M. Sarmad
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
Ah yes. You are spot on ,If you go far enough in the history of East India Company then the British Army had majority of these Punjabi martial race peopleto Oppress the other natives they were a private Army of serfs to serve the English. . They were considered quite docile by the British compared to other tribes in Pakistan who did not meet the criteria were seen a bit to rebellious for the English. The reason is simply Punjab police get away with bad behaviour it has the full sport rank and file of Pk Army behind them to give them a helping hand needs be.
Well, not exactly.... It was actually the British controlled frontier forces based around Peshawar (most of them Pashtuns) that played a decisive role in stabilizing Punjab and reinforcing the siege of Delhi....... Many Pashtun chiefs also cooperated with the British at that critical moment....
The reason was simple.... neither many Pashtuns nor Punjabis saw much point in helping the Bengal Army restore Mughal rule...... especially when that same Bengal Army had conquered Punjab for the East India Company just 8 years earlier.... Sikh elites, esp from the princely states, had their own reasons for supporting the Brits...
Nor was it ideological...... The British offered land, pensions, and status in return for military service...... a mutually beneficial arrangement.... though that's a different debate...
What is beyond dispute is that after 1857, the British Indian Army relied heavily on Punjabi manpower, and that army became the principal instrument of British rule in India; a political entity Punjabis did not regard as their own country anyways...
The unfortunate legacy, however, was that this system also entrenched a colonial mindset and mercenary tendencies within law enforcement and military institutions recruited from Punjab and parts of KP..... a legacy whose consequences Pakistan is still paying for today...
