Zaman Park Lahore History: In 1942, there were houses of 6 prosperous Hindu families, who used to be relatives among themselves. Rai Bahadur Sundar Das was one of them. 6 horses of his family were brought here.
These days Zaman Park has become the fort of Imran Khan.
Lahore’s Zaman Park in Pakistan, where former Prime Minister and cricketer Imran Khan Is the house of, these days the battlefield has been made. There was a fierce clash between the police and the supporters here regarding his arrest. At present, the court has given relief to Imran. However, in the Zaman Park we are talking about, not only Imran Khan, but more than 40 cricketers live there. Imran’s relatives, bureaucrats, army officers and doctors also live here.
Majeed Sheikh writes a column in The Dawn called Harking Back. He also wrote an article on Zaman Park in September 2018. In this, citing old maps, he told that the area where Zaman Park is today, used to be the ‘PLH Ground’ during the British rule. PLH stands for Punjab Light Horse. Before partition, the Punjab Light Horse was a cavalry force of the British Indian Army. It was prepared in 1867 for the deployment of the army in Lahore in British India.
Story of Sundar Das Park
The first map of Lahore came during the revolution of 1857. At that time there was no mention of the land of Zaman Park. Even till 1935, the map of Lahore did not have Zaman Park in it. The PLH ground came into existence in 1867, which also had a firing range. It was used for monitoring many areas including Lahore and Amritsar.
When Indo-Pak partition took place in 1947, this regiment was abolished after the formation of a separate Pakistan. This area is behind Aitchison College in Lahore and south of Mayo Gardens. In 1936, the name of this place was changed to Sunder Das Park. There is also Sundar Das Road to the south of Mayo Gardens. Then the name of Zaman Park used to be Sundar Das Park. A circle-shaped cricket ground in the middle of this colony is also visible in the 1936 map.
Zaman Park and Hindu Family Horses
Jaman means the head of the Pathan family of Jalandhar. The head of one such family was Khan Mohammad Zaman Khan. He was the Post Master General of Punjab in 1943-44. In 1940 itself, he had built a house with seven bedrooms in this area for himself. This area was named after him as Zaman Park.
Till 1942, six horses were brought here in British India. These horses belonged to a famous Hindu family. Rai Bahadur Sunder Das Suri’s family. Rai Bahadur used to be the Chief Inspector of Schools of Punjab then. He is considered to have made a big contribution in taking Punjabis forward in the field of education. He had a big role in the development of Aitchison College.
Once there were houses of rich Hindus
In 1942, there were houses of 6 prosperous Hindu families, who used to be relatives among themselves. Rai Bahadur Sundar Das was one of them. At the same time, according to media reports, at the time of Indo-Pak partition in 1947, there is mention of 15 big houses in Zaman Park, which belonged to rich Hindu families. At the time of partition, when there was violence on both sides, the then General Wajid Ali Burki had shifted the Pathans of Jalandhar to this park, who were residents of Waziristan and had gone to Jalandhar.
