Jagga Gujjar (1940 - 3 July 1968) was a bandit in

Lahore, Pakistan Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

during the 1950s and 1960s. He was very famous for the tax he imposed on the well to do called 'Jagga Tax'. A chunk of the money so extracted, was spent on the welfare of the poor, by him. He was a resident of

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

's area

Islamia Park Islamia Park (Punjabi, ur, , ''Islamia Bagh'') is a neighbourhood located within union council 89 (Bahawalpur) in Samanabad Town of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. The neighbourhood is located near Chauburji Chauburji (Punjabi and ur, , "Fo ...

, near

Chauburji Chauburji ( Punjabi and ur, , "Four Towers") is a Mughal era monument in the city of Lahore, capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab. The monument was built in 1646 C.E. during the reign of the emperor Shah Jahan. It previously acted a ...

Beginning

How Gujjar became a sign of terror is an interesting story. There used to be a famous annual fair in

area during the 1950s. His brother Makhan Gujjar had a quarrel with famous outlaw of the time namely Achha Shukar Wala who belonged to

's locality

Qila Gujar Singh Qila Gujar Singh (''Meaning: Fort of Gujjar Singh'') is a town located in the central part of Lahore, Pakistan. As shown by name it was the fort of a gurjar king named Gujjar Singh Banghi. Some walls and a gate still remains as a memory of the ...

. Later, Makhan was murdered in 1954. Gujjar was only 14-year-old at the time of his brother's murder. Within eight days, Gujjar avenged the murder of his brother and killed the murderer. After this, Gujjar landed in jail. When he was in jail, he came to know that real man behind his brother's murderer was Achha who had hired the murderer for the purpose. Now, he planned murder of Achha from the jail walls. As per his planning, an attempt on life of Achha was made. As a result, two people were killed but Achha survived though injured. While he was in jail, his foe Achha got reported patronage of the then governor of

West Pakistan West Pakistan ( ur, , translit=Mag̱ẖribī Pākistān, ; bn, পশ্চিম পাকিস্তান, translit=Pôścim Pakistan) was one of the two Provincial exclaves created during the One Unit Scheme in 1955 in Pakistan. It was d ...

, Amir Muhammad Khan. The governor especially used Accha in quelling anti-government demonstrations in

Release from jail

Gujjar was realised from the jail on early parole in January 1968. By that time, General (Retd) Muhammad Musa Khan had become the governor of

. When he came out of the jail, he was received by a large crowd at the city's Mozang Chowk. He got married after coming out of the jail.

End

After coming out of jail, Gujjar organized a gang and started collecting forced tax from the butcher community. This tax got the name of 'Jagga Tax'. In Pakistan, even today this type of tax is called 'Jagga Tax'. The center of his highhandedness was

's Bakra Mandi (cattle market) area where he collected rupee one (Re 1) from every butcher on purchase of one goat. Finally, Gujjar along with his accomplice Raju Gujjar was killed in an encounter with police near his home in Nawan Kot area of

in July 1968. The next day's newspapers published the news of his murder very prominently. The police party who killed them was given Rs 300 in reward.

Fateh Khan Bandial Fateh Khan Bandial was a Pakistani career civil servant who served in BS-22 grade as the Federal Secretary for Interior. After his retirement, he also held the office of Federal Interior Minister of Pakistan since 23 July 1993 to 19 October 199 ...

was

's deputy commissioner while Haji Habib ur Rehman,

superintendent of police Superintendent (Supt) is a rank in the British police and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries, the full version is superintendent of police (SP). The rank is also used in most British Overseas Territories ...

at that time.

In popular culture

Name Jagga was already being used in the titles of Punjabi films before Gujjar's death like 'Jagga' (1958). After his death, a number of

Punjabi language Punjabi (; ; , ), sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It has approximately 113 million native speakers. Punjabi is the most widely-spoken first language in Pakistan, with 80.5 m ...

movies were made on topic of Gujjar starting from 1970s by the

's film industry. Some of films having either Jagga or Gujjar in their titles included 'Bala Gujjar' (1973), 'Jagga Gujjar' (1976), '

Wehshi Gujjar ''Wehshi Gujjar'' is a 1979 Pakistani Punjabi action musical movie produced by Haji Mohabbat Ali. starring Sultan Rahi, Aasia, Iqbal Hassan, Afzaal Ahmed, and Adeeb. It was written and directed by Yunus Malik, Anwar Kamal Pasha. Plot The ...

' (1979), 'Gujjar', '

Jagga Tay Shera ''Jagga Tay Shera'' ( Punjabi: ) is a 1984 Pakistani Punjabi language films. Directed by Imtiaz Qureshi and produced by Ashiq Hussain. Film starring actor Sultan Rahi, Anjuman, Iqbal Hassan and Ilyas Kashmiri. Cast * Sultan Rahi - as Jagga ...

' (1984), 'Putar Jaggay Da' (1990), 'Jagga Tax' (2002) and '

Buddha Gujjar ''Buddha Gujjar'' is a Pakistani Punjabi film released in 2002. Cast and crew *Syed Noor is the film director. * Yousuf Khan as ''Buddha Gujjar''Malangi ''Malangi'' ( Punjabi: ) is a 1965 Pakistani biographical and musical film directed by Rashid Akhtar and produced by Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam. Film starring actor Akmal, Shirin, Yousuf Khan, and Talish. This was a 'Golden Jubilee' film of 1965 ...

. Both the families have since ended their enmity.

References

1940 births 1968 deaths People from Lahore {{improve categories, date=October 2023