Pir Of Pagaro Of Sindh Sacrificed For India's Freedom
By
Saquib Salim, New Age Islam
23 July
2022
Pir Of Pagaro Has Enlisted At Least 6,000
Militants To Fight For The Independence Of India With An Oath To Die For The
Cause
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Pir Pagaro of Sindh
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Indians and
other historians have either tried to whitewash the revolutionary movements for
freedom or presented these as disjointed localised efforts. Even the largest
movement of Azad Hind Fauj led by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose has been narrated
in a staggered manner and an episodial manner like the battle of Burma (Myanmar)
and the battle of Imphal. The picture thus presented is of an army fighting at
a frontier with no support elsewhere. This history needs to be revisited.
In 1930,
Sayyid Sibghatullah Shah Al-Rashidi called Pir of Pagaro, a Muslim Saint from
Sindh with a huge following, was arrested by the British Government for
‘creating disturbances’. He was accused of instigating anti-colonial feelings
among his followers known as ‘Hurs’ (literally meaning free). The decision to
send him to a prison away from Sindh rather shaped this anti-colonial Muslim
saint into a nationalist revolutionary.
In the
Bengal hail, he met several revolutionaries and realised that what he had
experienced in his area was the same being experienced by others. He understood
that British colonialism was destroying the nation and Hindu-Muslim unity was
the only weapon to fight them. From the prison, he started preaching
nationalist messages. Sarah F. D. Ansari of the University of London in her
book Sufi Saints and State Power: The Pirs of Sind, 1843 - 1947, writes,
“messages strongly coloured with a radical nationalist tinge were smuggled out
in the form of notes written in the margins and between the lines of books and
magazines. They condemned the British for treating 'Indians like donkeys',
loading them down with 'England's burdens', and pointed out that the only
reason why the British were able to rule over 300,000,000 people was that
Indians were 'cowards'.”
In 1936,
when he returned to his seat at Khairpur in Sindh, Pir of Pagaro had turned a
revolutionary. He started establishing links with revolutionary leaders of
Bengal as well as those living in Europe, especially Germany. He started
inviting Congress leadership to his area and organise Hindu-Muslim unity
meetings. We must keep in mind that it was 1938 and Subhas Chandra Bose was the
President of Congress. Unsurprisingly when Subhash formed Forward Bloc after
his famous differences with Mahatma Gandhi, Pir of Pagaro asked his followers
to back Forward Bloc and denounced the stand of Congress.
In 1939,
the centuries-old Hindu-Muslim unity of Sindh was severely shattered over the
Manzilgah mosque dispute and the riots that followed. Pir of Pagaro ordered his
large following of armed followers known as ‘ghazis’ to save Hindus from the
Muslim fanatics. Sarah F. D. Ansari writes, “In his newspaper, the Pir-jo-Goth
Gazette, he (Pir of Pagaro) called for Hindu-Muslim unity: 'My forefathers', he
wrote, 'treated Hindus and Muslims alike as a sacred trust. The same is my
principle . .. Allah is the same as Parmatma, though with different names. I
will be happy when I see temples and mosques together with only a wall dividing
them and everyone [worshipping] according to their rights so that no one may
have a grievance against the other'. In a similar vein, he denounced the Hindu
Sabha and the Muslim League as divisive communal movements. Only when Hindus
and Muslims combined would 'peace . . . be achieved and satanic deeds . . . stopped':
Indians had to be 'national minded' and regard India as a country which
belonged to all its inhabitants.”
An
intelligence report dated October 1940 says, “Pir of Bharchundi is not liked by
the Pir Pagaro, who disrespected the Pir of Bharchundi and sent him away from
his ‘Kot’ when the Pir of Bharchundi last visited the Pir Pagaro… the reason
for such treatment of the Pir to the Pir of Bharchundi was that the Pir of
Bharchundi would not assist in getting the murderers of Hindus arrested.”
It further
says, “Pir Pagaro has won great sympathy of the Hindus.” Sarah also points out
how the Pir came out in support of a Muslim man’s right, who had earlier
converted into Islam from Hinduism, to reconvert into Hinduism. "
Another
intelligence report noted that Pir of Pagaro has enlisted at least 6,000
militants to fight with an oath to die for the cause. These militants were
called ghazis. Ghazis had paraded and displayed their military skills in front
of him during his visits to Jaisalmer and Jodhpur as well. The nationwide
presence was a threat for the British. The report further noted, “the Pir was
renewing his contacts with terrorists (terrorists was a term used by the
English for revolutionaries) who had been in prison along with him in Bengal.
His visits to Calcutta (Kolkata) were, it is said, performed for no other
reason.”
The British
apprehension was not wrong. Pir Pagaro had contacts with Bengali
revolutionaries and Subhash. If Subhash raised an army on Eastern Front, Pir of
Pagaro raised another on the Western Front. An intelligence report from 1941
noted, “He (Pir of Pagaro) has got his electric plant and radio set at which he
and his followers hear Hindustani programs from Germany and then spread the
German news in the villages which has a disquieting effect on the local
people.” The report also pointed out that “the villainous activities of the Pir
and his growing contempt of authority are becoming a byword throughout India”.
Pir of
Pagaro was running an independent government in that region of Sindh with the
help of his militia. The British Government arrested him in Karachi on the
pretext of holding talks with him. His ghazis would not stop and kept attacking
the British infrastructure. They were so much feared that the Legislative
Assembly members did not want their names to become public for voting in favour
of an act against Hurs (followers of Pir of Pagaro). Sarah notes, “The level of
fear which existed in Sind at the time even inside the Legislature was
reflected in the session being held in camera. Members of the Assembly were not
prepared to vote openly in favour of the act 'lest they were marked down for
the Pir's future vengeance'.” The fear was not unfounded as soon after Ghazis
killed the son of Hidayatullah, one of the tallest Sindh leaders in that
Legislative Assembly, by derailing a train.
It did not
take much time and within weeks Martial Law was declared. The British had to
open a war front at the time of World War II. Sarah writes, “The area north of
Sanghar and the Thar desert (Rajasthan) were thoroughly reconnoitered from the
air; paratroopers and bombs were used against bands of armed men. Hur villages
were raided, wells stopped up and their cattle herded into other districts.” On
the other hand, the Pir was being tortured to ask his followers to put down
their weapons.
Did the
nationalists concede defeat? No. The Pir of Pagaro, Sibghatullah, embraced
martyrdom at the gallows on 20 March 1943, after a sham of a court trial. Hurs
kept fighting the British till 1946 even after their Pir was gone.
Source: Pir
Of Pagaro Of Sindh Sacrificed For India's Freedom
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-personalities/pir-pagaro-sindh-sacrificed-freedom/d/127545
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