Depiction of Wazir Khan of Sirhind beheaded during the Battle of Sirhind (1710) from an illustrated folio of ‘Tawarikh-i Jahandar Shah’, Awadh or Lucknow, ca.1770
Deputy-Governor and Military Commander of the Mughal Empire
Mirza Askari (Persian: میرزا عسکری, b. 1635 — d. 12 May 1710), better known by his title Wazir Khan, He was the Moghul (Military Commander) Faujdar of Sirhind region and (Deputy-Governor) Sarkar of Sirhind under Delhi Subah in the present-day state of Punjab, and administered the territory that lay between the Sutlej and Yamuna rivers, he official notable for his conflicts with the Sikhs,[2][3][4][5] he was the descendant of (Wazir Khan Akbar Shahi) of Persian descent who was the Courtrian to the third Moghol EmperorAkbar I court's.[6]
Biography
According to Sikh sources, Mirza Askari (Wazir Khan) was a native of Kunjpura in Karnal district of modern-day Haryana.[7]
Wazir Khan is noted for his conflicts with the Sikhs and became infamous for ordering the execution of Guru Gobind Singh's young sons (Sahibzada Fateh Singh and Sahibzada Zorawar Singh) in 1704.[8] He was the governor of Sirhind when he arrested the two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh. Wazir Khan tried to force the young sons of the Guru to embrace Islam. When they refused to accept Islam he ordered them to be bricked alive and later beheaded them after knowing that they were still alive inside.[9]
Wazir Khan was defeated and beheaded by a Sikh warrior Fateh Singh, a warrior in the Sikh Khalsa, during the Battle of Chappar Chiri on 12 May 1710.[10] His body was desecrated, dragged by an ox, and then hung onto a tree.[11]