7/27/2019 More Than Just a War

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More than just a war?

Zulfiqar Shah writes about the repercussions of the battle of Miayani

The conquest of Sindh by the British in 1843 after the days-long battle of the Miayani forests near

Hyderabad initiated two simultaneous processes in Sindh. On the one hand, a process of social

transformation was begun, creating and catering to a new class of landlords; increased

urbanisation nurtured a new-born bourgeoisie and petty-bourgeoisie class.

On the other hand, patriot Sindhis fought at least three major liberation wars which went on for a

hundred years from 1843 to 1943. The first major battle was fought on April 15, 1859, in

Nagarparkar. The war went on for six months and was finally routed by the military power of the

British. It was fought by three local commanders, out of which two were martyred and became

national heroes of Sindh. The three commanders were rebelling under Rana Karan Singh, a Thakur

of Nagarparkar.

This war can be analyzed in two phases. In the first phase, British troops were defeated and the

rebels finally forced Colonel Tyrwhitt, the commander of the British troops, to leave the area. He

escaped to Hyderabad to reconsider his war strategy. In the second phase, Tyrwhitt re-entered

Nagarparkar with a larger army and negotiated local Thakurs, offering them land and privileges in

return for withdrawing support for Karan Singh and his local commanders.

This time, the British troops, comprising larger and technically well-equipped troops, overpowered

the army of Karan Singh. All his commanders, except Rooplo Kohli, were killed instantly. Finally,

Rooplo Kohli himself was captured.

He was offered land and privileges in return for a public or private apology to the British

government, which he denied, and was finally hanged publicly under a Babool tree near

Nagarparkar town.

After his death, Rooplo Kohli's mother Kesrbai and the rest of his family migrated to Kunri, which is

part of district Mirpurkhas today.

His descendents live and work on the Talpur's lands near Kunri. Rooplo Kohli belong to the historic

Kohli tribe of Sindh, who descended from the hunting and gathering population which subsisted on

Thar's abundant fauna, fruit and wild products, such as honey.

Today, they are now the poorest of the poor, and absolutely uneducated. Many live as slaves,

bonded to landowners via debt, thus reducing these descendants of warriors to the lowest

possible rung of the social ladder, despite the fact that they come from an indigenous Dravidian

tribe of ancient South Asia, and have been living in Sindh and defending it for thousands of years.

-- The writer is a socio-political activist from Sindh.

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