Malik Sahib Khan Tiwana

Sahib Khan was born into the Rajput Tiwana family of Shahpur, the son of Ahmad Yar Khan Tiwana . On hearing news of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, he requested and received permission to raise 200 men of his clan for the service of the Government.^[1] He assisted in disarming the mutiny in Jhelum and was present at the destruction of the 26th Native Infantry.^[2] He thereafter marched to Hindustan where he assisted at Calpi. So impressed were the British by his Tiwana irregulars, that the detachment was incorporated into the 2nd Mahratta Horse at Gwalior.^[3] As a reward for he received a land grant of nearly 9,000 acres in Kalpi, a life jagir worth 1,200 rupees and the title Khan Bahadur.^[4] In 1863 he built the first privately built canal on state-leased land in the Punjab.^[5] His control of both land and water generated immense political and economic influence over his tenants.^[6] He died in 1879 when his son Malik Umar Hayat Khan was still a minor. Malik Sahib Khan Tiwana served in military service as well as in administrative positions. Malik Sahib Khan Tiwana was three times the administrator of Lucky Marwat, which is now a District Headquarter of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The grave of Malik Sahib Khan Tiwana is in Kalra Jhawarian.