Abdul Majid Khan Tarin (also spelt Abdul Majeed Khan) (1877–1939), Khan-Sahib,Title conferred in 1919; see Who's Who in India, 1920 ed OBE,Awarded in the January 1920 New Years List, see 'Burke's Handbook of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire', London, 1921, p 650 was a magistrate, MLA and philanthropist of the North West Frontier Province of former British India.Who's Who in the Hazara District, 1932, p.6
Early life and education
Tarin was born to a PathanDr Sher Bahadur Khan Panni, Tareekh e Hazara (Urdu: History of Hazara) 1969 ed, published Peshawar, p.275-76, enlisting Tarin/Tareen origins landlord and aristocrat from Hazara Division, Muhammad Habib Khan Tarin (or Tareen), (c.1829/30-Dec.1888), Hon. Nawab Bahadur, Risaldar, CSI, who was also an ex-cavalry officerCol. H St GM McRae, Regimental History of the 45th Rattray's Sikhs, Vol 1, Glasgow, 1933, p.136 and a landed jagirdar of Talokar and Dheri estates in Haripur, NWFP (present-day, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).O.Tarin & SD Najmuddin, "Sardar Habib Khan, 1st Bengal Military Police Battalion" in Durbar: Journal of the Indian Military Historical Society, UK, Summer 2010, Vol 27, No2, pp. 67-75; also see 45th Rattray's Sikhs, which was originally raised as the 1st Bengal Military Police Btn, 1856 At his father's death Majid Khan was a young boy and the family estates were placed under the Court of Wards.Indian Princely States and Jagirs website A younger half-brother of Abdul Majid Khan, Abdul Latif Khan Tarin, later served as a Jemadar e Aazam in the 82nd Punjabis (now 4th Btn the Punjab Regiment), and died in action at the Battle of Dujaila Redoubt, in Mesopotamia, March 1916, World War 1 He was initially taught at home by English tutors, then sent to the Aitchison College, Lahore, and then to a mission school in Simla. After his Matriculation from there he proceeded to England in 1899 and qualified as a barrister in 1901.His records are available on the Old Rolls of Lincoln's Inn, London, UK He was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in April 1902.
Career
On returning to India, Tarin became a junior magistrate in the Punjab service, then a 1st class magistrate, extra assistant commissioner and then deputy commissioner; he also served briefly as a judge in the Punjab Sessions Courts.'Punjab Government Gazetteer', 1932 On retiring from service in 1934, he became an early and active member of the NWFP (now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan) chapter of the All India Muslim League and a close associate of Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum, and was a member of the NWFP Legislative Assembly (1937–1939).See Introduction to the early history of the NWFP Assembly Although keen to protect Muslim rights, he remained a firm proponent of a consolidated Muslim entity within a larger Indian confederation until his death at his ancestral village, Talokar, in June 1939.'The Hazara Enquirer', Sept 23rd 1939, Obituary notice
Legacy Tarin was also a philanthropist. Apart from his support of the establishment of the Islamia College, Peshawar, and support of various Indian Muslim charities, he played a considerable role in the early development of his native Haripur area in Hazara, NWFP. He founded several charitable schools, set up a public tuberculosis ward at the Haripur Government Hospital, provided for a system of educational scholarships for local students, as well as supporting numerous needy people.Gazetteer, 1932
Khan Sahib had three sons and two daughters. His eldest son, Abdus Salim Khan, a Pakistani diplomat,Pakistan Foreign Office Archives, Islamabad; Listings 1952-1962, Ref No 23 was married to former Pakistani minister, Begum Mahmooda Salim Khan, daughter of the late Punjab Premier, Sardar Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan (1892–1942). His second son Abdul Hamid Khan was an agriculturist of NWFP,Hazara Reporter, Monday 19 October 1959, p. 12 whilst his third son, Abdul Rashid Khan, was commissioned in the British Indian ArmyIndian Army List April 1943 ed, informs us that the said 2nd Lieutenant Abdul Rashid Khan was given an Emergency/Wartime Commission, with effect from 14 July 1942, straight from the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun. and later served in the Pakistan Army after the independence of Pakistan in 1947. The Pakistani poet and research scholar, Omer Tarin is a great-grandson of Abdul Majid Khan Tarin.Oct 2011 Interview of poet Omer Tarin, by Dr Ilyas Khan. Shared online at http://ilyask2.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/interview-with-poet-omer-tarin-2011/ . Retrieved 6 April 2014
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