POTTINGER, SIR HENRY (1789-1856), soldier and diplomat, son of Eldred Curwen Pottinger, was born on 3 Ocober 1789. He obtained a cadetship in the Indian army in 1804. During 1809-11, he explored the country between Persia and India travelling incognito. He reported the results of his journey which were published in 1816 in book form in London under the title, Travels in Beluchistan and Sinde. In 1825, he was appointed resident in Cutch. In October 1831, Lord William Bentinck sent Henry Pottinger to Sindh on a "commercial" mission to persuade the Amirs to participate in the Indus navigation scheme.
RAGHBIR SINGH DUGAL (1897-1957), a medical practitioner and leader of the Sikh community in Burma, was born in 1897, the son of Sobha Singh, at the village of Sayyid Kasrari, in Rawalpindi district, now in Pakistan. He had his early education at his village and in Rawalpindi, and in 1911 accompanied his elder brother to Rangoon where he qualified as a physician. Along with his medical practice, Raghbir Singh took a great deal of interest in social work and became president of the Sikh temple at Rangoon and secretary of the Sikh Educational Committee of Burma. In December 1927, he was elected president of the Khalsa Diwan, Burma.
SARDAR, in Persian amalgam of sar (head) and dar (a suffix derived from the verb dash tan, i.e. to hold) meaning holder of headship, is an honorific signifying an officer of rank, a general or chief of a tribe or organization. Sikhs among whom, during the time of the Guru and for half a century thereafter, no words indicative of high rank were current other than the common appellation bhaior, rarely, baba to express reverence due to age or descent from the Gurus, adopted sardar for the leaders of their Jathas or bands fighting against Afghan invaders under Ahmad Shah Durrani.