The second incident of rebellion among the civilians occurred in the hills of Murree. Like Punjab and Kashmir, Murree too was under the occupation of the Sikhs until 1849. The people had always resisted the unpopular Sikh rule. Most of the people were apparently content with the British rule, but obviously there was some resentment as well. I wish we somebody could do a more thorough research on this subject. An article about the rebellion in 1857 in Wikipedia, states the events as under:
The War against the
British reached Murree and the Southern Areas of Hazara part of which is now known as Circle Bakote in July 1857 when the Dhond Abbasi leader Sardar Sherbaz Khan planned to attack the British. Sardar Khan had managed to obtain the backing of the following important tribal leaders.
Satti leader Sardar Borha Khan
Karhal leader Sardar Hasan Ali Khan
Sardar Lalli Khan and Mian Abdul Aziz of Birote
Sardar Resham Khan of Ponch
Kashmir
Malik Bahadur Khan Tanoli
However the revolt did not succeed. The rebels were betrayed and as punishment, all of Sardar Sherbaz Khan's eight sons were blasted (by cannon fire) in Murree while Sardar Khan himself was hanged. The masterminds of this plan of independence were two Seyed brothers from Dhoke Syedan of Dewal Sharif. Not everyone had been against British rule, before British rule had been established in this area, the tribes had fought against the Sikh army. Under the command of the Pir of Plasi they had fought against the Sikh Army in Balakot - the troops here were commanded by Seyed Shah Ismail Shahid and Syed Ahmad Shaheed (known as the martyrs). Pir of Dewal Sharif late Abdul Majid Ahmed grandfather had also embraced martyrdom in Dewal fighting against Sikhs army chief Hari Singh Nalwa. Nalwa's troops had brutally crushed the tribes of Circle Bakote and beheaded many of them. The British, after battling in Rawalpindi in 1845 had captured Rani Jindan, the widow of Ranjit Singh (the former Ruler of Punjab) - this then caused the collapse of Sikh rule, when the British marched into the Murree area all the local tribes initially welcomed them with roses. Within a short space of time, many of the tribes then felt they had exchanged one form occupation for another one, and it was events elsewhere in India which encouraged the uprising. However the British had recruited many of the tribes in this area into their army, for example in this area large numbers of the Satti Tribe were recruited as Sepoys into the British Army and the British commanders (like elsewhere across Colonial India) won this war largely by the use of native infantry.
(
http://pakgeotagging.blogspot.com/2015/04/punjab-rebellion-of-1857.html?m=1)
The ultimate leader of all the tribes was Sherbaz Khan Abbasi. The masterminds of this plan of independence were Sardar Hasan Ali khan Karlal & the two
Seyed brothers from Dhoke Syedan of
Dewal Sharif. Sardar Hasan Ali Khan along with his tribe, and with the help of certain other tribes of Murree, tried to attack the Murree garrison.
[5] Immediately after the conclusion of the war of independence of 1857, the British Government constructed a road linking Galyiat and Muree and establish the five cantonments of Bara Gali, Nathia Gali, Dounga Gali, Changla Gali, and Kouza Gali and garrisoned them to protect any future incursion of on Muree Garrison.
[6]
Attack on Murree
By the end of August many of the British troops who had been stationed in hill stations like Murree had left to join the attack on
Delhi. Rebels had taken Delhi from British control; the decision to send troops to Delhi reduced further Murree to a more defenceless state.
[7]However Delhi still held out against the British and encouraged by this Dhund tribesmen in alliance with other tribes of Murree tried to seize Murree by simultaneously rising on every side and crowding up the nearer hill-sides threatening destruction of the station. Several of the Mussulman table-servants were in league with the hill-men, and for some hours the danger to Murree became imminent.
[7]
The attack failed due to the fidelity of one of Lady Lawrence's personal attendants, named Hakim Khan, himself an influential man of one of the tribes that had risen. The loyalty of Hakim was described as "the means, under God, of saving Murree."
[8] Alerted to the danger the British organised defences, and quickly rallied volunteers commanded by Major Luard of the 55th N.I. and Captain HC Johnstone of the 5th N.I. A cordon of sentries surrounded the station and the three weakest points were held in some force; so the Dhoonds (the distinctive name of these disaffected hillmen), stealing up the hill-sides in the dead of night found the whole station waiting for them.
[7]
After a few hours of skirmishing the Dhonds retreated with the loss of two or three of their men who had come within musket range of the British. The British however were to learn that the rebellion was wider than just the Dhonds. After the repulse of the Dhoonds, it was found that the conspiracy affected many more clans at a much wider extent than had been suspected. It had reached far into Hazara and nearly down to
Rawalpindi.
[7]
The British also convicted and executed two H
industani doctors for being involved in the plot. They had been educated in government institutions, were practicing in Murree and employed by the government. The British suspected that the Dhonds were expecting support from their Hindustani allies, so in addition to the doctors, several domestic servants were seized and punished. An urgent request was sent to troops in Hazara to reinforce Murree, and Major Beecher sent every available man from Abbottabad to Murree. However the British troops in Murree had managed to secure the station and beat off the attack before the arrival of reinforcements arrived.
Although the British had managed to repulse the attack on Murree town, two neighboring heights were held by the Dhund tribesmen. The British in Murree were unable to send men to tackle the tribesmen in the hills as these were needed for the defense.. For the whole of 2 September 1857 the heights around Murree were held by the tribesmen. It was not until 3 September with the arrival of reinforcements that the tribesmen were repulsed from the hills.
[9]
The reinforcements themselves were almost ambushed.
[10] They had to cross difficult country full or morasses and defiles. The tribesmen belonging from various tribes of Murree who had scattered into the forest laid an ambush to cut them off; However, the road on which the trap was laid became impassable from the rains. The force turned off, and not till it had passed the ambush spot.
[8]
Murree was garrisoned with extra troops and supplies of food; the British then burnt the rebellious villages, confiscated cattle and men were seized.
[9]
I'm sure these people were compensated by British for their loyalty and their descendants are probably now politicians.
