{"id":819,"date":"2016-01-05T05:06:58","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T05:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morningpost.today\/eng\/?p=819"},"modified":"2016-01-05T05:06:58","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T05:06:58","slug":"135-year-old-swati-recalls-swat-state-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/135-year-old-swati-recalls-swat-state-era\/","title":{"rendered":"135-year old Swati recalls Swat state era"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Fazal Khaliq\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

MINGORA: Haji Jalander Khan, the oldest living man of the district, says that the former Swat State was a social welfare state.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the golden era of the region,\u201d says Haji Jalander Khan, 135, who remained a \u2018Jemadar\u2019 in the army of the former princely Swat State. He lives at Khazana village in Shamozo area with his over 200 family members from his four wives.<\/p>\n

He witnessed the formation of Swat State. He was appointed a sepoy in the State army and was promoted to the post of \u2018Jemadar\u2019 during the Badshah Sahib rule. He was a state employee till 1969 when Swat was merged into Pakistan.<\/p>\n

\"Jalender's<\/p>\n

The old age has not harmed the memory of Haji Jalander, who loves to share incidents from the past with the people. He claims that he accompanied Miangul Abdul Haq Jahanzeb, the last Wali of Swat, when his father Miangul Abul Wadood, Badshah Sahib appointed him successor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI escorted Jahanzeb (Wali of Swat) to the palace on the day his father enthroned him as a ruler and I am proud to be close to him,\u201d he says. Recalling his past, he says that former rulers of Swat were visionary people, who ensured social welfare of citizens while running the affairs of state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a proper reward and punishment system during the state era. Once I was appointed in-charge of a road construction project in Yakhtangey area of Shangla. It was a tough task to cut rocks but we completed it before the stipulated time on which the ruler awarded us with prize and extra leaves,\u201d says Haji Jalander.<\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

He says that the state army would construct roads and other government buildings. \u201cLarge number of people from an area would come out to construct a road while a music band would play local music to keep them mentally and physically active for work. It was both fun and work,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n

\"135<\/p>\n

According to Haji Jalander\u2019s sons, they remind him the incidents of Swat State to appease him when his mood is off. \u201cHe is very strict man and always suggests us to be honest and pious. He loves to talk and discuss different incidents of the State era. He likes guests,\u201d says his youngest son Kamin Khan.<\/p>\n

His eldest son Khan Bahadar, 65, says that they feel proud when all their family members gather in some function.<\/p>\n

Haji Jalander\u2019s great grandson Husain Ali, who had done graduation from University of Peshawar, says that his grandfather died but his father\u2019s grandfather is alive. \u201cWe feel proud that our grandfather\u2019s father is still alive and the villagers respect him,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Haji Jalender enjoys high respect in the village. \u201cHe has been playing a role of head in every matter of the village and his words are considered final in every decision,\u201d says a villager Haji Khan.<\/p>\n

Hayat Khan, a lecturer of sociology at University of Swat and resident of the area, says that Haji Jalander is an asset for them. \u201cActually culture shifts from one generation to another. He is an entity of heritage and history who witnessed four generations and has become an institute and embodiment of culture and tradition of the area,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Fazal Khaliq\u00a0 MINGORA: Haji Jalander Khan, the oldest living man of the district, says that the former Swat State was a social welfare state. \u201cIt was the golden era of the region,\u201d says Haji Jalander Khan, 135, who remained a \u2018Jemadar\u2019 in the army of the former princely Swat State. He lives at Khazana […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":820,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12],"tags":[223,222,221,35],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":823,"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819\/revisions\/823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}