Nara is one of the 51 union councils of

Abbottabad District Abbottabad District (Hindko, ) is a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is part of the Hazara Division and covers an area of 1,969 km2, with the city of Abbottabad being the principal town. Neighbouring districts incl ...

in the

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a province of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the fourth largest province of Paki ...

province of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, it located in the southern part of the district Abbottabad Map
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History

During the

Second Sikh War The Second Anglo-Sikh War was a military conflict between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company which took place from 1848 to 1849. It resulted in the fall of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab region, Punjab and what sub ...

after gaining the support of the Mashwani tribe - James Abbott set up base close to the then abandoned village of Nara.Charles Allen, Soldier Sahibs: The Men Who Made the North-West Frontier The base was vital to keep an eye on Chatar Singh and his forces, Abbott wrote:

"I had no roofs, no tents for the shelter of my picturesque bands. Each shifted for himself, amongst the ravines, the rocks and bushes. It was the rainy season, but happily for us, no rain actu-ally fell. The favourite bivouak was a deep ravine, south of the ruined village. The spring there wells forth from the base of the cliff, the only water procurable within an area of several miles. Here natural excavations in the cliff sheltered some, trees, shrubs and rocks others, and nearly the whole of the men crowded there. Being clad in the black cotton garb of the Pathans of the Indus, the effect was truly wild and savage. The standards varied, according to the taste of each chief. Our only martial music was the harsh clarinet of the mountains, which, as played by the natives, resembled the bagpipe or hurdy gurdy; a dolorous strain, well calculated to fill an enemy with the blue-devils. Such was the state of my Camp."

Abbott then marched his forces eastwards to Salhad to battle Chatar Singh. Abbott would return to Nara later in the war when the entry of the Afghans on the side of the Sikhs threatened to undo all his efforts and break his alliances, he called a

jirga A jirga (, ''jərga'') is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of other ethnic groups who ...

and managed to obtain fealty from the local tribes, this provided to be a turning point in his and the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

's fortunes. Once the war was over

Lord Dalhousie James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie (22 April 1812 – 19 December 1860), known as the Earl of Dalhousie between 1838 and 1849, was a Scottish statesman and colonial administrator in British India. He served as Governor-Ge ...

praised Abbott for the "gallant stand" in the hills of Hazara and it was at Nara that Abbott held a farewell feast that his replacement

Herbert Edwardes Major-General Sir Herbert Benjamin Edwardes DCL (12 November 1819 – 23 December 1868) was a British administrator, soldier, and statesman active in the Punjab region of British India. He is best known as the "Hero of Multan" for his pivot ...

observed.

And there for three days and nights ... he might be seen walking among the groups of guests and hecatombs of pots and cauldrons the kind and courteous host of a whole people."

According to Edwardes, after the event had finished and Abbott departed, he was escorted along the way by a "weeping and lamenting" crowd of Hazarawals. In the 1930s Sir

Olaf Caroe Sir Olaf Kirkpatrick Kruuse Caroe, (15 November 1892 – 23 November 1981) was an administrator in British India, working for the Indian Civil Service and the Indian Political Service. He served as the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India ...

, asked an elderly Yusufzai from Hazara if he had ever met Abbott, he confirmed he had and described him as "a little man with bristly hair on his face and kind eyes, and we loved him. I was in the jirga when he was asking us if we would stand and fight the Sikhs if he stood by us. We swore we would, and there were tears in our eyes, and a tear in Abbott Sahib's eye too. And we did! He was our father, and we were his children. There are no Angrez like Abbott Sahib now."

References

{{Abbottabad-Union-Councils Union councils of Abbottabad District