Sardar Hassan Ali Khan Karlal

Sardar Hassan Ali khan Karlal is one of the most illustrious military commander and

mujahid of early 19th century from Hazara. His historic endeavors for the freedom and

struggle against both Sikhs and English have been well preserved in the historical annals.

English gazetteers of that era, Wajabul Arz of 1874 and Tarikh Hazara of that time contain

detail accounts of the bravery, courage and military stratagem of this great hero. Sardar

Hassan Ali khan was chief of the karlal tribe in early 19th century when the Sikhs were

trying to expand their rule over the Hazara territory .Karlal was the only tribe which under

the sagacious leader ship of this hero was able to retain their independence by defeating

the most powerful army in the entire northern India at that time on quite a few occasions.

In 1822 Ranjit Singh sent a large force under famous General Amar Singh Majitta which

was defeated by karlals under the command of Sardar Hassan Ali khan with great

slaughter. Amar Singh was also murdered by karlals .Lepel Griffin writes in his book about

this battle of Sumandar khata.”Due to the sheer size of the Sikh Army, the close aides of

Sardar Hassan Ali Khan were hesitant in continuing this confrontation with the Sikh Army.

But despite their hesitance, they continued manning their positions and launched their

occasional hit and run strikes on the Sikh forces. It was the saying of the Karlal tribe that

�Our Mountains are our Forts�. It was not thus easy for the Sikh forces to fight the Karlals

in the mountains. The Sikhs had a policy that they would attack a village, loot it, and carry the

loot back to their tents. They were taking pride in their size and power and were being

arrogant. One night, when the Sikh Army was sleeping in their tents, Sardar Hassan Khan

made a surprise attack on them. Again, the Sikh Army was caught unprepared. Sardar Amar

Singh was sleeping in a nearby house with some other Important Army officers. The

Mujahedeen surrounded the house and broke down the door of the house with axes. On seeing

the circumstances, Sardar Amar Singh took his weapons and came out with his other officers

out of the house and started negotiating with the Mujahedeen on this odd moment. The

Mujahedeen did not listen to him or the others and killed him and his other officers. One of the

dead was his brother Sardar Hari Singh. This incident took place on the banks of Samandar

Kath which is a tributary of the River Haro.’’

From 1822 to 1845 Sardar Hassan Ali Khan with the help of his tribe fought many battles with

Sikhs and was able to retain its independence throughout Sikh period. In 1844 once again Lahore

Dardar sent a large force under Diwan Mulraj and Hari Singh to subdue Karlal country, again taking

advantage of their difficult geographical terrain Sardar Hassan Ali Khan was able to defeat Sikh

army at place called Nah and killed more than 150 Sikh soldiers. During the British period at the

time of mutiny in 1857 Karlal tribe under Sardar Hassan Ali khan tried to revolt against the rule of

East India Company however British were able to imprison him and many mutineers of this tribe

were hanged along with some Dund tribesmen (Mutiny Reports 1857 Hazara District).