Writers, politicians pay tribute to Soreh Badshah

Demand Hur movement be taught in schools on late freedom fighter's 79th death anniversary

KARACHI:

Writers, politicians and academics have demanded of the Sindh government to incorporate the Hur movement and its leader, Pir Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi famously known as Soreh Badshah, in school syllabi to educate the younger generations on the freedom fighting movement against British rule in Sindh.

The demand came on the 79th death anniversary of Soreh Badshah, who led the Hur resistance movement and was hanged by the colonial government in 1943 for his activism, during a memorial seminar organised by the Soreh Badshah Study Circle at the Karachi Press Club on Saturday.

People from different walks of life attended the event and paid glowing tribute to the late freedom fighter and his fellow resistance leaders.

According to participants, the Hur movement not only fought the British in 1943 but also waged war against Sikh Raja Ranjeet Singh of Punjab to defend Sindh.

Writer and senior journalist, Nasir Aijaz, who authored the book, 'Hur Freedom Fighter' said that Soreh Badshah chanted the slogans, "watan ya kafan [either country or the coffin], azadi ya maut [freedom or death].

"Despite many lucrative offers and pressure by the British regime, he continued the struggle for independence and [kept] asking them to leave Sindh. Finally, the colonial government captured him and hanged him at Hyderabad prison and his burial remains unknown," said Aijaz, adding that the body of Soreh Badshah was not given to the family and to this day it remains a mystery as to where he was buried.

Meanwhile, former MPA Anwar Mahar - elected to the Sindh Assembly on a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ticket in 2002 and 2008 - condemned the politicians of Sindh who supported the British government and acting as puppets of the colonisers, passed 'Hur Suppression Act' in the provincial assembly in 1942 and branded Soreh Badshah and the leaders of the Hur movement as terrorists.

"This led to a military operation in Sindh against Hur and hundreds of innocent men, women and children were killed," said Mahar. The PPP's Sukkur president added that there was a dire need to conduct in depth research on this topic.

Similarly, general-secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) and former Sindh minister, Sardar Abdul Rahim, was of the view that the Hur Jamaat not only fought against British rule, but its members led by Soreh Badshah and Shah Mardan Shah, played an important role in wars fought against India.

"No one else, but the Hur force entered into Indian territory in the 1965 war and defeated its soldiers on various fronts," he said, adding that his party would try to build a university in honour of Soreh Badshah, where research would be conducted on the Hur movement.

Professor Mumtaz Bhutto, writer Javed Qazi, PML-F leader Kashif Nizamani and others also spoke on the occasion.