Hussain Khan (captain)

Captain Hussain Khan (Urdu: ) was a prominent Sudhan soldier who fought most notably in the First Kashmir War in the Battle of Rawalakot against the forces of the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir.

World War I
At the age of 18, Khan enlisted in the British Indian Army in 1913. Khan served with the 2/123rd Outram’s Rifles. For his services in the war, he was mentioned in dispatches in The London Gazette in 1921. He was also awarded the Order of the British Empire.

World War II
Khan served with the 9th Jat Regiment. During the Burma campaign, he was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese. He subsequently escaped Japanese captivity along with two other senior British officers.

Poonch Rebellion and First Kashmir War
Sometime before the outbreak of armed resistance during the rebellion, Dogras were out plundering and pillaging the area, a band trespassed into Hussain Khan's home and stole one of his sheep. Hussain Khan's wife who tried to prevent the robbery, was heckled. On coming home, Hussain Khan was agitated and vowed to take revenge. He joined the rebellion and recruited ex-servicemen and youth. Hussain Khan had a preference towards ex-servicemen of the Indian National Army, adding that since they had taken up arms against their British rulers, they were more suitable to fight their Dogra rulers as well. However, very few INA ex-servicemen were available in the area. Once the enlistment had completed, he had led some two hundred ex-servicemen to a nearby forest, he placed a copy of the Quran on the branch of a tree, and made them all pass beneath it, taking an oath of secrecy and sacrifice. Despite Hussain Khan having little saving, he persuaded Col. Khan Muhammad Khan to part with a few thousand rupees of his saving and bought arms and ammunition from the tribal areas. After Hussain Khan and the Azad Forces has succeeded in expelling the State Forces from Rawalakot, Hussain Khan relentlessly and ruthlessly pursued the retreating State Forces right up to Tolipir, giving them no respite and frustrating their efforts to regroup or to stop his advance. Near Tolipir, Hussain Khan was struck with a bullet and died on the spot.

Legacy
Khan's native village of Kala Kot was renamed to Hussain Kot in his honour. The Government of Azad Kashmir awarded him Fakhr-i-Kashmir posthumously on 27 March 1948, which is equivalent to Hilal-i-Jur'at. "Captain Hussain Shaheed’s role to get the people of AJK liberated from the oppressive rule of the Maharaja of Kashmir would never be overlooked or forgotten in the history of Kashmir."