I don't know why Awans claim foreign ancestry. They are not recent phenomenon, just changed their origin claims. Dilip Kumar is also awan.
"However, there are those who attribute an indigenous origin to the Awan tribe; these include
Alexander Cunningham, Harikishan Kaul, HK Gupta
[15] and Professor
Ahmed Hasan Dani. Alexander Cunningham looked upon the Awans as a higher
Rajput clan.
[16] He writes, " According to the
Emperor Babar the Jud and the
Janjuha were "two races descended from the same father, "
[17] who from old times had been rulers of the hills between Nilab and Bhera, that is, of the salt range. "On one-half of the hill lived the Jud, and on the other half the Janjua." The Awans now occupy western half of these hills towards Nilab, and from all I could learn, they would appear to have been settled there for many centuries. They must therefore be the Jud of Baber's memoirs, for Jud was not the true name of the people, but was applied to them as the inhabitants of Mt'
Sakeswar, which was called Jud by the Muhammadans on account of fancied resemblance to Mt. Jud, or Ararat in Armenia".
[18] However he accepts that,"In the total absence of all written records, I have almost nothing to offer in favour of this identification, except its great probability."
[19] According to Robert George Thomson, "General Cunningham's argument leads him to class the Awans as Rajputs and cousins of the Janjuas, and to represent them also as residents of three thousand years standing, this is almost certainly erroneous.
[20]
Kaul was of the opinion that the tribe was of either
Jat or Rajput origin, pointing to the fact that in
Sanskrit, the term
Awan means "defender" or "protector" and asserting that this title was awarded by surrounding tribes due to the Awans successfully defending their strongholds against aggression.
[21] However it is also stated in Census of India, 1901, that "In the Salt-range Tract, however, the higher Rajput tribes, such as Janjua, are carefully excluded; and Jat means any Muhammadan cultivator of Hindu origin who is not a
Gakkhar,
Pathan, Awan or
Saiyad."
[22]"