A Word from Publisher

This dissertation (on the Case of Sindh before the Court) by G.M. Sayed, the great leader of the people of Sindh, is the
English translation of its original in Sindhi, published in 1993, entitled "Sindh Galha-ay-thee" (Sindh Speaks).
The purpose of this publication Is to inform the intellectual world at large - since English today commands position of
the foremost communication medium internationally - of what transpired in the politics of the Indian sub-continent,
more particularly in the context of Sindh, during the split- decade of 1937-47, and with what grave consequences,
immediate and distant, both historical and cultural. What happened in the sub-continent was, infect a part of the post-
War 11 convulsions that overtook the human world globally. With time, this world is once again taking now a direction
to a new politico-economic and ideological re-structuring affecting also its geography visibly. What socio-political map
of our world in the sub- continent would emerge at the advent of the twenty first century and onwards depends on the
shape of the wave of change building up before us in this crucial last decade of the 20th century.
Books speak out when courts sit dumb and deaf, and hundreds and thousands of the readers sit on the seats of judgment
on the right and wrong of the causes that clasp the mind and soul of societies for better or worse. Such books, symbolize
the cry of the suffering people and articulate their hopes and aspirations, pose a challenge to the rulers and question the
legitimacy of their mansions and systems of rule. The publication in hand could claim to be one of such books
actualizing the cry of the Sindhi Nation for justice, even as G. M. Sayed, its octogenarian author, languishes In his house
declared as a sub-jail by the Government of Pakistan. Ha sits there confined, charged of the sin of making a public
speech on his Eighty Ninth birth day celebration on 17 January 1992 in Nishtar Park, Karachi. He is neither produced
before the Court to answer the charge nor permitted to step out of the four walls of his house or to meet any friendly
visitor. The 3 years of his on-going house-detention, added to twenty seven years of his political incarcerate on other
counts in the public prison- houses in Pakistan, cover nearly the full two third of the life of Pakistan from 1947 to-date.
For the publication of this book, we owe our gratitude a thanks primarily to our esteemed friends Sayed Afzal Hyder,
Zafar lqbal Mirza and Mohammed Ibrahim Joyo, and also to our c leagues Abdul Wahid Aresar, Taj Joyo, Khadim
Hussain Soomro, Sayed Zia Shah, and Muneer Shah. But for the work and guidance and their assistance and advice,
this publication would not have seen the light of the day.
Hameed Sabzoi
Secretary Naeen Sindh Academy, Karachi
November 29,1994

The Case of Sindh 2

The Case of Sindh - G.M. Syed’s
deposition in court (Part 1)

Your Honor!
For three-quarters of a century now, I have struggled for the emancipation of my oppressed people who live in these
parts of South Asia. All this while, I have earned the ire of rulers who have usurped power. On numerous occasions I
have been under house arrest or in jail during the best years of my life. Whenever I have tried to raise my voice against
the vandalization of Sindh, my Motherland, I have been jailed. Several attempts have been made on my life.
I have never once been allowed to state my case in any court of law and to speak on the subjugation of my people. This
is the first time that I have been given an opportunity to speak on my land’s laments. I wish to tell this court and through
it to all humanity, especially the thinking people who are living in the closing years of the 20th century, the atrocities that
have been committed against my Motherland, Sindh, by ruthless occupying nations. I want to do so also in order to tell
my people, its intellectuals, how a nation which has given the lead to all peoples of the world in the fields of art and
culture is now being brutalized and held captive by force and fraud. There are people in this land who are under the
influence of migrant feudalistic from India, and are proudly touting subjugation as the panacea for Sindh’s problems.
Among our many misfortunes is the fact that some of our compatriots hate independence and love enslavement. At this
juncture, representing the spirit of Sindh, I repudiate these elements. If I don’t do so, I shall be considered to have
violated the sanctity of the spirit of independence for Sindh.
I wish to state here, Your Honor, that Sindh is a distinct geographic entity where there are rivers, forests, lakes,
mountains, deserts and verdant valleys. Through the ages it has been expanding and contracting. It has been
independent and enslaved during various stages of its history but, at the same time, it has always had a pure and proud
soul that has never accepted slavery or indignity. It has never surrendered to death despite the fact that attempts have
been made to bond or break it. This spirit has flitted around Sindh like monsoon clouds as the last voice of the
Dravidians of Mohen-jo-Daro. It has emerged from time to time- sometimes in the shape of Raja Dahir, sometimes in
the person of Dodo Soomro, sometimes in the shape of Darya Khan and Makhdoom Bilawal and Shah Hyder Sannai. It
has expressed itself in the love and courage of Shah Inayat,
I feel that these historic persons of Sindh have become part and parcel of my being which would like to reach a logical
end now. Without doubt, it is Sindh’s geographic, national, political, economic, cultural and moral beauty, which are
the ingredients of its independence. It is this throbbing spirit which has forced me since early childhood to strive for the
emancipation of Sindh and its people. Whatever shape my political struggle has taken in South Asia, it has had but one
focal point- "independence for Sindh". All that which I will now state about my political endeavors should be seen in the
light of the submissions I have just made.
Your Honor!
I completed my early education in Sindhi in 191 5 when the First World War was at its peak. When I took to studying
English and Persian, I began to see the world in a new light. I came to realize that the world was facing four major
problems - poverty, illiteracy, lawlessness and fear Philosophers, intellectuals and men of wisdom have been trying to
solve these problems down the ages. When pondered over these problems, I came to realize that they were rooted in
these factors:
Colonialism, feudalism and capitalism caused poverty; Nomadic life and lack of civic and educational facilities together
with high cost of education caused illiteracy; And the bloody and barbaric World War on the international level and
disorderly life, superstition and blind faith together with threats from wild animals, thieves and marauding raiders at the
local levels produced fear and lawlessness. As I have said, this was the time when the First World War was at its height.
Human life had become cheaper than animal life and thousands of innocent people were being killed. In war, the brave
man is he who has killed more people than the others. We, the people of Sindh, had by that time been forcibly made part

The Case of Sindh 3

of British India and had become slaves of the British. The Indians were used as gun fodder. The British had made several
promises to the people of the sub-continent in return for their cooperation in the war effort. Among these, the most
important pledge was that all British colonies, including India, would be freed.
The Muslims were assured that despite the fact that Britain was at war with Turkey, their holy places would not be
desecrated and the Muslim lands would be set free. The First World War ended in 1918. Small nations in Europe got
their independence but not so in Asia and Africa. On the contrary, through new divisions and treaties, they were put
under a stronger and sterner colonial rule.
When the Indian Muslims who were even more specially under the influence of religion came to know that the Turkish
Empire was being cut into pieces and that the countries under it would be divided among the British, the Greek and tie
French and that the holy places would be placed under Allied control and that India would not be set free, they were
gravely Perturbed, Generally also, a wave of protest against British imperialism swept across India. The Muslims
launched the Khilafat Movement to express solidarity with Turkey. The All-India Congress, which had hitherto done
little except Passing resolutions or presenting memoranda (to the British), became an active political party after
Mahatma Gandhi’s return from South Africa. He used the public sentiment against the Raj to telling effect by forging
Hindu Muslim unity. Sensing that this unity would be dangerous for their interests, the British, instead of introducing
further reforms, clamped the Rowlatt Act on India under which the emergency powers which the government had
assumed during the First World War were perpetuated. All communities in India protested against this black law.
As part of the general protest, a public meeting was held at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on April 13, 1919. General
Dyer ordered the force under his command to open fire on the protesters. As a result of the brutal and indiscriminate
firing, hundreds of people died and thousands were injured. A storm of protests rose against this massacre. Sindh also
took part in the protest movement.
I was a witness to all this and had reached a stage in my life where I could not remain aloof from what was happening
around me. I began increasingly to wish to join the intrepid and organized struggle that was gathering pace against
British imperialism. I got my opportunity soon enough. Pir Turab Ali Shah and Jan Mohammed Khan Junejo organized
a Khilafat Conference on February 7-9, 1920. It was presided over by the Sindhi veteran Pir Rushdullah Shah
Jhandeywaro; I also attended this conference together with Makhdoom Moeenuddin of Khinyari and Syed Asadullah
Shah Tikhurai. Among those who attended were Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Abdul Bari Farangi Melhi,
Maulana Shaukat Ali and Shaikh Abdul Majid Sindhi despite my young age, this conference did much to create political
awareness in me. My first political act was to organize a Khilafat Conference in my hometown on March 17, 1920. It
was presided over by Maulvi Hakeem Fateh Mohammed Sehwani. Many prominent Sindhi leaders like Shaikh Abdul
Majid Sindhi, Dr. Nur Mohammed, Shaikh Abdul Aziz, Shaikh Abdus Salam (Editor, Al-Wahid attended the
conference.
Funds were collected for the Turkish cause and several people announced their decision to leave the service of the
British. This was part of the Tehrik-i-Tark-i-Mawalat under which many People renounced British titles and judicial and
other jobs throughout India.
Two days after the conference, a general strike was observed in my hometown on March 19, 1920, to express solidarity
with the Turks, After that, I attended Khilafat conferences in several cities in Sindh. The meeting held at the Dargah of
Makhdoom Bilawal on March 26, 1920 was the most important one of my early life because I made my first public
speech there. Since I was young and of short stature, I spoke from a tabletop. Apart from the leaders referred above, I
met Mahatma Gandhi at the Sann Railway Station when he was on his way from Hyderabad to Dadu on April 27,
1921. In the brief meeting, Gandhi advised me to wear Khaddar that I did the following month. Since I was a minor, I
was under Court of Wards and a warden had been appointed for me. This court of wards managed my family’s estate

The Case of Sindh 4

and paid me a certain sum every, month. The Government took a stern view of my participation in the Khilafat
Movement and the Sindh Commissioner, who warned me to keep out of it because it was anti-British, summoned me to
Kotri. The Government was aware of my family’s relations with the people of Kotri Tehsil and the Kohistani areas
many of them had attended the Khilafat conferences and the Government feared that the general feeling of discontent
might flare up into an uprising.
The Commissioner threatened that punitive action would be taken against me if I continued to participate in the Khilafat
Movement. I told him that I had no intention of withdrawing into my shell. I was the only male in a four-member
family. The court of wards then suspended m) monthly stipend and I was told that I would be sent to Bombay for forced
education. An official however also proposed that the court of wards should hand over my lands to me so that the cares
of estate management may prevent me from taking part in active politics. In spite of all this, I continued to take part in
the Khilafat Movement with zeal.
Since there was great unity between the Hindus and the Muslims at the time the meetings of the All-India Congress, the
Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Hind and the Muslim League used to be held at the same city at the same time. As a result, I could
meet many political leaders. Until Hindu-Muslim differences weakened the Khilafat Movement, I continued to take part
in it till 1924. In 1929, Turkey, realizing that the Khilafat was the root cause of its problems, abolished it. Consequently,
the Khilafat Movement fizzled out in India also. This led political workers to think in terms of abandoning agitational
methods and to seek change through constitutional and legal means under the Montagu Cheimsfo Reforms. So taking
politics as a vehicle for social change, I started to work for the welfare of the people after being elected Vice-President of
the Karachi Local Board and President of the Manjhand Tehsil Local Board. I was later elected President of the Karachi
District Board in the year 1925.
It was around this time that the British appointed the Simon Commission to review the Indian situation. No Hindu or
Muslim was represented on the Commission that was, therefore, boycotted both by the All-India Congress and the
Muslim League. I had by then joined the All-India Congress. As a congressite and an old Khilafat Movement worker, I
strove to have the Simon Commission boycotted in Sindh. Wherever the Commission members went, they were greeted
with black flags and ‘Simon go back’ slogans.
All members elected those days to the Bombay legislative council from Sindh belonged to the feudal class who worked
only for personal or group interests. No wonder they cooperated with the Simon Commission. In 1928, a movement for
the separation of Sindh from Bombay was launched. Three important conferences were held for this purpose in Karachi,
Hyderabad and then again in Karachi. Resolutions giving facts and figures together with cogent arguments were Passed,
The British were told that Sindh had never been a part of India and that its merger with Bombay had no historic, moral
or legal justification. Important leaders like Haji Abdullah Haroon, Shaikh Abdul Majid Sindhi, Mohammed Ayub
Khuhro, Pir Ali Mohammed Rashdi, Jethmal Parsram Mir Mohammed Baloch, Jamshed Nausherwan Mehta, Rustam
Khurshid Sidhwa and myself attended these conferences. The British annexed Sindh after a bloody war in 1843 and a
free people were enslaved. Even so, Sindh remained a separate entity for four years under Governor Sir Charles Napier.
In 1847, Sindh was made part of the Bombay Presidency for administrative purposes. The struggle that we launched was
called the movement for independence from Bombay. I confess to the intellectuals of my nation and its intrepid new
generation that since we did not have adequate political acumen and since we were embroiled in problems of an all-India
nature, instead of demanding complete independence for our country, we only demanded that it be made an
autonomous province of India. Indeed, we should have demanded total independence, Let us not commit the error here
of equating Sindh with the other states of India whose rulers had later risen in revolt to sever them from the rest of the
sub-continent as had happened in the case of Hyderabad Deccan, Mysore, Jodhpur, Junagadh, Jaipur, Baroda and
similar other states which were naturally and historically a part of India. In Sindh, the case was totally different.
Through the ages, Sindh had existed as a separate entity parallel with Hind (India). When the struggle was on for the

The Case of Sindh 5