CHAKWAL: During a grand ceremony organised by the Chakwal Press Club in honour of Sardar Rattan Deep Singh Kohli and his wife Paramjit Kaur on Friday, guests paid tribute to Sardar Chet Singh Kohli, the great benefactor of Chakwal and Mr Kohli’s grandfather.

Sardar Chet Singh, along with four of his friends, established the Sant Singh Khalsa High School Chakwal in 1910, at a time when education was not much of a priority in remote regions.

He also built student accommodation alongside the school, since there were no transport facilities for students coming from other areas.

In 1918, Sardar Chet Singh also set up a high school in his native village of Munday, along with a dispensary and a maternity room.

After partition, both schools were rechristened and are now known as Government High School Munday and Government High School No.1 Chakwal.

Sardar Chet Singh was also a trader who conducted business across India, Iran and Afghanistan, and migrated to New Delhi after partition.

One of the first things he did in Delhi was establish a school also called the Sant Singh Khalsa High School, which is still running and is considered a leading educational institution.

The people of Chakwal hold the Kohli family in high esteem for their services to the district.

Mr Kohli and his wife Paramjit Kaur landed in Chakwal from New Delhi on Wednesday, on an invitation from local industrialist Qazi Ghulam Akbar.

Addressing the ceremony, Mr Kohli said his family did not do Chakwal any favours, but rather his grandfather was trying to repay the debt he owed to his motherland, just as anyone owes a debt to their motherland.

“We would keep out efforts on to serve Chakwal as our roots are still in Chakwal. Governments and politics could never affect our strong bond to our native land,” he said.

Talking to Dawn later, Mr Kohli appealed to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Mehmood Javed Bhatti and other political representatives from the area, to restore the original names of the schools.

‘If both schools are restored to their original names it would be a great honour to their founders,” he said.

He said he planned to meet with the Chakwal DCO and make this request in person.

Khawaja Babar Saleem, the chairperson of the Chakwal Press Club, said that in 1985, when Chakwal was upgraded to a ‘district’, the literacy rate was 26pc – the highest in the province.

He said Chakwal still has the highest literacy rate in the province, now at 84pc, credit for which goes to Sardar Chet Singh for establishing two schools in the area 100 years ago.

The provincial minister for wildlife and fisheries, Malik Asif Bhal, said that at a time when Muslim landowners in Punjab were intentionally depriving people of education, wealthy Sikhs were building schools and hospitals in the same province.

Dr Abid Hussain Keyani, a former headmaster at the Government High School No.1 Chakwal, said the people of Chakwal would never forget Sardar Chet Singh and would always welcome his family with open hearts.

Students of the Government High School No.1 Chakwal, along with famous local musician Ustad Gulshan, gave a musical performance, and Mr Kohli was also presented the Dhan Chorasi award for his family’s services to Chakwal.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2016