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Gakhars (also Gakkhar or Ghakhar or Ghakkar) are a Punjabi community living in India with an ancient recorded history, originally belonging to the areas of West Punjab which now fall in the territory of Pakistan. Gakhars are found among Hindus and Sikhs in India and also among Muslims, and a large section of Muslim Gakhars are settled in Pakistan.

The Gakhars are an ancient tribe settled in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Jhelum, Kashmir, and Khanpur regions in modern day Pakistan and India.

Before the independence of Pakistan, the Gakhar Hindus shared their ancestral homes with the rest of the tribe. After independence the Gakhar Hindus moved to India and they now live in various parts of north India.

Conversion to Islam

After Muslim invasions of indian subcontinent, large amount of Gakhars were forced to convert to Islam. Subsequently, after partition of India and Pakistan, Gakhars that remained in pakistan converted to Islam to avoid religious persecution. The Muslim Gakhars in Pakistan still remain a prominent community.

Hindu Marriage customs are recorded prevalent among Muslim Gakhars as late as the 18th century in the district gazetteer of Rawalpindi

old religious customs, obviously of Hindu origin are still observed by the Gakhars, or were until within a very short period, such as customs at marriage of lawa-pherna and Khari par baithana, and the Kazi and the Brahman are both present on such occasions. The name Gakhar too , seems to partake more of a Hindu than of Persian or Arabic form".

According to S A A Rizvi

the motives of Muizzuudin's conquests were no different from those of Mahmud of Ghazni. Both were in need of plunder from India to maintain their slave armies and to attract the wandering bands of Islamicized mercenaries known as "ghazis" to their forces. The Islamicization of India was not their main objective, although some tribal leaders such as the Gakkhars were encountered on the way to raids for plunder and forced to convert by muslim armies.".

While a significantly large majority of Gakkhars were forced to convert to Islam from Hinduism, significant amount of Gakhar Hindus did not convert and continued to live in their traditional homelands of Jhelum, Kashmir, and West Punjab (which now falls in the Pakistan Punjab).

See also

• Gakhars

References

1. Gazetteer of the Rawalpindi District 1893-94, Punjab Government, 2001 Sang-e-Meel Publications, Lahore. Page 114
2. The wonder that was India II on page 22. Picador

• Indian castes
• Surnames
• Pre-Islamic heritage of Pakistan
• Ethnic groups in India
• Indian family names
• Jhangvi-speaking areas
• Hindu communities
• Punjabi tribes
• Rajput clans of Punjab