Quazi Anwar Ahmed

HOW many of us can name our great grand-

father? Few can. But ask the 43-year-old

Quazi Anwer Ahmed and he will tell you not only

his great grandfather's name but also the names of

his forefathers up to 13 generations back. He does

not just rattle off the names. He always carries with

him documents to prove his lineage.

And they are all authenticated documents, certi-

fied by people like Prof S. H. Askari and the late Dr

K. K. Dutta. He and the Maharajah of Darbhanga

are the only persons from Bihar whose private

records have been included in the National Register

of Records

Mr Ahmed's ancestors had migrated from Bulkh'

in Uzbekistan in the USSR and settled in Quazi

Daulatpur in Jehanabad district. The first in thed

linc, Maulvi Shaikh Sadar Jahanj Farookhi Balkhi,

was appointed by Emperor Jebangir to administerAdministration Office, Jamshedpur, Dr Dwivedi's

justice by a ferman.

He showed me the original "appointment letter,

beautifully written in Persian on gilt paper. Anothersuch letter, whose original also he showed me,

issued by Emperor Shahjahan, bears the inscription

'Murawwi-i-millati-Baiza-Muhavy-i-Shariat-t-Char

ra, whieh emphasises the Emperor's position as the

Defender of the Faith, is historically invaluable

All this is of the distant past. Coming to recent

history, his great great grandfather, Sheikh Ouazi

Zulfiquar Ali, was a great nationalist and a.close

associate of Babu Kunwar Singh, the hero of the

First War of Independence. He has in his possession

three letters Kuer Singh had written under his seal

to his great great grandfather. One of them reads

May 1856

Brother Zulfiquar,

PNTime hus come Proeced to Meerut where yo

shall be awaited. All actions have been com-

pleted. You are wise and experienced in work

Our army is ready. We shall praceed from here

and you trom there. The British Army is small.

Last word on this awaited

Kunwar Singh

Zulfiquar left for Meerut from where he marched

to Delhi but he never returned from the battle. But

even several ycars after his killing, the alien rulers

did not withdraw the cases against him. Thus he

became a great martyr

Zulfiquars's descendents were also great national

ists and they actively took part in the freedom

struggle. A list of the guests whom Mr Ahmed's

grandfather entertained at his ancestoral house in

Jehanabad Teaas Ke awno's wno or tne reeuom

struggle and it includas Motilal Nehrup Netaji

Subhash Chandra Bose, Khan Abdul Ghaffar

Khan, Maulana Mohammad Ali Joher, Shaukat

Ali, Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi.

When ndia got independence and zamindari

rights were abolished later Mr Ahmed's father,

Shaikh QuaziHastoor Ahmed, found himself at his

wits' end in supporting the family. He had to keep

on selling his property to remain alive. And finally

when he died in 1974, all that he could bequeath to

Mr Ahmed were the precious documents that he

now fondly preserves. "Look at our tragedy, the

house in which Gandhi and others stayed is now in

the hands of a businessman of Jehanabad."

His forefathers were the kings of the area but

today Mr Ahmed does not have even an inch of

land. "I am now staying ot my in-law's place at

Samanpura near Raja Bazar in Patna with my wife

and four children. With bis income limited to Rs

1200 which he gets by way of commission for selling

medicines, he finds it beyond his ability to make

both ends meet

Mr Ahmed has been knocking at the doors of the

Prime Ministet, the Chief Minister and the Gov-"

ernor for some help. "Freedom fighters get pen

sions. Why can't the Government show some

consideration to people like me whose forefathers

sacrificed everything they had at the altar of the

national cause?." Mr Ahmed asked.

He quoted a precedent to justify his demand. The

widow of Baikunth Shukla, one of the freedom-

fighters who were hanged by the British, was given a

Douse by the Bihar Gouerament. Mr Ahmssl also

needs a house. But more than that, his plea is for a

job for his wife (who is an I.Sc.) in Patna University

as a laboratory technician. "lf she gets a job, at least

we will be able to have a decent living."

Mr Ahmed has little hope of his pleas making any

impact on the powers-that-be. Once he met the then

Chief Minister, Mr Abdul Ghafoor, to plead his

Hamdig fra

A Quazi ! Tem k7/told him:There are so many claimants. What can I

tnagdi

case. The CM was not willing to lend his ears and

LTOW many of us can name our great grand-

father? Few can. But ask the 43-year-old

Quazi Anwer Ahmed and he will tell you not only

his great grandfather's name but also the names of

his forefathers up to 13 generations back. He does

not just rattle off the names. He always carries with

him documents to prove his lineage.

And they are all authenticated documents, certi-

fied by people like Prof S. H. Askari and the late Dr

K. K. Dutta. He and the Maharajah of Darbhanga

are the only persons from Bihar whose private

records have been included in the National Register

of Records

Mr Ahmed's ancestors had migrated from Bulkh'

in Uzbekistan in the USSR and settled in Quazi

Daulatpur in Jehanabad district. The first in thed

linc, Maulvi Shaikh Sadar Jahanj Farookhi Balkhi,

was appointed by Emperor Jebangir to administerAdministration Office, Jamshedpur, Dr Dwivedi's

justice by a ferman.

He showed me the original "appointment letter,

beautifully written in Persian on gilt paper. Another

himself and told him bluntly: "Ghafoor saab, you

are today in the chair of Chief Minister because of

the sacrifices made by my forefathers like Zulfiquar

Ali and not because of your merit or sacrifices." He

has many a record to show and many a story to

narrate. But who has the patience to listen to hin?