General Raja Sakhi Daler Khan was born in the village of Sarsawa, Kotli

Kotli

Kotli is the chief town of Kotli District, in the Pakistani-administered Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Kotli is linked with Mirpur by two metalled roads, one via Rajdhani, and the other via Charhoi...

  into the Mangral

Mangral

The Mangral are a Rajput warrior clan and the historical founders and rulers of Kotli and Poonch. Their ancestor Raja Mangar Pal was the founder of the City of Kotli in modern Azad Kashmir...

 subgroup of the Rajput

Rajput

A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...

 warrior caste. He led Pakistani troops and irregulars in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947

Indo-Pakistani War of 1947

The India-Pakistan War of 1947-48, sometimes known as the First Kashmir War, was fought between India and Pakistan over the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu from 1947 to 1948. It was the first of four wars fought between the two newly independent nations...

. Due to his major role in the liberation of the Poonch

Poonch

Poonch is a town and a municipal committee in Poonch District in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Based on the Mahābhārata evidence, and the evidence from 7th Chinese traveler Xuanzang, the districts of Poonch along with Rajauri and Abhisara had been under the sway of the Republican Kambojas...

 valley regions of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the village of Sarsawa was subsequently renamed Sakhi Daler Abad in his honour.

Military career

Raja Sakhi Daler Khan joined the Indian National Army

Indian National Army

The Indian National Army or Azad Hind Fauj was an armed force formed by Indian nationalists in 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II. The aim of the army was to overthrow the British Raj in colonial India, with Japanese assistance...

 within which he was promoted to the rank of General

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

. He resigned from his post and joined the All-India Muslim League on June 6, 1946. League leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah requested that he file a report about the current situation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...

. Khan visited the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Ram Chandra Kak

Ram Chandra Kak

Ram Chandra Kak was Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir during 1945–47. He was also a pioneering archaeologist who excavated the leading sites of antiquities in Kashmir and wrote the definitive text on them....

 and the last ruling Maharrajah, Maharaja Hari Singh, to better understand their views on whether Jammu and Kashmir should join with Pakistan as laid out in the British proposal for post-Independence India and Pakistan. He reported back to Jinnah at his residence at Aurang Zaib Road, Delhi in 1946 that an alternative plan was required to liberate Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...

. Khan tried to organise army veterans and recruit them for the fighting for Jammu and Kashmir by showing them a circular signed by Jinnah establishing a War Council on September 5, 1947. Following this, Khan led many battles against the Dogra

Dogra

The Dogras are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group in South Asia. Being a diversified group, the Dogras include both Savarnas such as Brahmins, Rajputs and Non-savarnas. The Dogras also incluide merchant castes such as Mahajans...

 forces that were currently in control of the area, particularly in Kotli District

Kotli District

Kotli is one of the eight districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. Kotli the chief town of the district, was originally a minor town between Mirpur and Muzaffarabad, but has recently seen major growth.- Administration :...

 and Rajouri District

Rajouri District

Rajouri is a district of Jammu province in the Indian-administered Kashmir. It is close to the control line and borders with Ponch to the north and Mirpur to the southwest, both of which are in Pakistan-administered Kashmir....

.

Overthrow of the Dogra regime

Under the leadership of Raja Sakhi Daler Khan the Muslims of Rajouri rose against the Dogra rulers and took Rajouri. Rajouri was subsequently subject to a heavy armed assault lasting several days by the Fiftieth Parachute Brigade, the Eightieth Brigade, and the 19th Indian Infantry Brigade

19th Indian Infantry Brigade

The 19th Indian Infantry Brigade was an Infantry formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in October, 1940 at Old Delhi in India and assigned to the 8th Indian Infantry Division. In August 1941, they took part in the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran...

 supported by tanks of the Central Indian Horse. Rajouri fell under control of Indian forces on 12 April 1948, becoming part of the contested but Indian-occupied state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Decorations

The War Council awarded Khan the following honours:

• General
• Fath-e-Kotli (Liberator of Kotli)
• Fakhr-e-Kashmir (Honour of Kashmir)
• Ghazi-e-Kashmir (Warrior of Kashmir)
• Khadam-e-Din (Servant of the Deen)
• Commander in Chief, Tehreek-e-Azaadi
• Chief Convenor, Jammu and Kashmir Historical Committee