An ancestor of late Indian actor-turned politician Sunil Dutt was martyred as he fought alongside Imam Hussain in the battle of Karbala and to perpetuate that the Dutt family observes Muharram with reverence, a Pakistani commentator says.

"The Dutt Brahmins are also known as Hussaini Brahmins. In undivided Punjab they were to be found all over that province but considered the Rawalpindi-Jhelum tract their original homeland," Ishtiaq Ahmed, an associate professor of political science, wrote in Daily Times Tuesday.

"According to their family belief and legend their ancestor Rahab Dutt was settled in Arabia and had met Imam Hussain and became his admirer and supporter. He and his seven sons died fighting on the side of the Imam at the battle of Karbala.

"The Dutts had subsequently continued to observe the month of Muharram with great solemnity and took part in the various ceremonies related to the tragedy of Karbala, but remained Hindus," Ahmed wrote.

He quoted from a folk song of the region to buttress his contention: "Wah Dutt Sultan/Hindu ka dharm/Musalman ka iman/Adha Hindu adha Musalman (Oh! Dutt the king/With the religion of the Hindu/And the faith of the Muslim/Half Hindu, half Muslim)"

Describing Dutt, who died May 25 of a heart attack, as a humanist, a Punjabi and a world citizen, Ahmed recalled a meeting with him on October 20, 2001 to seek his support for a memorial to the victims of the country's partition in 1947.

"Dutt Sahib's enthusiasm for the idea knew no bounds. He promised to help in all possible ways. Therefore the announcement that a Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service would start from April 7, 2005 made me feel that that magic moment was finally on the horizon and it was time to launch a campaign for the memorial, Ahmed wrote.

"I was in the process of preparing for it when the news came in that Dutt Sahib had passed away. It was a great shock and I must admit it felt like a personal loss. Why someone who had only met Sunil Dutt for a few hours should feel so strongly about his death is something I feel I need to elaborate," Ahmed said.

He then went on to relate the march that Dutt undertook to the Golden Temple to cool passions in the wake of the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi, as also his role in protecting Muslims following the Mumbai riots of 1992-93.

Dutt's work in the aftermath of the riots led to "trumped up" charges against his actor son Sanjay Dutt, of which he was subsequently cleared.

"In 1999, when I visited Mumbai, I had a conversation with a Muslim taxi driver about the bomb blasts and the subsequent riots," Ahmed wrote.

"The taxi driver wore a long beard and was undoubtedly a pious Muslim. He told me that Dilip Kumar and his wife Saira Bano had done a lot to protect Muslims, but the contributions of Sunil Dutt and his son Sanjay will never be forgotten by the Muslims of Mumbai. They went from street to street intervening personally to stop mob attacks on Muslims.

"His narrative made a very strong impression on me and I asked him: 'Well, tell me, would Sunil Dutt go to paradise or not when he dies?' He hesitated for a moment and then said, 'Babu ji (sir), you have asked a very provocative question and I am not a learned man, but Allah sees and hears everything and He is just. In my humble opinion Dutt Sahib should be admitted to paradise before me and my children.

"I must say I have never heard a fairer statement and I was pleased none of us had been trained as a dogmatic cleric," Ahmed maintained.

He noted that Sunil Dutt was the first Indian film personality to help former cricketer Imran Khan raise funds for a cancer hospital in his mother's memory. Dutt's wife Nargis too had died of cancer.

"In 1997 he was able to visit his (Khurd) village in Pakistani Punjab. The people met him with great warmth and love and treated him as a lost son," Ahmed noted.