Bajwa

Bajwa (Urdu: باجوہ) (Hindi: बाजवा) is a Jat gotra or clan. They are spread across the Punjab region divided between Northern India and Pakistan.

Origin

Baijavapi (बैजवापि) is a Janapada mentioned by Panini in Ashtadhyayi under Damanyadi (दामन्यादि) (V.3.116) group.

Etymology

Bajwa are believed to be the bravest clan of Jatt. Bajwa means the Clan of the Hawk, and is a common last name amongst Punjabis. The word itself "Bajwa" is derived from the word Baaz Wala (pronounced as Baaj in colloquial Punjabi), the Arabic word for hawk or falcon.

Bajwa in Persian also means "the people who levied Tax". Bajwas living in the Bajwat area (the Sialkot and Narowal districts in Punjab (Pakistan) were known to harass the invading armies of Timur, Ahmed Shah Abdali and others, who invaded India from the northwest.

History

Bajwa is a prominent Jat clan of the Punjab. They claim Suryavanshi jats descent.

The ancestor of the Bajwas is Baba Manga. Their place of origin is Bajwat in the Sialkot and Narowal districts of Pakistan. This place is located in the Shiwalik foothills and is quite near the Indian border as well as the city of Jammu. At one time, Bajwa Jats had eighty-four villages in the Sialkot area.

Another legend is that one of their ancestors, Rai Jaison, was forced to leave Delhi by Rai Pithora (Prithvi Raj Chauhan).

Baba Manga had seven sons. The eldest, Naro established a village, which was named as Narowal after him. Another son, Deepa founded Kotli Bajwa and a third one, Chandu founded Chanduwal.

The founder of the Bajwa clan, Bajwat (or Wajab) used to live in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. From there, he migrated to Sialkot and Gujranwala. One of his descendants became the ruler of Multan. Raja Shilp, a Bajwa ruler, was ousted from Multan by Sikandar Lodhi. Raja Shilp had two sons named Kala and Lis. Both used to rear hawks. Bajwas in India are mostly Sikhs and Bajwas in Pakistan are usually Muslims. Bajwas became Sikh at the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Distribution in Jammu And Kashmir

Villages in Jammu district

Rakh Flora,

Distribution in Punjab

Villages in Jalandhar district

• Bajwa Kalan, Bajwa Khurd are village in Shahkot tahsil in Jalandhar district in Punjab, India.

According to B S Dhillon the population of Bajwa clan in Jalandhar district is 1,800.

Villages in Patiala district

Bajwa population in Patiala is 2,820. Bajwa population in Amritsar is 2,874.

Villages in Gurdaspur district

In Gurdaspur district the Bajwa population is 3,711.

Qadian Gurdaspur,

Distribution in Uttar Pradesh

Villages in Rampur District

Mulla Khera

Distribution in Haryana

Villages in Fatehabad district

Bighar

Bajwa Jatts and Bajju Rajputs

Bajwa Jatts are closely linked to the Bajju Rajputs.

Lis migrated to Jammu. There, he married a Rajput girl. His descendants were called Bajju Rajputs. Kala, on the other hand, married a Jat girl and settled in the Pasrur area. Kala’s descendants came to be known as Bajwa Jats. Thus, both groups have common ancestries.

Customs

Both Bajwa Jatts and Bajju Rajputs are settled in the Bajwat region of Jammu-Sialkot-Narowal. Their customs are very similar. They take their newly wed brides to the Samadhi of their ancestor, Baba Manga to pay obeisance. Baba Manga is worshipped. Like other Jat clans, Bajwas give a cut to the tree of Jand.

Religion

Indian Bajwas are mostly Sikhs, while in Pakistan, they are mostly Muslims.

Muslims 45%, Sikhs 40%, Ahmadies 10% & Hindus 5%

Distribution in Pakistan

Bajwas are found in all tehsils except Daska. In the Sialkot tehsil they inhabit the Bhagowal zail only. In the Zafarwal tehsil they are grouped around Chawinda, in the Raya tehsil around Narowal, while in Pasrur they are found mainly in the northwest with headquarters at Kalaswala.

Famous Bajwas

• Baba Mehar Manga - Bajwa Gotra बाबा मेहेर मांगा - बाजवा गोत्री

• Sardar Randhir Singh of Kalaswala - From Sialkot district was in the List of Punjab Chiefs of Pakistan.

• Balwinder Singh Bajwa

• Sardar Autar Singh of Kalaswala - From Sialkot district was in the List of Punjab Chiefs of Pakistan.

• Sardar Chet Singh Bajwa - Sardar Chet Singh Bajwa was a deorhidar serving Maharaja Ranjit Singh as well as Maharaja Kharak Singh. He was murdered by the Dogras in 1839 A.D.

• Vice-Chief of General Staff, Maj. General Anis Bajwa 28 July 2005 : The Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has appointed Maj. Gen (ret) Anis A. Bajwa as the new Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Timor-Leste. He has worked for the past two years at the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) as the first Director of Change Management with major responsibilities including DPKO strategic and programme planning as well as the development and application of an integrated operational planning process. He has also previously served in UN peacekeeping missions as Chief Military Observer in Georgia from 2000 to 2002 and Chief of Staff of UNOSOM II in Somalia in 1993. He had a distinguished career in the National Army of Pakistan including important assignments as Vice Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Army and as Chief of Staff of President Pervez Musharraf. He retired from the Pakistan Army in 2003 after more than 37 years of service.

• Waqar Bajwa, An extremely prominant and famous business man settled in New York City, New York. He is Widely known and is an entrepanuer. Is originally from Pakistan.

• Waqar Ahmad Bajwa, a CPA settled in the DC area. Origanally from Pakistan. Helped erect New Pakistan Embassy in Washinton DC.

• Late Kulbir Singh Bajwa (IPS) - during the Emergency proclaimed by Late Mrs. Indira Gandhi from 1975-1977 Mr. Bajwa was in-charge of the 'incarceration lists'. Late Shri K.S.Bajwa had a distinguished career in Delhi Police and CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force).He is still remembered with honour for his integrity, Honesty and his contribution to the DPS (Delhi Police Service) and CRPF (Centeral Reserve Police Force).

• Wg. Cdr. Kuldeep Singh Bajwa (Retd.) -- during the Indo-Pak War Wg. Cdr. Bajwa was credited with checking the advance of Pakistan's tanks into the Rajasthan sector; in the movie 'Border' this role was played by Jackie Shroff.

• Wg. Cdr. Gulshan Kumar Bajwa (alias Gulshan Bajwa or GS Bajwa) was born on 23 May, 1951 in New Delhi. His name was in the Merit List for Arts-stream in the Central Board of Secondary Education's Higher Secondary Examinations in 1965, and was awarded Mrs. Marion Barlow Scholarship in BA (Hons) Economics at Hindu College (Delhi University); he is also a National Topper in University Grants Commission's NET (JRF/SRF) in 'Management' subject in 1986. Dr. Ghosh (the then Head of Economics Department in St. Stephens College) gave his personal Study-Notes to Bajwa -- it is rare for any Professor to give his personal Study-Notes to a student of another college. After his Graduation, Bajwa joined Delhi School of Economics (Delhi University) for Post-Graduation. Bajwa was granted Permanent Commission on 27.06.1970 (46 GDOC) and took part in 1971-War that split Pakistan into two parts, and created Bangladesh. He is also an Alumnus of PUMBA (Savitribai Phule Pune University), Faculty of Management Sciences (FMS, Delhi University) & Campus Law Centre (Delhi University); he qualified Advocates-on-Record Examination (Supreme Court of India) and was appointed Advocate-on-Record by a judicial order -- his name appears under alphabet 'G' in Supreme Court of India's official website. Bajwa came into prominence when he exposed corruption in the higher Ranks of IAF, and 'Indian Express' (a National English Daily) published a news-item about the same on its front page -- Mr. Arun Shourie was then the Editor of Indian Express. Dr. Subramanian Swamy & Mr. Jaipal Reddy (both Members of Parliament) also raised the issue with the then Defence Minister -- Mr Swamy (who was a Member of Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Defence) wrote to the then Defence Minister, and Mr. Reddy asked a Question about Bajwa in the Parliament (i.e. on the floor of the House) based on an article published on the Editorial page of 'The Pioneer' (a National English Daily). This was a period when even the Apex Court was reluctant to tread upon the 'military boots'. Yet, it was for the first time that -- by invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India -- Supreme Court delivered a landmark Order by granting Bajwa 'subsistence allowance' -- whereas the statutory rules provide such allowance only for civilian government servants and the statutory Rules for the Armed Forces are still silent on this subject-matter; the actual Judgment of Delhi High Court is published by several prominent Online Law-Reports . Some of the highlights of Bajwa's case are:- (i) He is the first Permanent Commissioned Officer to expose corruption in higher Ranks of Air Force; (ii) He is the first Armed Forces Officer to be granted 'subsistence allowance' by Supreme Court of India; (iii) He is the first Government servant to be awarded 'subsistence allowance' after severance from service and, thus, he continued to be in service under the Air Force Act 1950 -- since he was "in Pay" (in full or in part); (iv) Ordinarily, a person who is employed is not allowed to practise as an Advocate, but he was the first one to be allowed to practise Law vide an Order of Delhi High Court which stated that his aforesaid subsistence allowance was being increased since he was not earning enough from Legal Profession -- he, in turn, was filing a record of his professional earnings in the same High Court so that the said amount could be deducted while paying the 'arrears' of his full Pay & Allowances (Delhi High Court's Judgment cited above, refers); (v) He was the one to procure for Supreme Court Judges' Library, for the first time, a full set of Armed Forces' Law Manuals; (vi) It was on the basis of a communication conceived & drafted by him and sent through the Security Committee [headed by the then Dy. C.P. (Security) at Supreme Court] that the Chief Justice of India came to have, for the first time, a Flag Car and a Police Escort-jeep; (vii) He was the first Commissioned Officer to qualify University Grants Commission's NET (JRF/SRF) -- in 'Management' subject in 1986; (viii) It was at his suggestion that Supreme Court revised the format of Special Leave Petition -- to do away with the duplication in narrating the 'facts' both in 'List of Dates & Events' and in the 'body' of the Petition; and also in waiving off the 'Interview with Registrar' for such 'in-Person' Litigants as have been Advocates; (ix) His Working Paper on doing away with Annual Airmen's Clothing Parades (wherein Airmen were called upon to return their old short-spanned clothing items before getting the new ones) and, instead, increasing the life-span of all clothing items by an year or so, was accepted by Air Marshal LP Pereira (the then Air Officer in-charge Maintenance) and Ministries of Defence & Finance -- subsequently, this system was also implemented by other Services; (x) Based upon his suggestion to the Government of India, Common Admission Test (CAT) also started 'Online Tests' w.e.f. 2009; (xi) He was the first Indian citizen to appear before the Chief Justice of India -- after having been declared 'dead' by Supreme Court of India itself. Bajwa also exposed corruption in 'admissions' to PhD Courses in 'Management', and in various rungs of the judiciary. Under Air Force Act, Rules & Regulations a Permanent Commissioned Officer remains so -- unless he voluntarily resigns his/her Commission, or is 'cashiered' by a court-martial within the prescribed period after he/she leaves service; and any Officer who is "in Pay" (in full or in part) is deemed to be in service. Hence, if he/she has passed Promotions Examinations 'B' & 'C', then he/she is entitled to Time-Scale Promotions upto the Rank of Wing Commander -- unless he/she is permanently in the Medical Category ApBp.

• Jugpreet Bajwa A young, differently enabled, Indo-Canadian Singer -- who by his grit & determination overcame the loss of sight at the tender age of six months; the said disability was caused due to doctor's negligence in Canada. More at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugpreet_Singh_Bajwa.

• Rupa Bajwa 30 year-old Amritsar-based author. Bajwa's The Sari Shop (2004), set in Amritsar, won the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction.The Best First Book award in the regional round (Eurasia) of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. She has been awarded the prestigious literary award of India- the Sahitya Akademi Award in English 2006 for her debut novel `The Sari Shop`.

Players:

• Muhammad Asif Bajwa(Assistant Coach) Born on June 6, 1972. Serving in United Bank. Represented Pakistan in the BMW Trophy 1992, World Cup 1994, Champions trophy 1993 & 1994, Asian Games 1994 and Azlan Shah Cup Hockey tournament 1995. XVII Commonwealth Games - Manchester - 2002.

• Satinder Bajwa a famous personality in the world of Squash. He coached Jansher Khan, arguably one the best squash players in history (challenged by Jahangir Khan for that title) for almost 10 years, and Mir Zaman Gul, who rose to world number 6 under Bajwa's coaching. Known affectionately as 'Baj', he is now Harvard Univesity's squash coach (Harvard has one of the best college squash teams in the United States). He has also coached teams from Bowdoin College and US Military Academy. Baj's dedication to squash commits him to run squash training programs for young players during the summer and compete in age tournaments such as under 50's most recently. Aside from coach and competition, Baj has also managed for many years, one of the most lucrative professional squash tournaments on the professional circuit ('The Super Series of Squash'), which only invites the top 8 professional players in world.

• Rizwan Bajwa a famous football player in New York. He is married to a well known fashion designer Meghan Rizwan.

• Baba Bajwa is a social worker and historian from Pakistan.

References

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