Barefooted Hurs weep

Sanghar deserted as preparations for funeral begin .

KARACHI/PIR JO GOTH: Some bare-footed Hurs wearing white caps were standing at the gate of Kingri House, the residence of Pir Pagaro in Karachi. Fifty-something Sawan Faqir was among those sitting on the footpath and talking over the phone to his village in Sanghar district on the news of the flight carrying the body of his spiritual leader.

The tears were rolling down from cheeks. “Our leader had strictly asked us not to weep over anyone’s death. But I cannot control my emotions because we cannot find anyone else like him.”

According to a spokesman for Kingri House, his body will arrive at around 7am today (Thursday) from London and will be taken to Sukkur on a C-130 plane before being sent onwards to his hometown of Pir jo Goth. “We have made all arrangements and the funeral prayers of Pir Saen will be held after Zohr prayers at around 3 pm. He will be buried at his ancestral graveyard,” he said.

The whole district of Sanghar was closed and buses, coaches, vans and other vehicles were booked to take followers, supporters and mourners to his hometown for the funeral.

Nisar Mangrio, a follower from Sanghar, claimed that people were mourning across the border in India, where, he claimed there were many followers who stayed back at the time of Partition.

Political history

In the Hur Jamaat, around 12 khalifas runs the affairs. One of them, Soomar Fakir, recalled the days when Hur Mujahideen were taking part in the 1965 war, protecting the Pakistan border from Chhor, Thar to Rahimyar Khan. “On September 7, Pir saheb issued a statement in the newspapers and hundreds of Hurs reached. All of them were ready to go to war. Around 20,000 Hur forces fought against the Indian government and occupied 1,200 square kilometres of their land,” he said, adding that since then, the pir, who was given the status of a general, was taken into confidence by GHQ over all national security matters.

After he took over his gaddi or spiritual seat, Pagara announced that he was forgiving all those people who had accepted the status of Mir, Sardar, Bahadur and Nawab from the British government and worked against his father Pir Sabghatullah Shah Rashdi who was hanged in 1943 for fighting against the colonial rulers. He recalled the Hur Act, which was passed by the assembly declaring the Hurs terrorists. “Many leaders of Sindh were members of the Sindh Assembly when the law was passed, but no one voted against it,” Soomar Faqir recalled.

Few people know that Pir Pagaro was also the owner and financer of one of the most prestigious national English weeklies, The Statesman.

He became a senator in 1985 and contested the general election in 1988, but was defeated by Pervez Ali Shah Gilani, a PPP candidate. The members of the Bhutto family, including the first wife of ZA Bhutto used to visit Pir jo Goth’s dargah seeking dua or prayers from Pir Pagaro and his elders. He initially had good relations with Bhutto, but when the latter left Ayub Khan differences between the two came to the fore.

Later Pir Pagaro started agitation against Bhutto and welcomed Zia’s martial law. Once he had asked General Zia-ul Haq, “We have not had a good history as two prime ministers of our country have faced an unnatural death. I have handed over Mohammed Khan Junejo as prime minster to you and will take back him alive.”

He was also famous for making cryptic predictions in heavily idiomatic language. He said things like: There will be a ‘double march’ in March; The month of September will be sitamghar (harsh); I hear the sound of long boots. But his last prediction, during birthday celebrations, seemed to come true: “You are asking about elections, but I tell you that the election will not be held as long as I am alive.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2012.