The next period in Pakistan's history begins with the defeat of Raj
Jaipal and his son Anandpal, rulers of northern areas of Pakistan, and
of the Ismaili and Carmathian rulers of southern areas i.e., Multan and
Sind at the hands of Mahmud Ghaznavi, leading to the unity of the two region.
Eleventh century ushered in an era of Muslim rule over the entire length
and breadth of Pakistan. During the 32 years of his rule Mahmud invaded
Pakistan and India more than 17 times and though he carried his successful
arms up to Muthra, Kanauj, Baran and Gawaliar, he did not annex any area
beyond Ravi. As such, Pakistan continued to remain separate from India,
again looking westward constituting a part of the Ghaznavi Empire. The
boundaries also were almost the same which had been coming down from the
days of the Indus Valley Civilization. It will be notice that this
phenomena of Pakistan forming a separate country with its eastern boundaries
running upto either Ravi, Beas or Sutlej has been recurring again and again.
The Ghaznavid rule in Pakistan lasted for over hundred and seventy five
years from say 1010 A.D. to 1187 A.D. It was during this period that Lahore
assumed considerable importance as the eastern-most bastion Muslim power
and as an outpost for further advance in the East. It was city of ghazis,
saints and intellectuals. Apart from being the second capital and later
on the only capital of Ghaznavid kingdom of Pakistan it had a great military
and strategic significance. Whoever controlled this city could look forward
to and be in a position to sweep the whole of East Punjab to Panipat and
Delhi.
Contrary to the general belief that Mahmud Ghaznavi was a Hindu-killer
or destroyer of Hindu religious places, he was extremely liberal towards
them. His army consisted of a large number of Hindus and some of the commanders
of his army were Hindus. Sonday Rai was the Commander of Mahmud's crack
regiment and took part in several important campaigns with him. The coins
struck during Mahmud's reign bore his on the one side and the figure of
a Hindu god on the other.
Not only Mahmud Ghaznavi but his successors also were great patrons
of Hindus. In fact some of the historians of the early period feel
that the main cause of the fall of the Ghaznavid Empire was their excessive
reliance on Hindus and the appointment of Hindus to positions of great
responsibility. When in 1034 A.D. - 426 A.H., the Governor of Lahore, Ahmed
Nial Tagin was suspected of rebellion, Sultan Masud Ghaznavi sent General
Nath, a Hindu, to crush him. When Nath was killed in the fighting, Masud
sent another of his Hindu generals, Tilak, who succeeded in killing Nial
Tagin by treachery. This is the story of the Ghaznavids who are generally
considered Hindu-killers.
It may be of interest to note here that Mahmud Ghaznavi's exploits of
Somnath and the destruction of the temple are mentioned only by Muslim
historians. No Hindu record, either contemporary or of a later date, makes
any mention of it. Unfortunately some Muslim historians had the habit
of painting an exaggerated picture of the campaigns of their rulers which
was exploited by English and Hindu historians of our own times to present
Muslim rulers as destroyers of temples.
So far one of our objects has been to underline the fact that right
from the days of the Indus Valley Civilization down to the end of the Ghaznavid
rule at the fall of the 12th century A.D. over a period of more than four
thousand years, Pakistan has been invariably a single, compact, separate
entity either independent or part of powers located to her west; its dependence
on or forming part of India was merely an exception and that too for an
extremely short period. It was only when the Muslims established themselves
at Delhi early in the 13 century A.D. that Pakistan was made a part of
India, but not in the pre-Muslim period. And once Muslims' successors in
the sub-continent, the British, relinquished power in the middle of the
20th century, Pakistan reverted to its normal position of an independent
country. Indian propaganda that the division of this sub-continent was
unnatural and unrealistic is fake and fraudulent. Muslims had joined this
region of Pakistan with India in the early 13th century A.D. when the Delhi
Sultanate was formed; again Muslims have disconnected it from India giving
it the normal and natural form which its geographical, ethnical, cultural
and religious identity demanded.
"Barred from the east by desert and jungle, Pakistan in ancient time
looked westward by land and sea. Only when, in the middle ages, powerful
Islamic armies thrust through into the North Indian plains, was the traditional
bias towards the west seriously modified; and even then the Indus region
retained close and special cultural links with the lands which we know
as Iran and Iraq." (Ancient trade in Pakistan, By Sir Mortimer Wheeler).
"Periods during 2500 years of history when the Punjab, which is the
most important section of the north-west, has been culturally assimilated
to the rest of the sub-continent, or even to North India, are few if any
at all. The centuries in which the Punjab and any substantial part of North
India have been politically united are also few. It is then no surprise
in our time to find Pakistan looking to the West rather than to the East.
For that area the strongest ties of international life are the cultural.
This is a current manifestation of an ancient tradition." (Pakistan and
Western Asia, By Norman Brown).
During this period of four thousand one hundred and fifty years, Pakistan
was ruled by India only during the short 95-year period of Mauryan Empire
which, for the greater part, was a Buddhist regime.
