Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal


Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal, also called Amo Kharal was a Punjabi freedom activist and folk hero, who fought against the British Raj in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Early History

Ahmed Khan kharal was born into a rich landowning family of the Kharal Jatt Clan in the Sandal Bar region of Punjab, in Chak 434 Gb Jhamra village 23 km from Tandlianwala Faisalabad District and 57 km from Faisalabad city. As a young man he fought against the rising Sikh power led by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Later on, as an old man in his 70s, when the rebellion broke out against the British, he also raised a force to fight against them.

Martyrdom

Ahmed Khan Kharal was quite successful in helping the local people and keeping them safe from British troops, keeping up a guerilla warfare against British Raj for some months. On 26 July 1857, Amo Kharal went with a force to attack the Gogera Jail to release some of his companions arrested by the enemy, but was ambushed by assistant commissioner of Gogera Leopold Oliver Fitzhardinge Berkeley and their local allies. Ahmed Khan Kharal and his assistant, Sarang, were both embraced shahdat, fighting bravely.
The deeds of this brave and noble warrior are still remembered and sung by Punjabi poets in dholas and vars, types of poems.