Jhoke Sharif
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Jhoke Sharif
Jhoke wakes up to save its past: Protest against historical seminary demolition
By Iqbal Khwaja
THATTA, May 9: A large number of people, including followers of Sufi school of thought, took to the streets in the historical village of Jhoke Sharif on Friday to protest against demolition of a 500-years old seminary-cum-graveyard.
A complete strike was also observed in the village, the burial place of Sufi Shah Inayat Shaheed and his disciples killed in a 18th war century war to protect a commune established by the mystic socialist. The protestors staged sit-in on Sujawal-Hyderabad road which led to suspension of vehicular traffic for over two hours.
Four days ago, five landgrabbers from Peshawar, led by one Shamsur Rehman, encroached upon the historical site, demolished the remains of the seminary and ransacked the graveyard on its premises by tractors, uprooting skeletons from various graves.
The incident sparked anger among the local people who rushed to the site in large number, caught hold of the land-grabbers and handed them over to the area police, which registered a case against the accused under section 297, 506 and 504 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
On Friday, a large number of people, some of them attired in the traditional saffron Sufi dress and holding Saffron flags, took out a procession which culminated in a public gathering at the shrine of Makhdoom Sadaruddin Langah, the grandfather of Shah Inayat and the founder of the 500-year old seminary.
Sufi Huzoor Bukhsh, author of a book on Shah Inayat and senior vice-president of the Jeay Sindh Mahaz, told the gathering that the police had released Shmsuddin, main accused in the case of the seminary demolition, ‘after taking bribe.’
Huzoor Bukhsh, who had lodged the FIR, alleged that an Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (old NWFP) minister had threatened him of dire consequences through a phone call and Ishtiaquddin Aijaz, the president of the Hyderabad chapter of a religious organization, had approached him with similar attitude.
He said that earlier the historical ground of Miranpur where a war had been fought between the followers of Sufi Shah Inayat and combined troops of Dehli’s ruler Farrukh Sair and Thatta governor Azam Khan, had been sold out to the owners of Shah Murad Sugar Mills. He added that the mill management had dug out a watercourse along the historical site as a result several graves, including that of the mother of Shah Abdul Karim Bulriwaro, one of the pioneers of Sufism in Sindh and Sindhi poetry and grandfather of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, had been ruined by seeping water.
Sufi Ghulam Hussain, Usman Panhwar, Haji Jalalani, Ali Hassan Jalalani and others also spoke on the occasion, deploring that people from as far as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (old NWFP) were interfering in the matter but none from Sindh -- including Sindh Minister for Culture Sassui Palijo, elected representatives or the district officials -- had turned out to help save the historical site.
