Sultan Shahab ud Din Muhammad Ghouri - سلطان شہاب الدین محمد غوری

Some 13 km from the GT Road near Suhawa in district Jhelum is the tomb of Sultan Shahab ud Din Muhammad Ghouri. I could not resist driving there yesterday on my way back from Rawalpindi to Sialkot. The road was a narrow one and definitely needed a lot of work to be in better shape again. However the attraction of seeing the tomb of this great man was strong enough to keep me driving.

The tomb seems recently renovated with white marble tiles though with loss of the historic touch. A replica of Ghori Missile is erected in the lawn with a portrait of Dr. AQ khan along with a portrait of the Sultan. Graves of the three unidentified security guards of the Sultan are also located nearby.  Sultan Shahāb-ud-Din Muhammad Ghori (1162 – 15 March 1206), was a ruler of the Ghorid dynasty who reigned over a territory spanning present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India. He conquered the city of Ghazna in 1173, and assisted his brother Ghiyasuddin in his contest with Khwarezmid Empire for the lordship of Khorāsān. Shahabuddin Ghori captured Multan and Uch in 1175 and annexed the Ghaznavid principality of Lahore in 1186. After the death of his brother Ghiyas-ud-Din in 1202, he became the successor of his empire and ruled until his assassination in March 1206 by a fanatic at his halt-place at Dhamiak (Jhelum) on his way back to Ghazni after successfully dealing with a revolt by Khokhars.