Sibghatullah Shah Shaheed eulogised for fighting colonial oppression

Scholars and researchers paid glowing tributes to Pir Syed Sibghatullah Shah Shaheed on Saturday for his struggle for freedom from the British occupation. They spoke at an event at the Karachi Press Club and termed the martyred Hur leader as an unsung hero of the freedom movement.

They also underlined the need for conducting thorough research to unveil facts and forgotten aspects of the Hur movement at the memorial seminar on the 78th martyrdom anniversary of Syed Sibghatullah Shah.

Addressing the seminar, scholars and political leaders such as Aftab Nabi, Naseer Aijaz, Prof Mumtaz Bhutto, Javed Qazi, former MPA Anwer Mahar and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional General Secretary Sardar Rahim praised the Hur resistance movement led by Sibghatullah Shah.

Discussing the history of the movement, the speakers said the Hur movement spanned over a century as the first phase of the movement started in 1830s when the East India Company was trying to conquer the state of Sindh on one side and Raja Ranjit Singh was also posing threats from the northern frontiers.

At that time Sibghatullah Shah I supported Syed Ahmed Shaheed and provided him with fighters and finances so that threats to Muslims of the area could be effectively countered, the speakers said, adding that the second phase of the movement was witnessed during last two decades of nineteenth century.

Later, Sibghatullah Shah II in 1930s mobilised his followers against the oppressive colonial power and opted for armed resistance for the freedom of the country, the speakers said. They informed the ceremony that the Sindh government of that time had to enact a draconian law to suppress the movement.

Thousands of Hurs were kept in concentration camps established in Sanghar and other areas of Sindh and their hideouts were furiously bombed. Sibghatullah Shah II and main figures of the Hur movement were arrested and indicted in false cases and the first ever martial law was enforced in Sindh to curb the movement, the speakers was said and added that the British Raj levelled baseless allegations and carried out propaganda against the Hur leader, denied him fair trial and finally convicted him to death.

The occupying forces were so afraid of the movement that they resorted to hide the burial place of the martyr, the speakers said as they stressed the need for collecting the relevant data and declassified documents to unveil the important but neglected chapters of the Hur movement that supplemented the cause of the All India Muslim League and the Pakistan movement