Khttars of Atak - Who they are?

Khattars are indeed a very interesting tribe, having unique characteristics and existing only in in Atak District. In fact Atak is also called ‘Khaatarhi’ because of the fact that Khattars, despite being a small minority, are the dominant tribe in the district. They had even ruled Punjab during British Raj when the scion of the tribe, Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, was the Prime Minister of the united Punjab as a leader of the Unionist Party. They ruled even Pakistan indirectly by installing that nincompoop of a puppet, Shoukat Aziz, as PM, and then discarding him so unceremoniously. The District Nazim of Atak today, Tahir Sadiq, is also Khattar, who is running both his daughter and son-in-law as candidates for the NA in the coming elections. But how strange it may look no body is sure about their origin or their ethnic antecedents except that, keeping in view their fair complexion and handsome features, some people guess that they are the descendants of the Greek who ruled the area for about 200 years.

Can any body enlighten me in this respect?


Talawat Bokhari

Khattar is a martial tribe and they are mainly inhabitants of distt Attock. I dont know the exact figures but khattars are not minority in Attock. Sardar Shaukat Hayat Khan, a most prominent khattar wrote all the details about the origin of this tribe in his book, "Gumgushta Qaum" and its English version, named I belive, "the nation that has lost its soul". You can read first chapter of this book for the details. Mainly, this tells us that our tribe belongs to Arab nation and its original name in Arabic is Al Khattaar,meaning honorable.They were part of the great General Tariq bin ziyad's army and they attacked Gebraltor and Spain under his command. Our tribe's name is still written at an old historical door in Qartaba Seol. Thus we have blood relation with Hispanic nation. From Spain, khattars moved first to Baghdad and served under Abbasi control. Khattars' "azaad munsh" nature was not welcome in Abbasi darbar so they were sent to Afghanistan with the grant of governship of Seestan. From there, Khattars came to Hindustan with Mahmood Ghazanvi and settled in Bagh Neelab around the Indus river.
By nature, how are khattar and how they behave, it was very well described by a very famous Khattar poet, first person to be honored with PhD degree in Urdu, Junab Sadullah Khan Kaleem.

Nafrat kee zad men hon to bare sakht jan han hum.

hum ahle dil han hamen mohabbat ke mar de.

Most of Khattars are farmers by profession then fighters and politicians. They are very much interested in Urdu Adab, proof is Kaleem Sb.

Khizer Hayat Khan

dear sir i am interested in gathering knowledge about Khattar tribe, it may be of interest for u people, that this particular tribe i.e. the Khattars could only be found in Attock , not any other part of either punjab or elsewhere, will any body care to help me in digging its origin out? will be waiting for ur kindness!

Khttars of Atak - Who they are?

Thank you dear Khizer for your kind response, but excuse me your story about the Khattars seems rather far-fetched. It in fact raised more questions than it answered. I would however try to get the book of Shoukat Hayat and read it before making further comments on the subject. I have a great respect for Shoukat Hayat (I wonder if he is still alive), but the Khattar intellectuals with whom I have been in touch as a student activist were Tariq Ali and his mother Tahira Mazhar Ali. I also know Prof. Kalim Sahib if he is the one from Naara. One thing that I found common in all of them is that they, as you say, are 'azaad munsh' which raises doubts about their being religiously inspired and having been engaged in Islamic 'jehad' taking them all the way from Spain to
Atak, as you claim.

Regards

Talawat Bukhari

Thank you Bokhari Sb for your kind comment about me and Khattars.
If I'm not at fault, your brother Ijaz Bokhari Sb was chairman Attock Distt Council during my studies at Govt. college Attock. He was a very nice gentleman and did a lot of developments in Attock during his tenure.
You are right Kaleem Sb was from Naraa. You should read my article about Kaleem Sb in Urdu poetry section of Attock News.com and please write down any memories, if you have about Kaleem Sb.
I highly recommend you Sardar Shaukat's book, it will not only tell you story of Khattars but will also answer many of your questions about making of Pakistan.
I did not include in my comment and Sardar Shaukat also did'nt say either that Khattars had been moving around the world only for religious reason. It was their nature part 'azad munsh' and part 'hukmarani ka nasha' that was their drive force according to my point of view.

Khizer Khan

salam 2 all, according to mi knowledge kahttars of attock are basically from tribes area of NWFP, they were actually Khattaks nd by religion they were sikh that is Y they write SARDAR with their names, by the spelling mistake of a british they were converted khattars frm khattaks,
However what so ever they are, they were the traitors(ghaddar) of muslims nd loyal(wafadar) to their masters(BRITISH).nd as a result of their loyality to them they obtained intrests(mafadat) in shape of thousands kanals lands, govt services, political designstions frm BRITISH.
Respected shah sahab, U nd other people like u hav no such quantity of lands, Y?