THE%20SINDH%20STORY

From Brahmo Samaj to RSS
WHEN the British took over Sindh in 1843, it was little more than sandy
expanses on both sides of the river, interspersed with patches of green. Karachi
was a small trading town and even Hyderabad, the capital, had housing that was
little more than miserable hovels. There were no great monuments. And even the
Mirs’ “palaces” had nothing palatial about them. Life was poor and short, even if
it was not nasty and brutish.
The Sindh of 1947 was a very different affair. It was something that old-timers ---
Hindus, Muslims and English alike --- remember with nostalgia. It was
“beautiful as a bride”, says Pir Husamuddin Rashdi. This was not the doing of
only great individuals. It was the cumulative result of the winds of change that
blew in from all directions.
Unfortunately the Sindhi Muslims did not get --- or did not take --- any
favourable wind. The Muslim-majority separate province of Sindh became a
division of the Bombay Presidency, -with its Hindu majority. Bombay
officialdom treated Sindh as the Shikargah (hunting ground) during their winter
visits.
The Wahabi movement with its extreme emphasis on Islamic fundamentalism
did not have many takers in eclectic Sindh, which delighted in its Pirs and graves
and amulets. Wahabi leader Syed Ahmed Barelvi did come to Sindh; and he did
help reorganise the Hurs as a fraternity madly devoted to their Pir in the cause of
“Deen”. But the Mirs of Sindh saw that the British were using the Syed to harass
the Sikhs in their rear, in what is the North-West Frontier Province today.
However, the Wahabi wars with the Sikhs did keep Ranjit Singh too preoccupied
to go and capture Shikarpur in Sindh, which had been ceded by
Afghanistan to the Sikhs.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, British rule was very popular in India
and Lord Ripon, the Viceroy, was particularly popular. In Banaras his carriage
was pulled by the Kashi Pandits. All over the country thousands of welcome
addresses were being signed by leading citizens to be presented to him. The
Sindh Sabha also called a meeting in Karachi in 1881 to send him a memorandum
signed by the leaders, appreciating his services. In this meeting Khan Bahadur
Hassan Ali Effendi opposed the move and said a simple letter should do.
Dayaram flared up and said that it would be a shame (lainat) if Sindh failed to
honour Ripon like the rest of the country. An enraged Effendi walked out as he
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