Sultan Raja Erij Zaman Khan of Khanpur, in Haripur District of Hazara division, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, is the present Chief of the Gakhars tribe. He is the great-grandson of Khan Bahadur Raja Jahandad Khan a prominent chief in British India. In 1963, he succeeded his father Raja Rukan Zaman (Member West Pakistan Legislative Assembly, Pakistan Independence Medal). Raja Erij Zaman Khan was coronated Sultan by the President of Pakistan, Ayub Khan, in a ceremony also attended by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
Raja is the heir of Khanpur Estate, which at the time of Raja Jahandad Khan comprised 84 villages and an area of 684 sq miles. Khanpur Estate was founded by Fateh Khan, son of Sultan Said Khan, at the end of the 1537 Sultan Sarang gifted the estate to his grandson Fateh Khan. At that time the estate compromised of 225 villages including Dhund and Karral Hills (Murree).he took charge of the estate after his fathers death sultan saaid khan in 1597 and settled in khanpur hazara.
The Raja is a nephew of Raja Sikander Zaman, former Chief Minister of North West Frontier Province. He is also the maternal nephew of Khan of Makhad, Sher Ahmad Khan. Raja Erij remained Member Majlis-e-Shoora during General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's military regime. He was also elected Member of Provincial Assembly from Khanpur (NWFP).
He was educated at Army Burn Hall College, Abbottabad. He is married and has three sons and a daughter.
The Mughal Emperor Babur gave the courtesy title of "Sultan" to Raja Erij's remote ancestor, the Gakhar Chief Sultan Sarang, due to his influence and loyalty to the Emperor; and this title was used at that time by the heads/chiefs of the tribe who held sway over a considerable area of (present) Northern Punjab and some part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.As part of Mughal policy, various Mughal princes and kings married the daughters Gakhar Chiefs. Rawalpindi was also named by Gakhar chief Jhanda Khan.