Pir Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi, Soreh Badshah

The Indian subcontinent has a longstanding socio-political history of marginalisation, oppression, tyranny and subordination especially in the context of colonial rule. At the same time, the region has also witnessed various movements by local marginalised people against powerful political classes and regimes. A case in point is the resistance movements against British imperial rule in the subcontinent.

These resistance movements offer opportunities for critical a discourse of history, and shed light on our cultural heroes and heritage. Informed debates on these help to correct any distorted facts that may have been introduced by the dominant classes. For example, the British colonial state portrayed some leaders and tribes who challenged their rule and revolted against them as criminals and terrorists; these leaders were tortured and their followers massacred in order to protect the imperialist regime’s exploitative designs.

Sindhi spiritual leader Pir Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi, popularly known as Soreh Badshah (brave king), started a powerful movement — the Hur Resistance Movement — against the British colonial state during 1930-1943. The Hur movement’s slogan, coined by Soreh Badshah, “Watan ya Kafan, Azadi ya Mout” (our land or a coffin, freedom or death), reflected the people’s sentiments and their love for their motherland and national identity. Under the leadership of Soreh Badshah, thousands of his followers (both men and women) revolted against the British Raj and launched a struggle to oust the foreign rulers from Sindh.

The hub of the Hur movement was the central and lower parts of Sindh especially the current Sanghar district. To crush the revolt by the Hurs the British government not only used extreme violence but also imprisoned Soreh Badshah. In 1942, the Hur Criminal Act was passed by the British government in the Sindh Assembly and Martial Law was imposed in Sindh for the first time. Thousands of his followers, including women and children, were confined to jails and concentration camps known as Loorhaa in Sindhi.

Lost in our history are the names of those who stood against oppression and fought for freedom ... here is one such person from the days of the Hur rebellion against the British

It is said that thousands of Hur fighters were brutally tortured, imprisoned and killed or sentenced to death in order to subdue the uprising. Sindhi language books and articles on the subject provide information about the guerrilla war tactics, organisation, and the bravery of the Hurs, as well as the atrocities perpetrated by the imperial power.

The rise of the Hur movement is seen in various dimensions by various historical schools: One view tries to relate the Hur movement with Pakistan movement, while Sindhi nationalists contest this and claim that Soreh Badshah never supported either the Muslim League or the Pakistan movement.

Sindhi nationalists argue that the Hur movement was based on the sentiments of patriotism and nationalism rooted in the minds of the people, and sparked by hatred against the British rule. Thus, Sindhi nationalists consider Soreh Badshah the hero of Sindh who once told G.M. Syed, then an active member of the Muslim League, not to support the Muslim League.

Whatever the case may be, the political history of the Hur movement reflects on the role of local feudal lords and zamindars, who had joined hands with the British colonial state and enjoyed power and privilege. When the Hur movement became a powerful force, the British colonial government not only passed the ‘Hur Criminal Act’ but also launched a powerful propaganda in the form of fake reports and cases against Soreh Badshah and his freedom fighters.

Soreh Badshah was imprisoned on different occasions from 1930 to 1943 in different jails such as Poona, Madnapur, Ratnagri, Rajshahi and Dhaka wherein he met with different leaders of the subcontinent. In 1938, after eight years of imprisonment, Soreh Badshah came to Sindh and formally started organising and mobilising the freedom struggle. In 1940, when the struggle was at its peak, he was again arrested from Karachi and was sent to Naagpur jail in present India.

On Jan 14, 1943, he was brought back to Sindh and shifted to Hyderabad jail. The British government started a treason case against him and in a trail that lasted only 26 days in a Martial Law court he was sentenced to death. On March 20, 1943, the great freedom fighter and leader of Hur movement was hanged in Hyderabad jail.

The death of the spiritual leader provoked his followers and fuelled violence against the colonial government. In retaliation, violence, killings and torture against the followers of Soreh Badshah continued till 1946. Thousands of the Hurs were arrested, killed and confined in camps and jails. The properties of Soreh Badshah and his followers were confiscated, and his minor sons were sent to exile and jailed.

The humiliation of the sons of the soil at the hands of the British continued even after the Partition; in 1950, the newly established state of Pakistan negotiated with the British government to bring them to Pakistan.

Strangely, such local movements and their heroes rarely get a place in the history books of Pakistan, which mostly present Arab and Mughal rulers as the dominant figures and heroes. The freedom struggle led by Soreh Badshah in Sindh was a local movement rooted in cultural cognition and symbolism. We need to remember our true heroes and inform the new generation about the powerful role local people and leaders played against oppression, exploitation and foreign rule. To deny them their due would be akin to killing them all over again.

The writer is Lecturer and currently doing M.phil studies in Anthropology, QAU, Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, May 3rd, 2015

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