock city (1967 to 1974) and know Sheikh Abdul Qadir of Saman. He had a Volkswagen and a big Garage for same. At that time there were very few cars in Attock city. He probably served in South Africa education department before 1947. Dr Waseem Siddiqi a general physician of Attock is his grandson. He may help you to give details of your ancestors. ? Sheikhs are so numerous in Attock city that if you address some unknown person by ?Sheikh Sahib? you will be 50% right. ? The Gazetteer of the Attock District 1930 records that Attock District had a significant population of Shaikhs.The Shaikhs of Tajak,Kalu and Saman represent the old kanungo families. The majority is in Government service. ? They are good cultivators and careful managers, and in the Chhachh largely cultivate their own lands. ? They are divided into two parties. Of the Wilayati party (people who went to England) Shaikh Ahmed Khan, Shaikh Fateh Khan, and their other brothers set a fine example in constructing at their own expense a local dispensary, and a delightful Child Welfare center (Gazetteer of the Attock District 1930. Sang-E-Meel Publications. 1932. Page 115)

Thank you for your response. The wilayati party is what my great grand father was and he is referred to as Shaikh Fateh khan. Anyway I can get in touch with someone who could shed more light into that Era or this? Perhaps a way to contact Waseem Siddiqi?

Dear saqib, I can help and recall the name off your grandfather. I am from the same family off sheikh but from a different village. My mother in law is related to your grandfather. When you read this please contact on tahir@miraconsultancy.com Regards

Very good piece. Reminiscence and nostalgia well up in the heart with all kinds of memories. Perhaps you can reward us with another essay with the independence movement, the trials and execution of freedom fighters (desh bhagats), the games of the poor: (gullee danda, marbles (bantay), Kabaddi and wrestling. Thank you.

hi! can any one tell me where hindu population used to live in Campbell pur my father R.N anand was frm Campbell pur n i was searching my house in that area thanks Amit Anand amit.anand0009@gmail.com

A beautiful building known as "Tola Ram Building " exists in Sarafa Bazar Attock city (campbellpur)

hi everybody. i am a permanent resident of attock city .i was searching for the history of lord campbell who built this city. and trying to find if someone from his family can be traced. surprsingly i just found this page and really i loved to read this article. so happy to see that people of subcontinent still remember their native places. now the city has changed allot but there are still so many buildings and houses which are more than 100 year old. many buildings are there which are as same as they were before partition.if someone knows about some alive family members of lord campbel i would like to know.because i have seen lord capmbels name in history books of attock city and i would like to see his descendants. i feel great when i find such a loving forum. my whatsapp is +92 3005609060

Thank you Sardar Sahib. I am glad you enjoyed it. I do not know if Campbell left any descendants. All good wishes.

Reply to Mr Sehgal. Thank you Sehgal Sahib. My memory is getting poorer. There is nothing more that I can tell anybody about Campbellpore. Your grandfather born in 1940 was about two when I went to Campbellpore. I would not have come across him. Sorry not to be able to help.

Dear Dr. Anand, It's a beautifully written piece, and I must congratulate you on your memory for well-articulated and an extremely vivid description. My family hails from Campbellpore as well and if I am not mistaken my dad's birth year was 1932. He grew up there until 1947 and may have attended the same school. If my memory serves me right he and his siblings were all part of boy scouts. In fact, our house in Delhi is named after the district. I knew very little of the land of our forefathers and this has been informative. I will be an honor to hear back from you. Thank you.

Correction: sorry for the mistake in the email id.

Hello, I am Chetan Sethi s/o Lt Sh Bal Kishan Sethi the then resident of village Dhermond Tehsil Talagang Distt Campbellpur ( Now Attok ). He was 24 yrs of age at the time of partition. His uncle was a Balbrahamchari Saint namely Pujya SH Gopi Raj ji Mahanubhav( Jai Krishani - Mahanubhav). At the time of partition some muslim residents of V Dhermond helped them in transporting Hindu JaiKrishani Mandir Dhermond's Idols etc the Camp for further journey to India. If anybody can help in sharing some information regarding Jai Krishani Mandir Dhermond. or some associated memorise We shall be grateful to them. Regards

Mera Campbellpur---------- Dr Abdus Salam- [salampindi@gmail.com] Campbellpur was named Attock City in 1978(1) ? My sister Dr Tabussum Shaheen is APMO DHQ Hospital Attock .She did FSc from Govt Girls College Attock in 1978. Her FSc certificate shows Attock and not Campbellpur. (2) ? My brother Major Dr Nadeem Us Salam was in class 4th at MC middle School in 1978. He says we use to write daily name of school on Takhti. It was a welcome change of name from difficult Campbellpur (Kaf Yay Meem Bay Lam Pay Wao ray 0 to easy Attock (Alif Tay Kaf). In 1980 he was in class 6th and no more used Takhti. It means that name change occurred in 1978 rather than in 1980. (2) References 1. Field Appraisal Report TMA Attock 2006 2. Personal Communication Kamalpur Syedan It is not Campbellpur Syedan. It is Kamalpur Syedan (Zabar on Meem)both in local usage and also in official record. I lived in Kamalpur Syedan Giran (village) and have a Firsthand Knowledge. Some Kashmiri (like Miskeen and Saleem )and some Syeds ( like Sibte Hasan ,Talawat insurance company and Nizakat PTCL, Waqar naqvi brother of Zaheer Naqvi Shaheed )were my class-fellows in MC middle and Pilot School.Our English teacher from 6th to 8th was Akhtar Shah Sahib was also from Kamalpur syedan. So it is Kamlpur Syedan like Kamalpur Musa and kamalpur Alam villages of Chhachh,kamalpur Mayan near Jhang Bahtar & Kamalpur Sherjang near Fatehjang CAMPBELLPUR (KAMILPUR) -------NAMING THEORIES ? Campbellpur is mentioned first time in current books / record in 1854 (1) ? According to Imperial Gazette of India it takes its name from Kamilpur Syedan, a small adjacent village (2,3) ? Campbellpur does not trace to anyone named Campbell (4). It is the English pronunciation of the local village of Kamilpur Syedan In 1854 Campbellpore was a non-entity .It did not deserve a brand new name. Therefore British simply anglicized the existing name. ? In 1857 kutcha barracks were built by Lieutenant Taylor of the Bengal Engineers at the cost of 3000 Rs for 50 European soldiers (5) ? Owners of village Kamilpur gifted 26 acres and sold 160 acres of land, for Campbellpore Cantt (6) ? The widely accepted view of tracing Campbellpur to Sir Colin Campbell is based on two-line sentence of George Dodd (7)?Wishing to obtain a healthy military station west of the Indus the brigadier in command laid the foundation of Campbellpore a station named in honor of the commander in chief ? ? This naming theory is baseless because of 4 reasons. 1) It appears that George Dodd a writer never visited India. He has no idea of location of Campbellpur. He places it west of Indus whereas Campbellpur is 10 kilometer east of Indus. 2) First mention of Campbellpur is in record is in 1854(1).Campbell became Commander in Chief in 1857.This is very unlikely that the town was named after him in 1854 before his becoming C in C. Campbell was busy in Crimean War in 1854. Brigadier Colin Campbell (Later Field Marshal) (1792-1863) fought Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1848-1849, under Sir Hugh Gough. Campbell returned home in 1853 and commanded a Brigade in Crimean War in 1854.In 1857 he was made the commander of British forces in India .He left England and reached Calcutta in August 1857 3) This naming theory has not been shared by any other authenticated official record or independent book 4) This theory has gained favor recently due to copy/cut and paste practice References 1. General Report of the Administration of the Punjab for the Years 1849, 50 &51 -Chronicle Press Lahore 1854 2. Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 9. Oxford [1909] 3. Imperial Gazetteer of India ---Provincial Series (Punjab Vol. II) ---1908 4. Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of Hinduism-Benjamin Walker ? 1968 5. Nine Years on the North-west Frontier of India from 1854 to 1863 by Sir Sydney Cotton 6. History of MES of Pakistan -- Engineer in Chief Branch GHQ Rawalpindi 1991 7. The history of the Indian revolt by George Dodd London, Edinburgh 1859 Campbellpur Railway Station ---- ? In October 1878 the 123 Km long Jhelum-Rawalpindi section was opened and train Reached Rawalpindi (1). ? In January 1881 Rawalpindi to Haji Shah Railway was completed (2, 3).This is called Purana Station in local language. Campbellpur cantt was 4 miles south of Haji Shah Railway station. Haji Shah Village was one mile from the railway station (4) ? Punjab Northern State Railway was operating in this area. Khairabad Kund to Peshawar Railway was completed in May 1882(2). ? There was no railway bridge on Indus .Passengers used to leave the train at HAJI SHAH cross the bridge of boats at Attock? or in the months of June, July, and August, the ferry ? and re-enter the train for Peshawar at Khairabad. (4) ? 5 miles railway line from Haji shah to Attock bridge was completed in May 1881(2,5) ? Attock Railway Bridge opened for traffic on 24th May 1883(1). ? Section from Attock Bridge to Khairabad, 3 miles, was opened on 31st May 1883(6) ? Original alignment of the North-WesternRailway was altered in 1899, so as to pass through Campbellpur(7)18 Km long section between between Sanjwal and Attock City to Rumian section was opened in 1899(1). ? Haji Shah old railway station remained functional for 18 years from 1881 to 1889. ? Campbellpur Railway station was opened in 1899. ? 31 Km long Basal - Campbellpur section was opened in 1899(1).Basal -Campbellpur railway line passes through kala citta range. There are 11 tunnels. Work on this line progressed from the south to the north as shown by the numbering of tunnels. The number 11 tunnel was completed in 1898 and is the north most. It lies near Kanjur . No. 8 tunnel is the longest having 541 meters length. Jhalar railway station on the south side of No. 8(8) References 1 Chronology of Pakistan Railway 2 Sessional Papers - Volume 73 - Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons - 1902 ? 3 Cook's Indian tours ... Programme of Cook's new system of international travelling ticket ?1881 4 The Land of the Five Rivers and Sindh: -David Ross ? London- 1883 - ? 5 Report On The Administration Of The Punjab.Lahore - 1882 6 N.-W.F. Province Gazetteers - Volume 6, Part 1 7 Punjab District Gazetteers (1932 ) 8 My shortest train journey by Salman Rashid The news June 2009 Campbellpur Municipal Committee Campbellpur was divided into two separate abadis known as (1) Civil Station, and (2) Civil Bazar. The latter was constituted as a Notified Area in 1908. Subsequently the ?Civil Station? was included in the Notified Area in 1912.(1)The Campbellpur Notified Area continued as such up to 1924 when it was replaced by the present Municipality(2). References 1. Gazetteer of the Attock District, 1930 - 2. Punjab District Gazetteers - 1932 ? There are 2 types of Kashmiri in Campbellpur 1) Kashmiri of Kamalpur Syedan,Hazro and Fateh Jang. The major migration from Kashmir valley towards Punjab was during the1800s when severe famines hit Kashmir Valley due to repeated prolonged winters with heavy snows (1).These include Senator Waheed Akhtar Family, Calcutta Boot house and Dr Ataullah Radiologist. They are not called Muhajir and have no vote for AJK Assembly?Jammu 6 2) Kashmiri Muhajirs of 1947 like Kabiruddin Gilani Hamam Road father of Ashiq kaleem PPP And Raja Siddique(2) near Madina Masjid.They vote for Legislative Assembly of AJK. Raja Siddique was a minister in AJK?Jammu 6 References 1. The Valley of Kashmir - Sir Walter Roper Lawrence 1895 2. Attock politics: never a dull moment - Newspaper - DAWN .Dec 25, 2012 Pre-Partition Campbellpur was a dominantly Hindu City . Tola Ram a wealthy contractor. After partition Muslim Muhjirs from Bareilly replaced them

Dr Abdus Salam salampindi@gmail.com In response to post of Chetan Sethi ? No information regarding Jai Krishani Mandir Dhermond available with me. ? But a few lines from Gazetteer of the Attock District about a nearby temple may be of your interest ? G a z e t t e e r of the Attock District Part A [1907] - Pages 31 To 33 ? KALAR ? Twelve miles east of the junction of the Soan with the Indus, between Makhad and Kalabagh, and about three miles due south of the village of Shah Muhammad Wali is an old temple called Kalar or Sassi da Kallara . ? It is situated at a on the edge of a hillock on bank of the Kas Leti [a stream] ? Leti is eight Kilomete west of Dhermond Tehsil Tallagang ? Tehsil Tallagang was previously District Campbellpur .It is part of district Chakwal since 1985.

i am from Campbellpur (now attock), living in Hong Kong. My grandma (born 1915) is still alive and remembers many names and stories of her hindu neighbors who migrated to India after partition. she told me that her migrated neighbors used to write for few year to my grandma's family but later somehow they lost contacts and till date didn't hear anything from each other

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