Chapter 1 A BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF SINDH'S PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Some geologists are of the opinion that some parts of the present Sindh; approximately, about 25,000 years ago were attached by a landmass to Egypt and the Arabian countries. Then neither the Arabian Sea nor the Persian Gulf nor did the Mediterranean Sea exist. In those ancient times the sea spanned over the Bay of Kutch and middle of Rajputana, where there was another sea. Where the Mediterranean Sea is today, there used to be a Subcontinent. The dwellers of this Subcontinent had a civilization of their own. Because of the repeated seismic on salutes and other geological changes, these countries submerged into the sea later on. Due to these geographical changes between Sindh, Egypt and the Arabian countries, the expanse was then filled in with the Arabian Sea, the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea.

These geologists are further of the opinion that because of the heavy Monsoons during that period, in Upper Sindhi, there used to be so many thick jungles, abounded with fauna like rhino, elephants, lions, tigers, monkeys, hippopotamus and numerous other smaller animals. The multiplicity of the jungles in Sindh is proved by its archaeological findings, as from the ruins of Mohan-jo-Daro the carved images of these animals have been discovered. Besides that of the discovery of baked bricks, signs of trees and fossils near Ranikot, along with the deposits of coal in the hilly tracks of Jheruk and Linian definitely confirm the richness of the flora fauna of Sindh. The Thar and Rajputana dunes and the heaps of sand speak of the presence of the ocean in the ancient past of Sindh.
 

A TOPOLOGICAL SURVEY

As regards the physical geography of that period, complete and authentic information could not be obtained so far, except for the assumptions of geologists. So, one has to per force depend on folklore, sayings and anecdotes coming down, generation after generation, to us as glimpses of ancient Sindh. Almost every geologist has agreed that on this planet, the above mentioned two major physical alternations did occur, which made ALTANTA disappear and the Atlantic Ocean take its place. However, as regards the period or time expanse, opinions differ. It was during that ancient period while some parts of Sindh remained above that the others were submerged. In proof of this, a geologist produced a few ancient maps, but their outlines bore extremely faint tracings and ancient symbols. So it cannot be stated with surety whether in those days the area did have a population. Nevertheless, it is evident that during that ancient period there did flow two rivers; one was called "SINDHU" elsewhere, in the same region it was also called "MEHRAN". Its other name was "SIRSUTY", and it was also called "HAKRO". For some passage of time, it flowed and mingled with the water of the JAMNA River.

Later the Hakro River went dry and disappeared. These rivers used to bring silt and fertile soil, which fertilized all Arabic land in Sindh. In those days the sea was also an alternative source of land reclamation first forming reefs, then solid landmass. During Alexander's time (327 B.C.) Sindhi, in comparison to its present geo-border, was less in size from the seaside. When later, the region of its present geo-frontiers, it is quite probable that the inspiration came from the name "SINDHU RIVER", and so got the popular name of "SINDHU DESH" meaning "The Country of Sindh".

 HISTORY OF SINDH
 The ancient history of Sindhu Desh can be traced from the ruins of AMRI, KOT DlJI, MOHAN-JO-DARO, Kaho-Jo-Daro, KHANKER, JHANGARA and CHANIHOON-JO-DARO and some lesser-known areas. Some of these habitations of ancient civilization are said to be 5,000 years old. The discoveries of AMRI are said to be 3,000 years B.C., KOT DIJI is of about 2,500 B.C., MOHAN-JO-DARO is of about 2,300 B.C. From all these archaeological findings it is evident that since then Sindhu Desh had achieved a civilization worthy of a civilized citizenry. It is; therefore, of no surprise that archaeologists are of the opinion that the civilizations of Egypt, Summaria, Usseria and Babylon were somewhat of an earlier period than that of MOHAN-JO-DARO, yet for a short span it also remained their contemporary civilization.

Signs of the ancient history of Sindh can be traced from the excavations of these ancient cities namely: AMRI of 3,000 B.C., KOT DIJI of 2,500 years, MOHAN-JO-DARO of 2,300 years and CHANHOON-JO-DARO, JHANGARA and JHUKAR equally have had an ancient past. So it is obvious that this country has readied, a well-organized city-state status, having a citizenry of Sindhi valley civilization.

Some portions of Mohan-jo-Daro have now come under water logging, so these have not been further excavated. There is every reason that with further excavation, relics of a much older civilization may be unearthed. Archeologists opine t~ fl the civilizations of Egypt, Summaria, Usseria and Babylon were earlier than that of Mohan-jo-Daro, yet for sometime there were contemporary civilizations. The similarity of the relics point to it. The Egyptian and Summarian findings make these two the earliest world civilizations. The archaeological findings from the Egyptian and Summairian relics consist of a few documents, which have enlightened tile modern world of the earlier history of the world.

From the discovery of ancient documents and coins of Sindh, which have, so far, not been deciphered, a lot of information can be gathered. It is also possible that from further excavations some more valuable information on the alphabet and language of ancient Sindh would be known as links in the chain of the ancient history of Sindh. Being almost contemporaneous to the two former civilizations, it could be said that Sindh has one of the earliest civilizations of the world.

As century followed century, Aryans, Seimatics, Mongols, Negro inhabited this land, Atistrolide peoples, some of who are said to be of Dravadian origin, who had originally come from the Mediterranean subcontinent. When their land was inundated by the great deluge of Noah's deep, flood first referred to by the Jews in their TORAH, those who survived came to 'Sindh via Egypt, Chaldia, Summair and Iran. They inhabited Sindh, where they mingled with the aborigines of this area. The period of their coming here could not be said with certainty. But by their remaining in the vicinity of the Indus River with a mingled economy of cattle breeding, agriculture and trade, they evolved a civilization and citizenship. Approximately for a period of 18 hundred years, they were at the zenith of their civilization. Then a new nation of Aryans came from Middle Asia that drove them out. It is said that they were driven out towards Southern India where Malayalam, Tamil and Telegu languages point to their origin.

The Sindhi language, after coming in contact with the Arian, became the Indo-Arian language called "Prakirt". But several words of Dravadian continued to exist in the Sindhi language, specially the ancient name of "DESH" belonged to that language. Sindh's adjoining country, which is now called Baluchistan, is inhabited by the BROHI people, whose language contains many words of Dravadian language. As they remained at a far distance from Indus, they were saved from direct influence of the Arian language.

From the archeological discoveries in Mohan-jo-Daro, it has been found that this city was one of the oldest cities. Its inhabitants had acquired systematic planning, plans in construction of streets, baths and houses. Granaries and drainage were built and many houses contained backed-brick walls and bathrooms. For preservation of grain, they had built solid granaries and they also carried on trade with various countries through the Indus River arid highways, with various far off countries. As found from the armaments and jewelry discovered in the houses, there are many precious stones, diamonds and other several minerals which are not found in Sindh. They seemed to have been imported from Burma, Central India, Iran, Central Asia and Afghanistan. It seems that the people had trade relations with far off countries. People residing in the city, had acquired a fairly good knowledge of architecture. Statues of dancing girls found from the Mohan-jo-Daro, point out that they had developed fine arts, music and dance. From the coins that contained the pictures of various animals, their religious beliefs and kind of worship are found. How they disposed 6f their dead, by way of burning or burying, can also be traced. The stamps found out inlaid with various pictures testify that they also had their own script.

Archeologists have pointed out that those people had the belief in the super-natural powers of animist and non-animist things. Animals, trees, sun, star worship traces were found from their remains. Phallus worship was also present among them. Among the things worshipped by them, ox or cow had a place. Afterwards the ideology of trinity adopted by Hindus, also can be found out from their remains; god Shiv who was assigned to the power of creation and destruction, seems to have been borrowed by them through this old civilization. The sign of lingum, uni and ox, upon which Shiv used to ride and the idea of sacrifice and Swastika were symbols of Shiv worship. Such signs are also found from the findings in Egypt, Summair, Usseria and Babylon. The Shiv-worship that was adopted by the Airians seems to have been borrowed from the Dravadian beliefs. Agriculture and trade necessitated peaceful environment; therefore people of that country were peaceful. They had not acquired an aggressive design. Therefore, their religious beliefs and conduct of life reflected their peaceful and non-violent habits.

The Aryans, in great numbers, intruded into Sindh from 1700 B.C. and remained here as rulers for about one thousand years A.D. The great wars of the Maha Bharat fought on a large scale between the two tribes of the Aryans; namely, the KORVAS and the PANDEVAS took place a thousand years B.C. To know the details of these wars, the book "MAHA BHARAT" whose translations are also available is the best source. Raja Jaidarith of Sindh also took part in that war. He supported the KORVA tribes. During that period, along the sea route, there was trade between Sindhi and Babylon. Before the advent of the Aryans into Sindh this trade was in the hands of the Dravadian who were then the natives of Mohan-Jo-Daro.

After the Aryans, in an expedition for conquest, the Egyptian Emperor SUMERAMES, attacked Sindh in about 810 B.C., but Veeraseen, the ruler of Sindh, repulsed his attack. It is said that in 700 B.C. the king of Usseria, SEEMACHERAB, sent for cotton seeds from Sindh, to introduce the cotton crop into his country (USSERIA) which is the present day Iraq. In 700 B.C. when, for the first time, the Iranians attacked Sindh, they were also defeated by the SINDHU inhabitants.

MAHATMA BUDDHA was born in 600 B.C. at Central India. During that time the UPANISHADS were also written. In their second attempt the Iranians, under the Kiyani Emperor, conquered Sindh approximately in 519 B.C. During the reign of "DARA I" his admiral, SUTCLES complied with his orders and surveyed the Indus river. The task of surveying from Kabul to the sea was completed in 13 months, and after this sailing from Sindh he went to the Persian Gulf and up to Egypt. The Iranian Imperialist reign continued in Sindh for about two centuries. In those days, the Zoroastrian religion was practiced in Sindh. The Fire-temples of the Parsees existed here in Sindh. According to Dr. Dawood Pota, an eminent scholar of Sindh, even after the conquest of Arabs of Sindh, the Persian language and religion of Zurdustra remained a common religion. The foundation of Brahman Abad was laid during the period of the Persian Emperor Kiyani so it was attributed to his Commander, Brahman, by name. The city of Bhambhore in Sindh that was originally called Bin-Pura meant "THE CITY OF THE SUN GOD". This was also an Iranian monument as during that period the majority of Iranians used to do sun worship.

The Iranians were indirect descendants of the Aryans. There were four main sects among the Zoroastrians, viz.:
 (i) Zurdusste (iii) Mathraism (ii) Mazdahic (iv) Mani

 All these four sects had their direct or indirect influences in Sindh. Later when Alexander conquered Iran, he was informed about the richness of the Indus valley. So he also conquered Sindh in 372 B.C. Soon after he went back to Babylon where he died. But his actual tomb was never discovered. After his demise, one of his Commander "Pethan" conquered the Upper Sindh. After that during the period of "BACTERlAN", the Greek once again came to power in about 187 B.C. One Demittress, the commander of Greek troops, reached Sindhu Desh from Kabul, (Kandhar) via the Bulan Pars valley, occupied and ruled Patyala that is the modern Hyderabad City. As the Greeks were also an off shoot of the Arian race, so one of their rulers, ASTRABHI, accented the religion of BUDDHA and became BHIKSHOO (mendicant or devotee monk) and remained a devotee of BHUDHAISM. The coins of Bacterian Greek rulers have been discovered from different places of Sindh in various excavations The Grecian philosophy and knowledge gained influence here. At the same time the ancient Indian and Sindhi philosophies and religion influenced the Greeks as well. Looking at the history of Sindh, it seems that after the Aryans, the people of this region were subjugated many times by the alien imperialist powers. Yet they soon reorganized themselves and became self-reliant and restored their sovereignty. Since then they have endeavored to live according to their own civilization, while promoting their agricultural way of life, they have always succeeded in doing away with the foreign yoke.

After the death of Alexander and his Generals, Poras arid Demittress, Maha Raja CHANDER GUPTA, founder of the MARIA Dynasty, occupied Sindh in 331 B.C. His descendant was MAHA RAJA ASHOK. When he came to power, he captured most of the part of Upper India. Sindh also remained under his control. When after the battle of Kalinjor, Ashoka accepted Buddha's religion; he devoted himself to promote it far and wide. So Buddhism spread in Sindh and other parts of India.

During his rule he called the first Bhikshoo (Buddhist monks) Council in 253 B.C. and the third in 233 B.C. In this way Sindh became the center of Buddhism. The main seats of Buddhism were CHANHOON-JO-DARO, Kaho-Jo-Daro, Barhmanabad near the city of Jheruk, the hillock of Buddha, Meer Rukun-jo-Thul in district Nawabshah, Sudheran-jo-Dando near Tando Muhammad Khan and the place of Debal Bunder Port, etc., the Buddhist temples speak of the past influences of the Buddhist religion in Sindh.

After Ashoka, the Murrain dynasty weakened, so the Bacterian Greek rulers again conquered Peshawar in 190 B.C., assassinated the last Murrain King, Burha Datt, and established their own imperialist rule. When the Bacterian King, Apollo Dottas, died in 70 B.C., Sindh again came under the Synthian rule, which continued up to 46 A.C., but during that period Parthians also continued to rule over some portions of this country. After that, Maha Raja Kinshi of Kishin Dynasty, ruled Sindh 80 A.C. The influence of this dynasty over Sindh remained for two centuries. The rulers of this dynasty were also the followers of Mahatma Buddha. In the days of Kenshie, the Great, in the 90 A.C., a deputation of Bhikshoos and artists was sent to China. After that Iranian of the Sassani Dynasty dawned on tile horizon during Bahrangor period in 280 A.C. Sindh again came under the dominance of the Iranian Empire which continued up to 500 A.C. Local Synthian rulers were subordinates of tile Persian Empire. Then in 345 A.C., CHANDER GUPTA II attacked Sindh.

In 387 A.C., YAZDGIRD again conquered Sindh and Persian rule continued in Sindh up to the days of NAU SHERWAN-E-ADIL. Thereafter, the local "RAI DYNASTY" ruled Sindh, which continued from 550 A.C. to 644 A.C. During these days, though the Hindu religion extended its influence over Sindh, but one Chinese traveler, "HUVANCHIWAN writes that in 641 A.C. he traveled throughout Sindh. According to him the greater portion of Sindh in those days continued to be under the influence of Buddha Dharma. From the traces of ancient civilization, which are found in history, it is known that the civilization of Asia, Europe and Africa evolved on account of agriculture and trade along the banks of rivers if one group faded out, another group took its place.

Sindh's first Dravadian civilization seems to have continued for two thousand years without any change. Now archeological excavations have found its traces. After that, this civilization began to decline. Its causes seem to be the following:

The earthquakes from time to time did great damage to its cities and changed its river courses, and so damaged the settled villages and towns. The changes in seasonal monsoons adversely affected agriculture, forests, flora and fauna, thereby decreased the pasturelands which in turn decreased the growth of animal wealth. The fame of Sindh's natural wealth, and its treasure had reached outside through trade caravans. Foreign tribes invaded the country. They looted, destroyed and went back. Thus Sindhi turned into a battlefield in which local inhabitants and invaders clashed. Just as Iranian occupation, which did not remain for a long time, so in several intervals Sindh was attacked and occupied by the Iranians due to whom Sindhis could not remain at ease. Hence Iranian domination, with interruptions, continued for about 500 years. Later Alexander the Great occupied Sindh to trample its fertility. But he too did not stay long. Thereafter, one of his Generals, Demittress, occupied Patyala, the modern Hyderabad City, to subjugate the people of Sindh once again. Now except for a few symbols and signs in Ghandhara Art and in coins of that period, nothing remains. During the period of local rule, people of Sindh remained at peace and jubilantly participated in the national development. They planned towns, cities, constructed Tern-pies, Shrines, and Hermitage, thus promoted the civilization of Sindh and became a member of an affluent society. In those days the foundation for advancement of religion, philosophy and education was laid. In the 7th Century A.D., when Sindh was at its height of glory, Arabia was in the dark dungeon of ignorance. The Arabs were not only the most ignorant people, but the worst beings as a whole. But then came Mohammed (peace be upon him and his progeny) as the Last Prophet. He united the Arabs and molded them into a nation. With great difficulty he preached Islam to them. A few embraced Islam and the majority remained opposed to him. The circumstances forced him to migrate to Madina. There he founded a state. However, on the eve of conquest of Mecca, Hazrat Mohammed delivered a speech. In that sermon he recited the verses of the Qura'an and in its context said "one part of my mission is at an end as disruption amongst the Arabian tribes has ended, and the task of converting them into a nation is also accomplished. So they may live by the will of God in peace and harmony, linked together like a chain".

Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him and his progeny) had two objects one of these was to unite the various tribes of the Arab and then get them ready to fulfil the ultimate objective of his mission. The second part of his mission was that as there was unity behind all the diverse religions of the world, which was to bring unity amongst mankind; that the key of all religions was found in love through which mankind is united. But the Arabs could not gauge the social depth of the last two points of the Prophet's mission.

The backward, downtrodden, broken and ignorant Arabs were a lot aware of tile various religions of the world as presented by the Prophets of Allah from time to time in different parts of the world for the welfare and betterment of the human species. They did not know even the basic teachings of these religions. So except for a few principles regarding unity behind diversity of religions, nothing more was possible to instill into them. Therefore, a complete unity amongst them could not be forged.

Prophet Mohammed knew that life was coming to an end. So to accomplish and perpetuate the second phase of his mission, he wished to entrust the great responsibility to a few selected persons. As the common Arabs had still lived under the influence of the nomadic society, they were neither in a position nor competent to carry out this particular mission. Therefore, for this honest dealing, the Prophet mainly reposed confidence in Hazrat Ah who had to conceal the mission from the majority of the Arabs, as their mental stature and psychology were not yet refined enough to grasp the situation. As the Prophet deemed, only Ah was able to accomplish the great mission of the Prophet. Hazrat Mohammed, being the Prophet of Allah, delivered the universal precepts and principles for all human beings and then departed from this world Large Arab tribal groups had been inspired by the Prophet's great personality. So, by the grace of Allah, the former disruption among them had ended and they had been welded into a single Arab nation.

They had reached unity by following the divine commandment to remain non-atheists. To inculcate the message and perpetuate tile belief in the unity of God, along with so many other things, a long period was needed, which was not available, so their unity proved temporary. After the demise of the Prophet, the question arose of his twofold mission that one should carry out. A group under these conditions chose to rule by combining religion with temporal power. That group feared that if the two were not combined, unity among the Arab tribes would be broken and they would again revert to their former way of life internecine warfare of one tribe against another.

Whereas to understand the final elucidation of religion Islam, and to follow the real teachings of the last Prophet, neither the common Arabs had the neither mental ability nor circumstances permitted them. So the Prophet's universal enunciation of the religion of Islam that is the "submission to Divine will" which was meant to crush the pride of the Arab Sheikhs in their personal powers, the ultimate objective of his mission, was set aside probably for the future.

Hazrat Umer unfortunately organized the Arabs to complete the Prophet's mission in such an ambitious manner that met only worldly arid material end. He united the Arabs to rule, with an imperialist design and elaborated Islam in such a way that it helped to achieve success in the initial first phase. He voted to install Hazrat Abu Bakar as the ruler of Arabia and the first Caliph of the Prophet Mohammed, to meet the two ends. As the prophethood was basically bestowed for the completion of that great second phase of the mission. That was to be based truly on the two pillars of "LA AKRAH FID DEEN" (No violence of any kind in religion), "LAKUM DEENAKUM WALI-YA-DEEN" (Your religion is for you and my religion is for me), could not be accomplished. So this arrangement of combining religion with temporal power flourished and was, spread with the sheer display of sword, with violence and oppressive measures. Besides it, an unjust method was adopted in religion, which was totally different from the Prophet's practices. That is an intolerable attitude was shown towards the critics. Whenever there was difference in opinion, it was dealt with a heavy hand. This method gave a superficial unity f the Arabs and enabled them to establish their imperialism over other nations. But due to the neglect of morality and a desire for material gains from war booty, the last of all the Prophet's 'Cardinal Principles' suffered by default. Later history also proved that this policy of Arab conquests for loot told heavily The Principles of Islam, and "the religion of Islam became only a whip to establish and strengthen Arab imperialism" over nations forced to submit to them. And Islam's socio-moral tenets degenerated into customary practice as rituals and rites. Its social spirit was utterly destroyed. It was no longer a redeemer of mankind from the miseries of life, but had become a via media for Arab Imperialist supremacy. This resulted in massacres not only among Arabs, but also among Muslims. They forgot that there is unity behind diversity in all the religions. Instead, they began to believe and practice that strength of majority's force was everything. Due to this conceptual error, the religion of Islam was divided into many hundreds of sectarian groups.

Even then, they started conquering and subjugating various countries and peoples under their Arabic imperialism.

The Arabs were politically well knit in the days of Hazrat Umer for purely material reasons, because he had started conquering the neighboring countries during his Caliphate. Thus began Arab Imperialism to spread Islam with the sword, to loot and subjugate other nations by declaring Arab Muslims as the chosen nation of God, just as the Jews had done before. It is well known that Hazrat Umer established the institutions of Caliphate the name of Islam and declared "JEHAD" (Crusade) as a war of Islamic conquest. The institution of Khilafat was neither ordained by Qura'an nor by any saying of the Prophet. So it was never a sacerdotal institution.

In those days, four things were said as tile fundamental principles of Islam. One, the institution of Caliphate meant Islamic rule. Two, Jehad meant conquering the other countries by force and depriving the people of their freedom and the people of their countries, confiscating the liberty of people by enslaving them, whether male or female, and robbing their properties. The third thing was declaring Islam a complete and final religion and its religious laws, of that time, to be the final code of life for the world. These were the ultimate objectives of Arab imperialism.

Hazrat Umer declared that all Arabs were behind him in his interpretation of Islam, and that all other people were "KAFIR" (Infidels) and Muslims were the chosen people of God. He declared organized religion as "SHARIAT" which was equivalent to Islam. His was indeed a dogmatic religion, while real Islam was a different religion. In Umer's religion freedom of thought was banned and by his policy he forcibly converted the people on the basis of his interpretation of Islam.

In the beginning, by introducing the above-mentioned INNOVATIONS (Bidat) in religion, a lot of complications arose till again, later in the days of Ummayad rule, the conquests of countries were renewed. In this way Sindh was conquered and it came under the Arab Imperialism in the name of Khilafat.

Then Sindhis, after understanding the interpretation of Islam as presented by Umer, drew the Arabs towards them-selves and through intermarriages established their own dynasties of the Soomras and the Summas, who afterwards became of half-breed.

Then Sindh was also conquered by several tribes of Arghoons and Mughals and, after many years, ultimately came under the British hegemony. Then again we are under the hegemony of the Punjabis. The people who supported Punjabi rule in Sindh do so for the sake of their own interest. They try to justify this rule in the name of Islam. Their argument is that the Arab's conquest of Sindh was in reality for the spreading of Islam.

The second reason for the Arab invasion was given out to be in retaliation of the Sindh DACOITS (Pirates) who had taken away presents sent by certain persons to the then Caliph and Raja Dahir had declined to get those things returned from the pirates.

The third reason was that one person who was the follower of Imam Hussain (Aleh Saalam) named Muhammad Bin Allafi, was given shelter in Sindh from the Ommayya enemies of Ahal-e-Baith. Therefore, the Arab "Banu Ummayya" ruler came to conquer Sindhi to punish Raja Dahir for giving shelter to the devotee of Imam Hussain. All these reasons are given out as justification of the Arab conquest of Sindh. A deeper look into these reasons proves them as baseless, concocted and fabricated, only for creating a justification for the onslaughts of the Arab imperialist. In order to reject all these groundless theories, I am obliged to give the following reasons.
 

1. It is totally wrong to say that the earliest conquest of Banu-Ummayya was made for the sake of spreading Islam. It is well known that Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him and his progeny) with his mission of peace removed the tribal enmity and differences and brought them on one platform as the Arab nation. It is a known fact that "Banu Ummayya" in the days of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him and his progeny) were fierce opponents of the Prophet of Islam. As they thought that by the social ideas of Islam, they would be losing their hold over Mecca, so they created difficulties and forced the Prophet and his supporters to migrate to Madina. They also then fought against the Prophet and his supporters in Madina, but after the conquest of Mecca, they were forced by circumstances to join the Prophet and the opportunists became his followers. But after the Prophet's demise, and especially during the day of Usman, they refused to follow Ali (Alahisalam), cousin of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him and his progeny), and rebelled against Ali. Subsequently they got him killed and refused to share any power with Banu Hashim who were the relatives of the Prophet of Islam.
2. As regards the second reason: the presents sent from Ceylon. The story of robbing the presents sent to the Arab rulers also seems to be absolutely baseless. How Raja Dahir could be held responsible for the dacoities committed by Medeans. It- is only a myth, which is fabricated to defame Raja Dahir who was a Sindhi.
3. The reason for the conquest of Sindh by Ummayyad Imperialism was Raja Dahir's refusal to return Muhammad Bin Allafi, who had taken asylum under Raja Dahir's government. As it was against the social rule of the Sindhis in those days, to return the parsons who had placed themselves under their protection from their enemies. Raja Dahir's tolerance and liberal minded-ness was a well known fact, or account of which people of various religions lived peacefully in Sindh, where Hindus had their temples and Parsis had their fire temples, Buddhists had their pagodas, Muslims had their mosques. The Muslims had settled in Sindh on account of the policy of the Arab rulers. These rulers had difference with the relations of the Prophet, and being intolerant, wanted to kill them. How could this God-fearing ruler return these sheltered people to the cruel and tyrant Arab rulers? It is said that Imam Hussain (Alahisalam), after being harassed by Yazeed and his followers, wanted to come to Sindhi on the invitation of Raja Dahir. But instead of being given permission to go to Sindhi, he was martyred at Karbala. The fact is that the Arab Imperialism started during the days of Umer, who had started conquering other countries. This was the fifteenth invasion of Sindh. How in the days of Waleed Bin Abdul Malik, the Arabs succeeded. It will be proper if I elaborate on the fourteenth invasion of Sindh, since the days of Caliph Umer.

First Expedition
 This expedition took place in the days of Umer by Usman Bin Abbass Sukfi who was in charge of Bahrain and Oman territories. His invasion was by the sea route. His boats went to Thana City, near the vicinity of Bombay. From there he returned with a lot of loot, called Mal-e-ghaneemat (booty). From this booty lie gave a portion to Umer, who, after receiving his share, advised Usman not to invade through the sea route which was unsafe, as he had himself sent a fleet towards the Roman area, but which, on account of a tempest, was destroyed. After that he had decided not to send invaders through sea, as it was full of danger. [1]

 Second and Third Expeditions
 Caliph Umer was a strong and harsh ruler. It was difficult to disobey his orders. But by to many Arab Ameers and their followers temptation to loot had now become very strong with the result that the same Usman Bin Asi, along with his brother "Mugira", again took a fleet of ships, under the leadership of Commander "Mugira", and sailed towards Sindh's Port of "Debal". He reached "Bharoch". In that invasion Mugira was killed. These invasions took place during the fifteenth Hijjri, (Muslim Calendar) in the days of Umer. In the 21st Hijjri, his armies succeeded in invasions conquering "Hamdan", "Nihavund" and "Khurasan". From these conquests the Arabs got a lot of wealth besides an army of male and female slaves. Three other places, Seestan (now Sehwan), Kirman, Makran were still within the territories of the Persian Empire. These were al_so conquered by tile Arabs and a huge amount of money was taken away. But that time, the people of the neighboring countries had come to know that the main purpose of Arabs' attacks was to acquire riches. During the Arab invasions, the local people used to hurriedly escape either to mountains or to other villages, leaving their houses in fear of the Arab looters.

Therefore in 23rd Hijjri, the Arabs decided not to merely conquer and after looting to return to Arabia, but to establish their rule over the conquered territories as well by remaining there. For this purpose Sohail-Bin-Adi and Abdullah-Bin-Aqlan were sent towards "Kirman", and on the other side Hakirn-Bin-Amru and Abdullah-Bin-Umer were sent towards Seestan to establish their rule and exploit the riches of that country.

After conquering the two countries, Hakim-Bin-Amru "Taghalbi" invaded Makran and Shanab-Bin-Mughariq and the above mentioned persons also joined them on account of which the tribal Chief of Makran asked Maha Raja Dahir to help him. In that battle Makran's ruler and Sindh's commander were killed and the Arabs killed a lot of persons and got a lot of money, slaves, male and female, in looting. One-fifth of this loot was sent to Khaleefa Umer. He was glad to see this money, and the whole of Madina celebrated this victory. The Arabs used to be pleased from such things as they depended on such victories. It is said that when the Amirs related the difficulties of these expeditions, Hazrat Umer prohibited them from making such hazardous expeditions.

By the 23rd Hijjri (Muslim calendar, year of migration of Prophet), Umer was killed. But during his rule, he had caused a good deal of damage to Islam. On 3rd Muharram, Twenty-fourth Hijjri, Usman was nominated in his place. It is said that Amir Usman in his second year of rule sent his Army towards Kabul. Ibn Amir, the dominating Chief of Khurasan, after appointing Abdul Rahman Bin Sumrah, and leaving him as ruler of Seestan, went to Zuringe and defeated the people who surrendered to him.

If you take a critical look, you will find, that even during those days of so-called "Khilafat Rashida" (Pious Caliphs). The fundamental principles of Islam "peace and unity which were behind all the diverse religions and belief in truth' of revealed books discarded the use of violence and force and letting persons be free and the sanctity of common property", all these were forgotten and discarded. Instead, Islam was used as a cloak for looting and raping of women. People got so used to these UN-Islamic practices that they began calling such expeditions of loot as "JIHAD" (crusade) and the money acquired from such loot was considered "Mal-e-Ghaneemat" (booty). On being killed in such expeditions one was considered a martyr. The forcibly kidnapped women were considered legal. People became so accustomed to these things and regarded them as part of Islam. What is even worse, such corrupt and debased rulers were called as the true custodians of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him arid his progeny).

 Fourth Expedition
 Abdul Rahman Bin Sumrah, after conquering Zuringe, proceeded towards the hills between Zuringe and Kesh. He took possession of the part of Sindh, which is now Baluchistan. In those days, there was no separate country like Baluchistan. Makran and Seestan were on the border of Sindh.
 
Fifth Expedition
When Arabs murdered the third Khalifa, Usman, in his house, then Hazrat Ah (Alahisalam) was elected the Arab ruler in his place in 35th Hijjri. The expedition started before his rule towards Sindh. "Tugir Bin Saghir along with "Hans Bin Marih Adi" in 38th Hijjri, these persons were attacked by hilly tract people. They returned after conquering them. [2]

 Sixth Expedition
After the fifth expedition, Haris Bin Marih Adi continued his expedition towards Sindh. He received information of the martyrdom of Hazrat Ah. Yet he continued his expedition In Arabia, in place of Hazrat Ah, Amir Muavia came in possession of the rule. (Fatoohul Buldan).

 Seventh Expedition
Amir Muavia immediately sent Abdul Bin Amir and Rashid Bin Umer towards Sindh, who after getting a lot of loot from that side, came and gave a share of the loot to Muavia, the ruler of Syria.

 Eighth Expedition
In 42nd Hijjri, Amir Muavia sent Abdul Bin and Abdullah Bin Sawar on an expedition of Sindh. They brought back several horses from the side of Keekan and other booty from Sindh, on which Muavia was very glad.

 Ninth Expedition
Abdullah Bin Amir remained in Damascus and returned to the side of Keekan, during this expedition. He contacted the Turks. The Turkish troops were also on an expedition of looting. He and his people were killed and getting this information Muavia sent Abdullah Bin Sawar with four thousand cavalry along with same route and ordered them to bring well known horses of Keekan on their return. [3]

 Tenth Expedition
In 44th Hijjri, Muhab Bin Abisafra, a known Commander of Abdul Rahman Bin Sumra's troop, was sent towards Sindh. Instead of going on direct route, he changed his route via mountains and fought with local people near Kandabeel and, after getting sufficient loot, he went back.

 Eleventh Expedition
This expedition was also towards Kandabeel, though Sindh's route was different. Abdullah Bin Sawar got killed in this battle. Seestan's ruler sent Zaid Bin Abu Sufyan, Sinan Bin Muslim and Muhibuk Hezli towards Sindh. They looted the Makran area and occupied it. The robbers sent a portion of the loot to Amir Muavia.

 Twelfth Expedition
After that, Zaid sent troops towards Sindh under the command of Rashid Bin Umer "Juwary Azdi", who attacked Keekan and kept on sending the looted cash from that country along with looted property, throughout the year. When Rashid was returning from "Munder" and "Bah Raj" hills; he met the people of the Maid tribe who arrested him. Then Sinan Bin Muslim was appointed in his place. He was killed in fighting with the people of the Maidtribe. [4]

During the last years of Amir Muavia, in forty-ninth Hijjri, Zaid Bin Ahad started an expedition towards Sindhi. He reached the "Sunarode" and took the way to Hillmund and reached Kandhar. After looting it he went back.

 Thirteenth Expedition
After the death of Sinan Bin Muslim, Manzar Bin Jarood was appointed the ruler of Makran. He too marched towards Sindh, but on hearing the news of rebellion behind, he returned and stayed at Khuzdar and died there. After Manzar Bin Jarood, Ubedullah Bin Ziyad (who at the time was appointed ruler of Basra in place of his father) appointed Haris Bin Basar in his place, but he died at Tooran. In his place Hakam was appointed as his successor.

 Fourteenth Expedition
After Hakam, Ibn-e-Ziad sent Sardar Bin Han to the frontiers of Sindh. He fought many battles against the Sindhis. From the above mentioned facts the readers will know the Arab expeditions toward Sindh were not for the cause of spreading Islam or getting gifts looted by pirates or for returning Muhammad Bin Alafi, who on account of tyranny of Hajjaj Bin Yousif, had taken asylum with Raja Dahir. Instead, all these expeditions were part of the Arabs thirst for conquering the rich countries in the name of religion, and thereby establishing Arab Imperialism, which was initiated by Amir Umer

It must be borne in mind that Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Persia were all highly civilized and rich countries and lay in the vicinity of the Arabs. So, at first conquering expeditions were sent to these places. In order to gain their riches and beautiful girls to be made into life-long slave girls, these expeditions were initiated at the early stage. And since Sindh was a far off place, between the vast deserts and mountains, these looting and murdering expeditions were sent to Sindhi later on. From the above mentioned narration, it is clear that these expeditions had started from tile early days of Umer but had come to an end in the days of "Waleed Bin Abdullah Malik" it took the Arab Imperialist nearly forty-five years to fulfil the desire of conquering Sindhi.

These attacks were like other imperialist conquests of marauding tribes. You cannot call the expeditions, loot, rapes, and massacre for spreading the religion of peace and love. These invasions were like the hoards of Atilla the Hun; Goths in Germany or Changez Khan's marauding of other countries for acquiring the riches. The term "spread of Islam" was only a smoke screen under which the Arab rulers mobilized the Arab people. The real purpose was the acquiring of the riches of other free countries for the consolidation of Arab Imperialism and for exploiting the labor, property and production of other people, just as the Egyptian Pharaohs had exploited the Jewish labor. The real purpose of Islam, which claimed love, unity of mankind and universal peace, could not be the purpose of looting, burning, raping and killing. These countries which were conquered by the Arabs, were more civilized and their people were God-fearing. They had their own advanced civilizations and citizenship and the majority of those Arabs who conquered them, were uncivilized and were crude nomads.

I will give more details in the second chapter of this hook. It is sufficient to mention here that the incentive behind these expeditions was for the loot of treasures of the rich countries and for satisfying the sexual lust for which the Arabs are notorious. It is sufficient to mention here in passing that Sindh suffered very much during the Arab days. On a large scale, the Arab exploited, weakened and humiliated the Sindhis. Some of the details are given as under:

1. After the conquest of Sindh, the Arabs subjugated the peace-loving and non-violent people of Sindh kept them under their domination. Sindhis were also extremely humiliated. As a result of this humiliation, the Sindhis had to change their originality.
2. After the conquest of Sindh, the Arabs took away all the wealth of Sindh. Thus, the Arabs were in no 'way different from the robbers.
3. After the conquest of Sindh, the Arabs took away thousands of male and female slaves to their country. The female slaves, they used as slave girls so as to satisfy their sexual lust for which they are notorious.
4. Some Arabs, who were in fact against the Holy Prophet and his mission, posed themselves as the champions of the new religion. They started torturing the immediate kith and kins of the Prophet. These relatives of the Prophet were the true successors of the spiritualism that Islam had in its fold. So, in utter violation of the spirit of Islam, these Arabs started practicing tribal traditions, customs and way of life. To all of it they started calling as "Shariat-e-Mohammed".

 
Here it is sufficient to say that the Arab expeditions and conquest and imperialism had nothing to do with religion of Islam. Their misdeeds only abused the name of Islam. The spread of Islam in Sindhi was never due to Arab rulers who were not even true Muslims themselves. It was actually due to the teachings of God moving moralists, whether Muslims or Sufis of other religions, which Muslim Soofis and Saints or followers of previous religions, who had acquired spiritual knowledge from time to time, from the teachings of their ancestors. On the contrary, true teachings of Islam were hindered by Arab rulers or their agents or by the paid Mullahs appointed by them. The ultimate result was that, after such evil doings of Arab Imperialists, Sindhis rebelled against them and freed themselves from their yoke and established their own rule.

I have already explained in the foregoing pages that the ancient Sindhis, the Dravadian civilization and citizenship was destroyed by the Arian invasion with the result that, through the passage of time, the Dravadian nation left a few traces of their civilization and disappeared from Sindh altogether. After that the Persian and the Greek Imperialists dominated Sindh. Those also left few traces behind when they left the country. The Arab imperialism did the greatest damage to Sindhi people's traditions and faith. My argument is based on the following points:
 

1.  The Arabs conquered Sindh, looted and took the riches, treasures, and men and women to labor in their country. On the other hand they destroyed Sindhi's self-respect and bravery and pure faith, and for the sake of strengthening the Arab Imperialism, made it compulsory to follow the Arab traditions and customs, and to adopt names and teachings of Arab culture. The Arabs also imposed 'jazia" which means "Slave Tax", although they tried to cloak it under the garb of the so-called religion.
Sindh was passing through the tribal age that was ruled by their Chiefs, who had their vested interests and were often worshippers of the rising sun. Therefore several of them welcomed with beat of drums and flutes the Arab Imperialists and to please them offered their daughters as present. Since the Arabs were sex thirsty so they were very pleased on getting those beautiful girls. At the present time, conditions are almost the same. Comrade Ghulam Muhammad Lighari, knew the habits of certain people. He delivered a speech, in that he pointed out. "Thanks that General Ayub Khan was fond of partridge shooting and not the habit of some other pathans, but God forbidding, if he had that habit, you would see that many Pirs or Waderas (priests and Feudal lords) would stand in line naked before him to fulfil his pleasure". On account of that speech, Lighari got nine months imprisonment.
2. After conquering Sindh, Arabs, put down Sindhis to such a low level of social behavior by force of their swords, gave them wrong religious ideas, so that whoever nonsense and falsehood which came from Arabia, was considered sacred and the Arab people were taken as the chosen people of God. These degenerated Sindhis with vested interests began to call themselves of the Arab origin. They thought it to be a great honor.
Sometimes, people who were originally from Rajput origin started calling themselves as coming from the Arab race. They began writing their genealogies based on Arab breed. They based their folklore and history in such a way, that the Sammas called themselves descendent of Abu Lahab, (the uncle of the Prophet of Islam), and the Soomras began to call themselves "ALVI SADAT"; the Kalhoras called themselves Abbassides, descendants of Abbas, uncle of prophet of Islam, and the Baluchis declared themselves as descendants of Hamza, another uncle of Prophet Mohammed, who was martyred in the Battle of Ohad. Several persons of Sindh started calling themselves Syeds, Qureshis, Siddiqis, etc. All this became an opportunistic fashion so as to be close and on the side of the Arab imperialist rulers. It seemed that before the Arab invasion, there hardly lived any clan or tribe in Sindh. In this way the Arabs colonized Sindh. It was the height of servility and self-Degradation. The world knows that most of the Arabs were uncivilized and of nomadic tribes most of them were uncultured, crude and cruel. Their choice food used to be the meat of camel and frogs, and they used to drink camel milk and most of their habits were inherited from uncivilized people. Undoubtedly, they were a fighting people, but that was also the habit of savages as well as of animals. Human evolution and progress lay in a peaceful and civilized way of life. It was due to the influence of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him and his progeny) that those people were somewhat trained, united and disciplined and on account of which they succeeded in conquering the lands of the neighboring countries. We Sindhis have had our own proven five thousand years of ancient civilization. How could we forget our own history and follow in the footsteps of the uncivilized people. Simply because they had forcibly subjugated us. But when some people become servile, they follow their conquers slavishly. This innovation which the Sindhis adopted following in the footsteps of the Arabs, continued to the arrival of the Mughals. They considered it a pride and privilege to speak in Persian and, under the British rule, they also began speaking English. They spoke English even in their homes. Now, under the present Imperialism of the Punjabis, the fake ideology of Muslims being a nation or Pakistan as one nation is invented. In following them, Sindhis of higher class whether Pirs, bureaucrats, Waderas and mullahs speak Urdu. They do it to please their masters. The reason for all this inferiority complex is that they were influenced by selfish-ness and cowardice to become an easy prey of the Punjabi masters.
3. After conquering Sindh, the Arabs humiliated the Sindhis so much so that the Sindhis lost their national pride. Every thing coming from Arabia was considered sacred. The love of their land unfortunately decreased and they started calling them the sons of tile Arabs. Similarly Arabic language was considered a heavenly language. The major towns of the Arabs, Mecca and Madina, were considered sacred and holy. By visiting those places, the Sindhis were to get salvation from wrong interpretation, which the conquerors had brought and taught, to them. They were so infatuated that they started singing hymns and praying to God to let them die in the Arab cities or to enable them to sweep the streets of Mecca and Madina. Such was the bad influence of the Arab conquerors that they forgot even the names of their ancestors and started calling themselves of Arab caste and kept Arabic names. Every Arab custom or tradition was considered a part of Islam. On the other hand, every custom and tradition of Sindhi origin was considered UN-Islamic and unfit. Instead of love of Sindh and Sindhi nation, they prided in calling themselves Muslims and showing love for the foreign country of Arabia.
4. It is a universal practice of centuries that people love their traditions. For meeting or trade or pleasure, they used to gather at a chosen or central place in an annual gathering and perform rites or rituals at such meeting places. In this way they acquired national unity by national consciousness and homogeneity. In Sindh also there were several such places like Yea'ic Dharm, Buddha Dharam and places of some Saints where annual functions were held. But the Arabs cleverly diverted their attention towards their own places in Arabia.

Therefore in the name of wrongly interpreted religion, they induced the Sindhi to love and attach more importance to the annual function at Ka'aba and gave it the name of Hajj. The Arabs propagated to our people that by visiting these places they would be forgiven of all sins and would in this way attain salvation.

What is the Ka'aba? It was an old Arab place where several hundred idols were kept. The Arabs used to gather annually for the sake of trade and idol-worship and circumambulated round the Ka'aba seven times, which was called "Tawaf". In this way Prikarma or Circumambulating was also performed. There were two small hills called "Safa and Marva". According to thousands of years' custom, people used to run between two hills several times. It is said that the said custom was commemorated in the memory of Bibi Hajra, (mother of Ismail) the slave wife of Abraham who, dung her labor pain, ran about between these two hills in search of water and help. That absurd custom is still performed in the vain hope of getting some spiritual benefit. Such is the utter blindness of faith that ordinary common sense is even absent. On the occasion of Hajj, many animals are slaughtered, [5] hoping vainly that God would be pleased and forgive all their sins and in this way they would gain a life in paradise.

Ka'aba is a square building, about which there is a narrative that it was a temple which consisted of many idols. These idols were cleared by Prophet "Abraham", but "Tawaf" and gathering round the building continued. About the origin of this building there is a narrative that this was a temple of "SHIV" where "UNI" and "Lung" were kept, but subsequently most of the Arab tribes kept their favorite idols also, which was afterwards cleared by Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him and his progeny). The black stone (Hajre-Aswad) which was kept inside the "Ka'aba" was taken out and kept in one corner of Ka'aba. It is also said that this temple originally was a fire temple of the Zoroastrians and in the tradition of the Babylonians' idols of the Sun and Six Stars were kept there.

As the satellites revolve round the sun, in the same manner the people were told to go round this temple. It was an old custom, and age-old practice in many religions to go round their temples. It is said in the folklore that "Hajre-Aswad" was the symbol of "Venice" who was the tribal goddess of the Arabs. As Arabs were nomadic tribe, they were not acquainted with the art of sculpture or statue making. Therefore, they found some peculiar stones. They made it a symbol for their tribal god, "Venice" being the tribal goddess of the Arabs, was saved from breaking and was kept in a corner of the building [6]

1. Latest scientific research has it that the Sang-Aswad (Black stone) was actually a Maturate, which fell from the clouds in a passing storm, and Israel in organizing the Arab tribes, kept as a center of gathering and worship.
2. When Yazeed Bin Muavia's 30,000 army attacked Madina and Mecca, this stone was broken into four parts.
3. During the Abbassi period, Karamata rose in revolt against the cruelties of the Arabs, captured Mecca and took away this stone. So Hajj was stopped for 12 years. After Karamta's death, the Abbassi Caliph paid several lacs (millions) of DINAR (currency) and got back this stone.

At the time of performance of Hajj there is the custom of shaving of heads. The same custom was also prevalent in old religion. Hindus used to shave their heads at their shrines or rivers as a sign of worship. The Arabs also did the same and, even after conversion, this old custom continued. Then there was the custom of wearing the "IHRAM". There is also a custom of wearing two pieces of un-sewn cloth, one round the lower part of the body and the other round the upper part of the body, keeping the head and shoulders bare. This custom was also prevalent among Hindus. The Buddhists and the Egyptians, especially the Hindu "SANIASI" and Buddhist "BHIKSHU" and ancient Egyptian used to war such unstitched pieces of cloth. At the time of Hajj, the water of "ZUMZUM" spring is considered sacred. It is presumed divine and clean to drink and to throw on the coffins of the dead. It is very old belief and practice in which waters of certain wells, rivers, or springs were considered sacred and sprinkled on sacred or holy places. The Hindus did the same.

Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him and his progeny) had cleaned "Ka'aba" of the idols. Yet certain old customs were allowed to continue so as not to displease the Arab masses. The question is why the Sindhis could not have continued with their old custom of drinking the water of the Indus river. It was deliberately done to erase the national feelings of the Sindhis and to imbibe the spirit of Arab Imperialism.

When Sindhis began their annual functions on the basis of Arab customs, they visited the mausoleums of their saints annually or monthly. But as they were accustomed to this old idea of the salvation of getting benefits to ongoing towards those places. They continued to pay visits to these places to get personal benefits from such shrines, for getting a wife or a son and for getting monetary benefits, or relief from cases of illness. As if Pirs had the power of bestowing favors or free them from all miseries. These things are in God's hand, and even Prophets had not the power to bestow a favor or free the people from any calamity or illness. When the Arabs killed the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law "Ali" and also killed "Imam Hussain" and other descendants, the Prophet was not able to do anything to save his near and dear ones. Even in our times, he is not able to stop the. WAHABI police from preventing touching and kissing (pilgrimage) and offering prayers at his own mausoleums.

From the true interpretation of Islam, one will know that neither the performance of Hajj nor visit of the shrine of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him and his progeny) can bring salvation. Ultimately, after realizing the facts though the Sindhis have freed themselves from their political imperialism, yet have not freed themselves from the intellectual dominance of the Arabs, as inferiority complex and cowardice are dominant over them. It is said that from local people, Soomras, established their rule about one thousand twenty-five years A.C. It is said that when intellectual dominance of Baghdad changed towards Egypt. Then they were called "Karamaties" after the name of Karamate, who had risen in revolt against Arab cruelties for such belief for the dominance of Arabs were inserted. When the Pathans started their invasions. The period of Soomras dominance was of five hundred years. It seems those were the days during which Sindhi got some relief from outside invaders. During the days of Soomras, "Mahmood Ghaznavi" and "Allaud-Din Khilji" devastated Sindh, but Sindhis did not allow them to remain here in Sindh for a long period. "Mumal Rano", "Sassi Punhun", "Laila Chanesar", "Umer-Marvi", "Dodo-Chanesar", all these classical folk stories are of that period, which our poets have commemorated and immortalized.

About Sindh's history, during the days of Arab Imperialism, at the time of the invasion of "Muhammad-Bin-Qasim", it is said, some of the local people, in order to please Muhammad-BinQasim proved traitors and supported this foreign imperialist. Similarly in the time of invasion of Khilji Emperor, Chanesar Soomro had proved a traitor. And in the time of the last ruler of the Summas tribe 'Jam Feroz Khan" and "Kazi Kazan" had betrayed and during the days of the invasion of "Akbar", his Amir "Khan-Khana" and "Makhdoom Nooh's" custodian had played no good part from the Sindh national point of view. If these can be given as instances of betrayal, then there are also several other persons, who sacrificed everything for the sake of Sindh. Such as "Raja Dahir", "Dodo Soomro", "Dulah Darya Khan" and his companions "Mukhdoom Bilawal" and "Shah Hyder", can be given as instances of patriotic persons who sacrificed their lives and they certainly can be called Heroes of Sindhi.

During the days of Mughals, Sindh again came under the dominance of outsiders. From Mughal dominance, Sindh was freed during the days of Kalhoras and their successors the Talpurs, who gave Sindhis a period of relief. Sindh was conquered again by British's, who for the sake of administrative convenience attached it to the Bombay Presidency. From this domination, we were freed in 1936 [7]. And Sindh started as a separate province of India, then subsequently, in 1947 as a Province of Pakistan the Britishers on the lines of Roman Imperialism, started the policy of divide and rule. The Zamindars, on account of tribal differences, and rivalries, each one of them tried to gain power by pleasing the official class of the Government. The Zamindars used to quarrel among themselves on several issues by getting their problems solved through the pleasure of officials of British Government. There were also other influences, which were of some importance. These were Mullahs and Pirs. The Mullahs used to influence the local people in religious congregations by preaching from the pulpits, and at the time of prayers. They used to get food in return from various houses. Mullahs at the time of demise of some persons in the village, use to perform funeral rites. According to old customs, on fixed days they used to give prayers of "Khatima" for the salvation of the souls of the departed and recited Qura'an and some verses as performance of prayers. The Pirs were supposed t9 be descendants of some saintly persons, who had lived in particular areas. Annual functions were held at the shrines of their ancestors.

Their prayers, of course, had great effect. They had also influence over the people, the Hindus and the Muslims were supposed to be followers of "Pirs" or "Bawa" and both of them were against the teachings of Soofis, who had taught them the lesson of love, forbearance and tolerance. Each one of these groups, Sardars or Waderas, officials, Mullahs, Pirs or Bawas all in turn had their influence over the common illiterate people, specially the uninformed village women folk, whose minds were controlled completely by the Pirs and Mullahs.

As the time passed, each class acquired its vested interests. Like all else they had their rivalries and each group was dependent on the support of the Government. Pirs, Waderas and officials tried to please the Government authorities. The Britishers had, in the beginning, the powerful machinery to dominate the people through its administration and other administrative measures of the Government. After some time, it was realized by the British official that instead of patronizing selected persons through officials, they should introduce the method of selection by the people, there by dividing the powers of patronage between the Government and the elected persons. The bureaucracy and the selected persons gradually shared after the introduction of democratic institutions, power. The Muslims had ruled in Sindh and India for a very long time. This had created the vested interests of the Muslim upper class. But the number of non-Muslims was greater, in some parts of the country, than in others. So the rivalry of class and group interest was flamed by vested interests on both sides. It was precisely and absolutely on account of vested interests that separate electorate was made in 1905 and later introduced in the country. In Sindh, the Muslims had always been in a majority. Most of the agricultural land was in the hands of Jagirdars, Zamindars and Pirs. In the beginning the Hindus who, during previous regimes were in charge of Government affairs, services (the O.I.D.) and agriculture, and the population of Sindh being small and the agricultural land being abundant, they had sufficient sources and had become affluent. The Hindus had taken to trade and had entered Government services, so they were never in want. As the time passed the official class, on account of its fixed incomes and the merchants, by providing loans of agriculture or building mortgages on marriage and death had soon amassed wealth. So the village folk did not get sufficient education. As the merchant class usurers and the official class lived mostly in urban areas, so they had acquired education. The rivalries of these classes together with the policy of the Britishers, to divide and rule, was the causative factor which introduced separate electorate, on the basis of religion. This was the first fatal step to divide democratic institutions on the basis of religion. The Britishers had introduced secular politics in this part of the country, but the introduction of separate electorate on the insistence of Muslim upper class indirectly injected religiosity into politics and made it "COMMUNAL POLITICS". India consisted of several provinces, in which Hindus were in a majority and Muslims in a minority and there were other provinces in which Muslims were in majority.

In the Muslim minority provinces, the ruling class was mostly Muslim. The Agricultural land, services and some trade facilities being in the total control of Muslims. And after the introduction of democratic rule and the fear of majority influence in the course of politics, Muslim minority provinces like U.P., C.P., Bihar and other provinces were frightened, that the land, services and facilities in trade, were to fall in the hands of Hindu majority. So they wanted to retain their vested interests through the support of Government. Then the rivalry started between the vested interests in the name of religion. It was ultimately supported on the national basis with the plea that Muslims were a separate nation, and so were the Hindus a separate nation. As you have seen that, after the conquest, the Britishers for administrative convenience attached Sindh to the Bombay Presidency. The Headquarter of the Bombay Presidency was at a great distance from Sindh. This was mostly an agricultural and pastoral country. There was no direct road from Bombay to Sindh, except by sea, which was a hazardous voyage. In between Bombay and Sindh, there were deserts. People used to come from Bombay via Ahmedabad, Jesalmir from a distance about 700 miles. The system of agriculture was also different. They, Bombay Presidency consisted of Ahmedabad, Baroda and Poona districts, which depended mostly on rainfall, whereas Sindh's agricultural land could only be cultivated by an irrigation system. As no irrigation project was taken up in Sindh, it lagged behind. After experience it was found that the amalgamation of Sindh with Bombay was unnatural. So Sindh was separated. But religion had been introduced in politics by the system of separate electorate. It was opposed by certain Hindu vested interests. They thought it fit to introduce the party system for elections. Retired official secretary "Mr. 0. Hume" introduced the Congress organization. Hume as a non-communal organization' in 1885, but after some experiences, when the people wanted more power, they were frightened and set up the second organization by the name of "Muslim League" in 1906. In this way a rivalry started. At the time of First World War in 1914, the Turks, who used to call themselves Khalifa of Muslims, joined hands in the war on the side of the German Government against the Britishers and their allied powers. There was a rivalry between the European nations.

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Footnotes:

1. For further details consult the book "Fatah-ul-Buldan".
2. Consult "Chachnama" and "Fatah-ul-Buldan"
3. Consider "Blazali" for further details.
4. Consult "Chachnama" for further details.
5. From the Jewish Turah (OLD TESTAMENT) and the Christian Bible (NEW TESTAMENT), we learn that it was not Ismail but Ishaq, Ibrahim's second son, who was taken for sacrifice and that Ibrahim's first wife was his step-sister (same father but different mother). As it was a custom among the Jews of the tribe of Israel in those days that people married stepsister or stepbrother. These historical facts are kept hidden from the common (uninformed) people. Lacs of animals are sacrificed and most of them rot and are thrown away by the Health Administration.
6. For further information, consult the book entitled "Aryan Art" by Ganga Ram and Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics.
7. It may be motioned in passing that in 1929/30 the late Mir Ali Nawaz Khan Talpur had sent a petition to the then viceroy to free this estate of Sindh, Khairpur from remaining under the Bombay Presidency.