About Bajwa clan, here and in Pak

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 26

The appointment of Lt Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa as the next Pakistan army chief to replace Gen Raheel Sharif has kicked up social media traffic, with speculation in some quarters that his family may have old ties with the Sikh Bajwa families in India.

While many Indians bearing the Bajwa surname and those who are members of “Bajwa” groups on the social media have been receiving congratulatory messages, some of them have clarified that people bearing the Bajwa surname on both sides of the border originally come from the same clan, from the Sialkot-Narowal belt. 

All were originally Hindus before they conversion to Sikhism or Islam began a few hundred years ago. Some Pakistani Bajwa families also claim that they converted from Sikhism. In fact, majority of the Sikh Bajwa families migrated to India after Partition and some of them who chose to stay back in Pakistan are said to have converted to Islam later. There are several surnames common to Sikhs and Muslims.

Though little is publicly known about the ancestry of Gen Bajwa, he is said to be a Jat belonging to the Punjabi Muslim stock. This also has a coincidence with the Indian Army Chief, Gen DS Suhag, who also happens to be a Jat.

Though there may no longer be any direct blood relationship between the present generations of Sikh Bajwas and Muslim Bajwas, social interaction between the two continues.