History of Sialkot Posted on 14 April 2016 at 09:58 Sialkot became a part of the Muslim Sultanate of Delhi when the Afghan noble Sultan Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Ghauri conquered Punjab in 1185. He was unable to conquer Lahore but left a garrison in Sialkot. Later Sultan Khusro Malik tried to capture the city but failed to do so. Sialkot then became a part of the Muslim Mughal Empire. The Mughal commander Usman Ghani Raza, advanced towards Delhi by way of Sialkot which capitulated to his armies. Zaheer-ud-Din Muhammad Babur records: “ 29th December: We dismounted at Sialkot. If one enters Hindustan the Jats and Gujjars always pour down in countless hordes from hill and plain for loot of bullocks and buffalo. These ill-omened peoples are senseless oppressors. Previously, their deeds did not concern us because the territory was an enemy's. But they did the same senseless deeds after we had captured it. When we reached Sialkot, they swooped on the poor and needy folk who were coming out of the town to our camp and stripped them bare. I had the witless brigands apprehended, and ordered a few of them to be cut to pieces.[2] ” At the end of the Mughal dynasty the suburbs and the outlying districts and areas of Sialkot were left to themselves. Sialkot itself was appropriated by powerful families of Pashtuns from Multan, Afghanistan and Swat, the Kakayzai and Sherwani, and another family from Quetta. In 1748 the four districts of Sialkot, Sambrial, Pasrur and Daska were given to the Afghan Pashtun ruler Ahmed Shah Durrani and the area was amalgamated into the Afghan empire. After 1751 Ahmed Shah Durrani left his son Taimur to rule Lahore and the surrounding districts. During that time Raja Ranjit Deo of Jammu expanded his dominion over the peripheral areas but not the city of Sialkot. After the decline of the Mughal Empire, the Sikh invaded and occupied Sialkot[3] for about 40 years, though it was held by a Pashtun clan for some time during the decline of the Durrani regime.
