Abdul Majid Khan Tarin

Khan Abdul Majid Khan Tarin (also spelt Abdul Majeed Khan) (1877–1939), Khan-Sahib,[1] OBE,[2] was a prominent magistrate, MLA and philanthropist of the North West Frontier Province of former British India.[3]

Abdul Majid Khan Tarin c 1930s

Early life and education

He was born to a prominent Pathan[4] landlord and aristocrat from Hazara Division, Muhammad Habib Khan Tarin (or Tareen), (c.1829/30-Dec.1888), Hon. Nawab Bahadur, Risaldar, CSI, who was also an ex-cavalry officer[5] and a landed jagirdar of Talokar and Dheri estates in Haripur, NWFP (present-day, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).[6] At his father's death Majid Khan was a young boy and the family estates were placed under the Court of Wards.[7][8] He was initially taught at home by English tutors, then sent to the Aitchison College, Lahore, and then to a mission school in Simla. After his Matriculation from there he proceeded to England in 1899 and qualified as a barrister in 1901.[9] He was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in April 1902.[10]

Career

On returning to India, he became a Junior Magistrate in the Punjab service, then a 1st Class Magistrate, Extra Assistant Commissioner and then Deputy Commissioner; he also served briefly as a Judge in the Punjab Sessions Courts[11] and on retiring from service in 1934, he became an early and active member of the NWFP (now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan) chapter of the All India Muslim League and a close associate of Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum, also serving as a Member of the NWFP Legislative Assembly (1937–1939).[12] Although keen to protect Muslim rights, he remained a firm proponent of a consolidated Muslim entity within a larger Indian confederation, till the end. He died at his ancestral village, Talokar, in June 1939.[13]

Legacy

Khan Sahib Abdul Majid Khan Tarin was also a very active philanthropist. Apart from his support of the establishment of the Islamia College, Peshawar, and support to various Indian Muslim charities, he played a considerable role in the early development of his native Haripur area in Hazara, NWFP. He founded several charitable schools, set up a public Tuberculosis ward at the Haripur Government Hospital, provided for a system of educational scholarships for local students as well as supporting numerous needy people.[14] This tradition of public service has been carried on by his family.

Khan Sahib had three sons and two daughters. His eldest son, Abdus Salim Khan, a noted Pakistani diplomat,[15] was married to the well-known former Pakistani minister, Begum Mahmooda Salim Khan, daughter of the late Punjab Premier, Sardar Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan (1892–1942).[16] His second son Abdul Hamid Khan was an agriculturist of NWFP,[17] whilst his third son, Abdul Rashid Khan, was commissioned in the British Indian Army[18] and later served in the Pakistan Army after the independence of Pakistan in 1947. The Pakistani poet and research scholar, Omer Tarin is a great-grandson of Abdul Majid Khan Tarin.[19]

References
  1. Title conferred in 1919; see Who's Who in India, 1920 ed
  2. Awarded in the January 1920 New Years List, see 'Burke's Handbook of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire', London, 1921, p 650
  3. Who's Who in the Hazara District, 1932, p.6
  4. Dr Sher Bahadur Khan Panni, Tareekh e Hazara (Urdu: History of Hazara) 1969 ed, published Peshawar, p.275-76, enlisting Tarin/Tareen origins
  5. Col. H St GM McRae, Regimental History of the 45th Rattray's Sikhs, Vol 1, Glasgow, 1933, p.136
  6. O.Tarin & SD Najmuddin, "Sardar Habib Khan, 1st Bengal Military Police Battalion" in Durbar: Journal of the Indian Military Historical Society, UK, Summer 2010, Vol 27, No2, pp. 67-75; also see 45th Rattray's Sikhs, which was originally raised as the 1st Bengal Military Police Btn, 1856
  7. Indian Princely States and Jagirs website Archived 1 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  8. A younger half-brother of Abdul Majid Khan, Abdul Latif Khan Tarin, later served as a Jemadar e Aazam in the 82nd Punjabis (now 4th Btn the Punjab Regiment), and died in action at the Battle of Dujaila Redoubt, in Mesopotamia, March 1916, World War 1
  9. His records are available on the Old Rolls of Lincoln's Inn, London, UK
  10. "Calls to the Bar". The Times. No. 36750. London. 24 April 1902. p. 8.
  11. 'Punjab Government Gazetteer', 1932
  12. See Introduction to the early history of the NWFP Assembly Archived 27 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  13. 'The Hazara Enquirer' , Sept 23rd 1939, Obituary notice
  14. Gazetteer, 1932
  15. Pakistan Foreign Office Archives, Islamabad; Listings 1952-1962, Ref No 23
  16. "List of Pakistani women leaders". Archived from the original on 4 May 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  17. Hazara Reporter, Monday 19 October 1959, p. 12
  18. Indian Army List April 1943 ed, informs us that the said 2nd Lieutenant Abdul Rashid Khan was given an Emergency/Wartime Commission, with effect from 14 July 1942, straight from the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun.
  19. Oct 2011 Interview of poet Omer Tarin, by Dr Ilyas Khan. Shared online at http://ilyask2.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/interview-with-poet-omer-tarin-2011/ . Retrieved 6 April 2014
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