HYDERABAD, Jan 27: Scholars and writers have called for extensive research on the Hur movement and the struggle of Syed Sibghatullah Shah Pir Pagaro against the British.

They also suggested preservation of Sindh’s oral tradition for the sake of posterity, urging researchers to disprove with logic the version of history promoted by the ruling elite over the years.

Speakers raised these issues at a function to mark the birth centenary of Sibghatullah Shah, organised by the Sindh Sufi Institute in collaboration with the Sindhi Language Authority (SLA) on Sunday evening.

A compact disc related to the Hur movement was launched at the function.

The disc contains facsimiles of H. T. Lambrick Papers (1893-1947), obtained by Khadim Hussain Soomro, a researcher, from the British Library, London. Aijaz Qureshi gave an introduction about the documents.

Dr. N. A. Baloch, a historian, agreed with a contention by additional secretary Gul Mohammad Umerani that these documents were just one side of the picture. “It’s now up to us how can we benefit from this material.”

He said there were a number of people around who could throw light on the Hur movement, calling for documenting their insights.

He said there were many who had opposed the movement, recalling that when he wrote an article even six years after the creation of Pakistan he was cautioned against it by contemporaries.

He said that a delegation of Aligarh University students once called on premier Liaquat Ali Khan to seek help for Hur movement, but he advised them to approach the Sindh chapter of the All India Muslim League.

Rochi Ram said it was ironical that the British had preserved the legacy of a man they considered their enemy, but “we haven’t done anything on our part”.

He said several aspects of Surya Badshah, as Pir Sibghatullah was popularly known, were begging for examination by historians. “We need to find out what motivated him to launch his struggle against the British. The spy network developed by the Pir is another feature crying out for recognition,” Rochi Ram observed.

He urged researchers to unravel the secret of “concentration camps” set up by the British to imprison the Hurs, saying that the location of such places was public knowledge as late as the early 50s. “But unfortunately nobody bothered to penetrate the dark secret.”

G.A.Allana, a former vice chancellor of Sindh University, said the final resting place of Surya Badshah was a mystery. “A police officer, Nasir Ali Khan, told me that he is under oath not to disclose where he was buried after being hanged,” Mr Allana said.

Mazharul Haq Siddiqui, Vice Chancellor of the Sindh University, said he was ready to do everything within the realm of possibility to decode Sindh’s past.

Gul Mohammad Umerani played down the relevance of the Lambrick Papers to an understanding of the Hur movement. “These (the papers) contain correspondence at various levels. It’s biased, partisan and false.”

Khadim Hussain Soomro disagreed with the contention of Dr N. A. Baloch and Mr Umerani, arguing that the British did not tamper with the documents. “Now it’s up to us to analyse and prove them wrong. We should prove that our heroes were unjustly condemned as terrorists,” Mr Soomro said.

Dr Fahmida Hussain, chairperson of the Sindhi Language Authority, said the Hur platform was free of all religious or sectarian bias, making it distinctive among other movements in undivided India.