Post by Dr.Allahrakha Sindhu on May 13, 2015 14:52:51 GMT 5.5
The Legend - Jagga Gujjar of Lahore.
The legend - Jagga Gujjar the most famous Gujjar of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Jagga Gujjar of Chowburgi, Lahore who is remembered till today for imposing the notorious ‘Jagga Tax’ on Lahore, after his name. Specially the Qasai community of Bakra Mandi in the late 1960s who paid one rupee on every goat to be cut. Nobody else even any Gujjar still cannot reach the height of his fear. His name was enough to pay respect and money too in easy translation “Naam hi kafi tha”. The status of Gujjar terror was always in Punjab but in real he took it to its peak and still Gujjars are enjoying this status. Afterwards him, his family started to make films on him which promote Gujjar’s publicity more and that was the first time to be made film on a real character, mostly Gujjar films are on real characters, such as Wehshi Gujjar, Jagga Gujjar, Jagga Tax, Puttar Jaggay da,etc was made on him.
His real name was Chaudhry Muhammad Sharif Gujjar. His “Jagga” was the name given by his mother. From a very early age, he wanted to be remembered Jagga Gujjar. His character was also famous as a portrayal of Robin Hood who always took care to poor people and distribute money among them and solve their problems. Whenever Buddha Gujjar, Jagga’s father, stops his horse carriage at a shop, people gather around him and sang praises of Jagga Gujjar to him. “Your son Jagga stopped a man from eve-teasing my sister,” says one. “Your son, Jagga, stopped a bootlegger from selling liquor,” says another. “Your son, Jagga, ensured that my husband returns home on time,” says a woman. His father was most big Deraydar of Lahore where people came for help and solution to their problems and disputes and he took decisions over them. “Chaudhry Budha Khan Raees Gujjar” was written on his Dera.
“This is true… the people in this neighborhood feared Jagga Gujjar because he stopped young boys from eve-teasing and stopped others from bootlegging or selling narcotics,
Jagga Gujjar was jailed at the age of 14 for avenging the murder of his brother, Makhan Gujjar, at a mela in the year 1954. Jagga killed the man who shot his brother eight days later. Holding Acha Shukerwala responsible for Makhan’s murder, Jagga organised an attack on Shukerwala from his jail cell. Two of Shukerwala’s men died while Shukerwala was wounded in the attack. He also killed a man from Acha’s group in jail before he was released on early parole in 1968 at the age of 28. After getting released, he was married and in his marriage ceremony no coat was left to sit the heavy participants in the village.
“Shukerwala( A Cheema, Jat) was West Pakistan Governor Amir Muhammad Khan’s right-hand man,” Shukerwala’s nephew is also a film maker whom office is located in Lahore’s film district, the Royal Park, opposite the Buddha Gujjar building, which is still owned by Jagga Gujjar’s family.
“Shukerwala would act as an enforcer for Amir Muhammad Khan… if there was a public agitation against a price hike, Shukerwala would be called to enforce ‘law-and-order’… If a politician was raising his voice, Shukerwala would be asked to deliver a ‘warning’.
Amir Muhammad Khan, also the Nawab of Kalabagh, was in turn known as the right-hand man of then President Field Martial Ayub Khan. According to that the postion was like whole government verses Jagga Gujjar.
Governor Musa Khan imposed the Goonda Act [1959] because of Jagga Gujjar’s actions on Acha Shukarwala. Acha and members of Jagga’s family were rounded up and put in jail as suspects in the sessions court shootout case, and other known gangsters were shot dead in staged police encounters. That was why many gangsters give their arrest to police but Jagga Gujjar was the only one to refuse and he moved to FATA the independent area. when was going out of Lahore his man picked up the boxes full of rupees in his jeep on the Ravi Pull Tool Tax, that ass why boxes were fixed in land and chained afterwards.
Jagga Gujjar was the first person arrested after the enforcement of the act. “He was killed in confinement and then his body was thrown in the Bakra Mandi,” he says. “We were middlemen in the Bakra Mandi and the butchers tried to frame our family after Jagga was murdered. They murdered two of my brothers claiming they had returned to take Jagga Tax, but Jagga had never taken any tax himself. Police just created the propaganda of Jagga Tax to justify killing him… he barely spent six months out of jail before he was killed. There were between five and seven murder cases against Jagga. His entire family was forced to live within the confines of the Raiwind police area during this time.
While the Goonda Act remained in force, over a dozen men labelled as goondas, including Jagga Gujjar and his follower Kaka Lohar, were killed in police encounters across the Punjab area (then a part of the One Unit current pakistan & Bangladesh).
Coming out of this period, the families who had lost their relatives to the Goonda Act began pouring their money into film to reclaim their memory by offering a counter-narrative to the state.
When Jagga Gujjar was released from jail, a crowd of people is said to have stood outside to greet him at Mazang Chowk. When he died, thousands joined his funeral.
The fame Jagga earned was in the six months he was able to live out of jail, but stories are to much to tell about him. Wherever he went he fought people. He went to jail in an early age but continued to fight antisocial elements in society.
People forget one thing… Jagga Gujjar spent only six months outside of jail before he was killed.
(Thanks to Tariq Gujjar for this essay on facebook and Khatana Kashif Wasim to upload Jagga Gujjar's picture.