Shaidu

Shaidu (شيدو) is a town of about 75,000 people, in the Nowshera district of the North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. It is located about 24 kilometers east of the city of Nowshera, between the Khattak mountains to the south and the River Kabul( لندي سيند)in the north.

==History==

Shaidu is an old town. Meri Khel (ميرىخيل) are the first people whose ancestor named Meri came from Kohat and settled in the area during the reign of Mughal Emperor Babur.Shaidu is home to the Akor Khel, ruling khel of the khattak tribe, as well as to the Mohallah Khan Khail.

The Khan Khel (خان خيل) clan came here when two sons of Khushal Khan Khattak, named Shahbaz Khan Khattak and Abdul Qadir Khan Khattak came from Akora Khattak to Shaidu. The two larger are the descendants of these two brothers. Other khels of Shaidu are Piran, Darvesh Khel,Sheikhan, Qazian, Manjan Khel, Akhun khel, Guddaan, Miangan, Mulayan, Abdurehman Khel, Baba Khel, Arora, khurram, Thekedaran, Hajian, Zargaran, Jattaan and besides this there are some newly emerging groups which are either the sub clans or branches of the above mentioned larger groups or settlers from outside.

==Great Battle of Shaidu==

Godrhi Shahzada Who was he and where did he come from? No one knows. The only thing known about him was that he was a galliant warrior, ready to sacrifice his life for the cause of Islam. The Pashtoons traditionally give a lot of respect towards their Religious leaders and people close to Allah. They don't call such people by their names; instead they give them titles. Pirzadas are known to them as Shahzadas or Sahibzadas. Godrhi Shahzada was also a Pirzada. Even the Durrani rulers of Peshawar gave respect to him.

When Syed Ahmad Barelvi Shaheed (Rahmatullah Alaihe) and Shah Ismail Shaheed (Rahimallah Alaihe) started the Tehreek ul Mujahideen movement against the Sikhs, Godrhi Shahzada was one such person who joined this movement. He approached Syed Ahmad Shaheed and took Bai'yah from him and declared that he has rendered his life and services in the company of Syed Sahib solely for the sake of Allah and promised that he would not turn away from this promise Inshallah.

When the movement started, the Durrani emperor's approached the founding leaders for consultation. For this, Syed Ahmad Shaheed also went to Nowshera from Hund with 500 men for the meeting. In this convoy were present Fateh Khan Rayees Panjtaar, Ashraf Khan Rayees Zaida, Khadi Khan Rayees Hund, and Godrhi Shahzada himself. After the consultations, when Syed Sahib and his entourage went back to Hund, the Durrani Emperor Sardar Yar Muhammad Khan insisted that Godrhi Shahzada should stay behind.

It is narrated from Maulana Ghulam Rasool Mahar that Godrhi Shahzada took part in the battle of Shaidu. In this particular battle, Syed Ahmad Shaheed's army numbered arond the 100,000 figure. Due to such high numbers, most of the Ghazis were certain that they would annihilate the Sikh army and march on to Attock. These numbers also included Yar Muhammad Khan's men. When the battle was in the final stages and victory was certain, Yar Muhammad Khan withdrew his men from the scene of the battle. Because of this, moral of the other Mujahideen also fell and as an obvious consequence, they were not able to subdue the Sikhs. In this scene of mayhem everybody was trying to save their lives. Only a few people who were sincere to their cause stayed behind to fight. One such person was Godrhi Shahzada.

Shahzada Godrhi was stationed at Shaidu village and his Lashkar was slowly approaching the Sikhs. The Sikhs did not expect that his men would cross the blockade (demarking the Sikh territory) that soon. When they did find out, they reciprocated with full force and Godrhi Shahzada's men were forced to move back and resumed their positions within the village itself. This time, the Sikhs had gone forward in order to push them out of the whole area once and for all. For safety of the villagers, Shahzada's men pushed even further back to the local graveyard (which was situated on the outskirts of the village). It was in this graveyard that they stood firmly and fought against the Sikhs. If they had wanted, they could have evacuated the area. This was the occasion when Shahzada Godrhi was martyred.

It is narrated in 'Manzoora' that Godrhi Shahzada fought very bravely and killed a number of Sikh troops before finally attaining martyrdom. He had stuck to his promise with Syed Ahmad Shaheed of not turning back and fighting till the end.

According to 'Jamat e Mujahideen', the old Shaidu village is located at a little distance from the new settlements of the village on the banks of the river. The reason for resettlement was that due to repeated floods, the old village was submerged on a number of occasions. All that is left of it now is broken clusters of houses and other buildings. Amongst these clusters is the grave of Godrhi Shahzadi. The site is a historical site and is visited by many people; including tourists. All of them pay tribute at the Tomb of Godrhi Shahzadi when they are there.

Continue reading at NowPublic.com: Great Battle of Shaidu | NowPublic News Coverage http://www.nowpublic.com/great_battle_shaidu#ixzz1Vy4Amq5o

==Prominent Personalities==

Shaidu is politically, socially, and economically wonderful town. It gave some of the greatest economists, politicians, and industrialists to Pakistan such as Ghulam Faruque from Khan Khels.

 

==Geography==

It is a town right on the Great Trunk road(جرنيلى سرك). To the south there is a mountain range, and to the north a river. The village was hit twice by the flood, which forced the people of the village to migrate to the other side of the G.T road and settle there.

The nearby Mughal Dam provides a reservoir for agricultural irrigation, as well as recreational facilities.

==Events==

Every year a Mela of animals is held in Shaidu, in which animals are brought from far off places of the province for selling, this Mela is held before 4 or 5 days from Eid UL AZHA.

In addition to this every Wednesday a local mela for selling goats is held near shaidu bus stops,to which animals specially goats and sheeps are brought from the neighbouring villages and sold out in the mela at reasonable prices.

==Youth of Shaidu==

The youth of shaidu is talented,active and passionate.The young boys of the Village take part in different competitions of Cricket,Volley Ball and sometimes FOOTBALL as well. Two Flood night cricket tournament have been held till date in which 32 teams from different parts of District Nowshera Participated."