Jacobabad
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Jacobabad
The man behind Jacobabad
By Manzoor H. Kureshi
By the end of the 18th century, the Mughal imperial power in India was rapidly declining due to internal conflicts. Then came Nadir Shah, the king of Persia, who not only sacked Delhi for many days but also crushed the emperor’s authority severely. This attack paved the way for Ahmed Shah Abdali, the Afghan king, who plundered the already crippled empire a number of times. Finally, the Rohillas and afterwards Maratha freebooters finished the Mughal power completely.
During this long period of disorder came the Portuguese, Dutch, and French but it was the British East India Company that was finally able to establish permanent trading houses in India. The Company, which kept regular and well-disciplined army equipped with latest armaments, taking advantage of the chaos turned out to be arbiters in local disputes of princes and as a result gained sufficient grounds to force their terms on the obstinate party.
These anarchic times also attracted numerous adventurers from different European countries, including America, who wanted to have their share in the treasures of this land. Some adventurers like Jean-Baptist Ventura (an ex-General of Napoleon’s army), Jean-Francois Allard, a French, and Avitabile Paolo, an Italian, joined the Army of Raja Ranjit Singh. It was because of the training of these Europeans and their modern arms that the British feared the Sikhs.
The British East India Company, that kept a regular army, had some officers who, though truthful to their master, excelled in their superior moral conduct and humanitarian approach. They served the conquered so sincerely that even after the passage of more than one and half century the natives remember them. Sir John Jacob of Jacobabad was one such illustrious person.
John Jacob was born at Woolavington in Somerset on January 11, 1812, in the house of the vicar of the parish. He entered East India Company’s service in the year 1828 at the age of 16. He distinguished himself as brilliant gunner and cavalry leader in the various expeditions in south India. Then he was posted in a small village, Khangarh, somewhere near present day Jacobabad. Predatory tribes of Baluchistan and Punjab frequently looted this village and as a result it was almost uninhibited. There was only one police post but it was without any policeman to “check” the marauders.
John Jacob was the first Political Superintendent and Commandment, Frontier of Upper Sindh. He brought rule of law to this wild region by punishing refractory Baloch tribes and established check posts on the borders to ensure enduring security to the area. According to H.T Lambrick, “he reclaimed the predatory tribes by moral power and desert wastes by digging irrigation canals”.
After securing the borders he turned his attention to the development of the area and well being of the people. The place where later on the foundations of Jacobabad was to be laid, was mostly jungle. He successfully engaged ex-freebooters of Jakhrani and Dombki tribes in these useful activities. Not only was the jungle cleared but irrigation canals were also dug with old waterways cleared of silts. This brought a lot of peace and prosperity to the region.
The city of Jacobabad was designed on the most modern plan with a central bazaar, government quarters with wide roads and streets, water supply and sanitation. The bungalow built by Jacob for his residence, despite the passage of more that one and half century, is in excellent shape. This building has since then been continuously occupied by the district administrative head. A mud pyramid with the inscription “Here lies Messenger, the favourite charger of General John Jacob” has memorialized even his horse. Dovecote is another monument built by John Jacob in the residency, which still provides sanctuary to pigeons.
John Jacob was also a brilliant craftsman. His craftsmanship can still be seen in a clock that he designed and manufactured with his bare hands, without the aid of any machinery and tools required for such a highly skilled and delicate job. The clock is installed in the centre of a room especially reserved in the residency. It still shows accurately not only the time but also the date, the day of the week, the month and the phase of the moon. The face bears his coat of arms, name and designation, beautifully engraved, but avoids any other decorations.
Captain John Jacob, for the service he rendered, was ultimately elevated to the rank of Brigadier General. He also held the position of Acting Commissioner Sindh in the absence of Sir Bartle Frere. In 18515, as an acting commissioner, he abolished forced labour in Sindh.
Seven years before the occurrence, he publicly predicted the outbreak of an Indian revolt, which took place in 1857, because of the defects in the Bengal Army which he denounced vehemently. In contrast, he claimed that Indian soldiers organized under his own system, preferred in the Sindh Horse, would remain staunch under any trial, and so it proved to be. His idea for permanently securing northwest India from the menace of Russian aggressing, was rejected in his lifetime, but adopted 20 years later.
H.T. Lambrick in his book John Jacob of Jacobbad has acknowledged that “By 1855, and probably long before that, he had in fact publicly renounced Christianity, and had evolved out of his understanding of a reasoning from natural science and personal system of religion which satisfied his ideals — ideals which in their nobility surely cannot suffer from comparison with those of any orthodox creed”. This has been confirmed from the following letter written by General Jacob to his brother Philip on July 19, 1858.
“Holding the sentiments expressed in your letter, which reached me today, you can hardly wish me to continue to correspond with you. To do so would only be unpleasant to both parties, and as useless as unpleasant. It is clear to me that you would never understand me in the least. It is as if we belonged to ages many thousands of years apart. Wherefore I shall write to you no more.
“Of all the men who ever lived in the world I have been the least addicted to following the opinions of others, which you now accused me of blindly doing! From early manhood my whole life has been one continued battle against the authority of current opinion. I have sought for the path of truth and have found it. I am myself growing and living in it, and am tending — no matter how slowly — continually towards higher life and growth, as is every healthy particle in the universe. A thousand years hence probably every intelligent child of ten years of age will be surprised that the truths for holding to which I am now esteemed an outcast could ever have been doubted.
It has however been so in every age and always will be so, I imagine .... Bahl, I will not enter into particulars, but now bid you farewell and trouble you no snore. Truly my kingdom is not of this world. J.J”
Brigadier General John Jacob, Administrator Frontier of Upper Sindh, Commandant of Sindh irregular horse and builder of Jacobabad peacefully died in his adopted country 30 years later, in the year 1858. The people of Jacobabad who, in the words of H.T Lambrick, “he chastised and loved, protected and enriched” are still revering his grave. They regularly visit his place of burial to pay homage for the services he rendered to them in this once terribly inhospitable terrain.
