Naushera - Martial Race

Martial Race

With the advent of British a new profession was opened for the local people. The Awans were classified to be "martial race". The British recruited army heavily from Naushera for service in the colonial army, and as such, the Awans also formed an important part of the British Indian Army, serving with distinction during World Wars I and II. Of all the Muslim groups recruited by the British, proportionally, the Awans produced the greatest number of recruits during the First and Second World Wars. Contemporary historians, namely Professor Ian Talbot and Professor Tan Tai Yong, have authored works that cite the Awans (amongst other tribes) as being looked upon as a martial race by not only the British, but neighbouring tribes as well.

Sir Michael O'Dwyer, Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab joined the Indian service as Magistrate, Civil Judge, Superintendent of the Jail,and Treasury Officer. In 1885, he was posted first to Shahpur in Punjab. Writing about the tribes of Salt Range, he writes; "Of these perhaps the most interesting were the Awans of the Salt Range................It occurred to Wilson and me, who spent much time among them and every year had to send hundreds of them to prison for violent breaches of the peace, that it would be for their good and ours to open a career for the young" bloods" in the Army. A new battalion was then being raised. We induced the Commandant to come down to the great Horse Fair in 1888 or 1889, and persuaded the Awan graybeards to bring in some hundreds of their young men- preferably the wilder spirits. Recruiting caught on like wild-fire, and in twenty years the Awan soldier had made his name and was to be found in nearly every Mohammedan company or squadron recruited in the Punjab. The material benefits were of no small value to a poor and frugal tribe; but they valued even more the increased izzat (honour) which military service confers in the Punjab. In the Great War nearly every fit man of military age came forward from these Awan villages, and an inspiring sight was to see the batches of young recruits escorted for miles on their way by their mothers, wives, and sisters, singing songs of the brave deeds of their forefathers and urging the young men to emulate them."

After the Independence of pakistan, the army of Pakistan also heavily recruits Awans from this area. Awans occupy the highest ranks of the Pakistani Army. The late Lieutenant Colonel Qazi Iqbal Ahmad, late Lieutenant Colonel Qazi Iftikhar Ahmad, late Lieutenant Colonel Qazi Altaf Hussain, Late Major Qazi Zahoor ul Haq, Retired Major General Qazi Shafiq Ahmad, and many other senior officers of Pakistan Army belonged to this town.