LAHORE: Dr Saudul Hasan Rohela, in his lecture on `female resistance against colonialism during the War of Independence of 1857, highlighted the role of women in the fight against the British colonisers.

In October 1858, he said, the Moradabad district magistrate held an inquiry into the reasons for the uprising of the soldiers in Meerut.

According to his report, the women were considered the basic factor behind the uprising.

Rohela was speaking in the conference on `resistance movements in Punjab during Colonial Times` at the Lahore Museum on Saturday.

`When Indian soldiers were court-martialed in Meerut, the remaining soldiers reached back the city, the women of their fami-lies, showed them utter disrespect, spat on them and threw bangles towards them to shame them for not supporting their fellows who were court-martialed.

Rohela said that in Meerut the soldiers were instigated by their women and they were so charged that they reached Delhi within a night.

Referring to the role of some important women in the 1857 war, he said Hazrat Mahal was an important figure in the war as the rebels occupied Lucknow. He said Hazrat Mahal was a courtesan and there were some references that she had come from Punjab. By referring to a painting, he said when Hazrat Mahal was first presented before the court of the Nawab, she was seen donning a dhoti and dupatta in Punjabi style.

Rohela said that Mahal fought against the East India Companyfrom Feb 19 till March 23 while riding an elephant. When she was injured and escaped to Nepal and the British Queen assumed power in 1859, she released a paper against the Queen, demanding freedom for India.

`In India, the courtesans were given respect and there was a huge difference between the courtesans of that era and western prostitutes.

In the west, a prostitute was just a sex worker while courtesans in South Asia were completely different as their main work was singing, dancing and fine arts promotion.

Rohela said the courtesans were also adept at painting, calligraphy and other arts. He said the courtesans of Lucknow and other areas were more active in resistance because they were independent and had interactions more with men than women.

`Tawaifs` Kothas were termedcentres of rebellion by the British as all the rebels used to take shelter there.

Rohela lamented that the Rani of Jhansi was ignored in Pakistan though she made a great contribution in her fight against the East India Company. He said besides these important figures there were other women who also played a role in the fight against British including some from Punjab like Indar Kaur, Bakhtiari, Habiba, Man Kaur, Raj Kaur, adding that all these were involved in the armed resistance as they took part in the war of independence. He said that most of these women were burnt alive by the British.

Rohela said that Rani Jindan after leaving for Nepal made contacts with the rebels and wrote many letters to the Maharaja of Kashmir to make an alliance against the British. Kharak Singh`s widow had also met Rani Jindaan in Nepal.

MONTGOMERYDISTRICT:ImranKamyana,aprofessor of history at the Govt College Sahiwal, in his lecture on `resistance against the British forces in Montgomery district in 1857`, differentiated between mutiny, rebellion and war of independence, different names given to one war by the British and the local writers. He said all Urdu writers always called the war of independence as `Baghawat,` giving an example of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.

He said the British termed the war a mutiny deliberately to remove the masses` part from it as the term `mutiny` involved the rebellion only within the army and that the common people were happy with them.

Revisiting the history of Punjab against the invaders and foreigners, he retraced the story of Raja Porus and his fight against Alexander, Dullah Bhatti`s against Emperor Akbar and Ranjit Singh`s against the Mughals as well as the British.

Kamyana said according to a document of the annexation of Punjab in 1848, Ahmed Khan Kharal was an ally of Ranjit Singh and he continued his alliance with the Sikhs after the occupation of the British in Punjab. The influential Muslim leaders of Multan tried to convince Kharal to support the British, portraying Sikhs as villains and antiMuslim.

`In 1857, besides Lahore, Multan was also an important centre for the British where they were supported by Makhdooms, Khakwanis and Hirajs against the local resistance, mainly centred around the bars, Sandal, Ganji and Neeli.

Imran Kamyana said that the British changed the centres of political power after gaining control of Punjab.

`Syedwala was an important centre of power and a tehsil, it`s now only a small town. Gogera, another tehsil and important centre is also just a town now. Harappa was also a main centre which has also been reduced to a small town now.` He said the British ended the urban centres and created new ones (Sahiwal in place of Gogera). He said Ahmed Khan Kharal and his friend Murad Fatiana`s people (tribes) were still out of power despite the independence of the country.