GHULAM MURTAZA, MIRZA

GHULAM MURTAZA, MIRZA, served the Lahore Darbar under Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his successors for several years. One of his ancestors, Hadi Beg, a Mughal migrant from Samarkand, had emigrated to the Punjab in 1530 during the reign of Babar and got appointment as qdzi or magistrate over seventy villages in the neighbourhood of Qadian. Hadi Beg`s descendants were engaged in constant struggle with the Ramgarhia and Kanhaiya sardars who had occupied territory in the neighbourhood of Qadian. Maharaja Ranjit Singh who had confiscated the possessions of the Ramgarhia chiefship restored to Ghulam Murtaza a large portion of his ancestral estates. 

Ghulam Murtaza entered the army of the Maharaja and served on the Kashmir frontier and at other places. During the time of Maharaja Kharak Singh and his successors, Ghulam Murtaza did his stints of active service. He accompanied General Vcntura in 1841 to Mandi and Kullu, and in 1843 he was sent to Peshawar. Mirza Ghulam Murtaza settled at Qadian, but his estate was resumed upon the occupation of the Punjab by the British.

References :

1. Sun, Sohan Lal, `Udmdt-ul-Twcinkh. Lahore, 1885-89
2. Lepel, Griffin, and C.F. Massy, Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab. Lahore, 1909