Historical and Mystical lands of Indus Valley
Huge tracts of lands with hardly anyone to come across gives you the impression that you have entered a deserted province as soon as you venture outside the hustling and bustling port city of Karachi towards interior of Sindh. It was my first trip to interior of Sindh after the devastating floods of 2010 and 2011. Though it was not related to floods or DRR anymore rather it was about a project funded by EU and manned by Oxfam Novib (ON) with the help of two local partners (IRC & RDF) and one international partner (BFW). Since the project is unique in the sense that it was neither half cooked nor is it one way traffic like many others I have come across in recent past. That’s why it attracted my most attention and the feeling was awesome because it was aimed at really empowering the youth and craftswomen of a province which seems to have invested so heavily in its few urban centers while completely ignoring the teeming youth and female artisans.
Anyway before giving you more details about the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) project and its EQUATE component, let me narrate you a bit about the land, its people, its crafts and all the fairytales attached to this land known by names like Valley of Mehran, Indus Valley, citadel of Indus civilization and most recently Sindhu desh.
But just like history of Sindh—dating as far back as to 3000BC—which has changed like the constantly patterns of shifting sands, the bumpy but continuous National Highway takes you through various topographies, historical places of archival value, remains of the oldest civilization, mystical Goths (villages), stand-out shrines. But it’s not a journey for a weak hearted because every inch of this great land you will have to come across staggering poverty. Since the life source of this entire valley, River Indus had swelled out of its banks in many parts of interior Sindh, therefore, finding submerged houses rather entire muddy villages, and hunger-stricken young and old souls looking at you with a searching blinking eyes as if you have come to tell them some good news or some good place to get some food, shelter or fodder for their remaining cattle. And if by any chance you have read some writers like Al Beruni (Kitabul Hind)--a Persian historian--you just cannot resist the feeling that you are passing through the citadel of many glorious rajas, maharajas, Sufis, mystic folklores, and of course the mighty Indus.
Especially while passing through the barren lands laid down like a patterned carpet on both side of the snaky National Highway en-route to Hyderabad, it’s hard not to recall to mind Kitabul Hind in which Beruni has described not only the civilizations of Mehran Valley (also known as Indus Valley) but has given detailed description of the land, its people, their living standards and great rulers who controlled it since 3000 BC. It http://www.equatepak.org/index.php/blog/32-historical-and-mystical-lands-of-indus-valleyis not very often that you have to re-live the history by being there where once Turks,Pashtuns, Mughals. Habbari, Soomra, Samma, Arghun and Baloch dynasties ruled. Amidst all this how can we all ignore the Abbasyid and Ummayid taking over the reign of this great land to establish their Islamic sultanate and control its rich resources and diversified population towards middle of eighth century? Though in our school days, we did not come across that face of Sindh’s history as all we were taught to memorize by heart at the mat-schools of Kashmir and then in Punjab that Sindh’s history starts with the landing of Mohammad Bin Qasim in 712 when he came to end the miseries of the hapless people only after hearing the cry of a virgin lady who was supposedly kidnapped by the local Hindu Raja. Without going into the merits and demerits of such a lopsided curriculum or educationists, what I recalled to my mind while passing by (and stopping for a while as well) the shrines of great Sufi revolutionist Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Sachal Sarmast or even Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai and Jhulay Lal. Indepenent historians have recorded a huge influx of all these legendary figures into Sindh soon after Abbasyids captured Sindh in their quest for more power and more resources.
--To be continued--
But just like history of Sindh—dating as far back as to 3000BC—which has changed like the constantly patterns of shifting sands, the bumpy but continuous National Highway takes you through various topographies, historical places of archival value, remains of the oldest civilization, mystical Goths (villages), stand-out shrines. But it’s not a journey for a weak hearted because every inch of this great land you will have to come across staggering poverty. Since the life source of this entire valley, River Indus had swelled out of its banks in many parts of interior Sindh, therefore, finding submerged houses rather entire muddy villages, and hunger-stricken young and old souls looking at you with a searching blinking eyes as if you have come to tell them some good news or some good place to get some food, shelter or fodder for their remaining cattle. And if by any chance you have read some writers like Al Beruni (Kitabul Hind)--a Persian historian--you just cannot resist the feeling that you are passing through the citadel of many glorious rajas, maharajas, Sufis, mystic folklores, and of course the mighty Indus.
Especially while passing through the barren lands laid down like a patterned carpet on both side of the snaky National Highway en-route to Hyderabad, it’s hard not to recall to mind Kitabul Hind in which Beruni has described not only the civilizations of Mehran Valley (also known as Indus Valley) but has given detailed description of the land, its people, their living standards and great rulers who controlled it since 3000 BC. It http://www.equatepak.org/index.php/blog/32-historical-and-mystical-lands-of-indus-valleyis not very often that you have to re-live the history by being there where once Turks,Pashtuns, Mughals. Habbari, Soomra, Samma, Arghun and Baloch dynasties ruled. Amidst all this how can we all ignore the Abbasyid and Ummayid taking over the reign of this great land to establish their Islamic sultanate and control its rich resources and diversified population towards middle of eighth century? Though in our school days, we did not come across that face of Sindh’s history as all we were taught to memorize by heart at the mat-schools of Kashmir and then in Punjab that Sindh’s history starts with the landing of Mohammad Bin Qasim in 712 when he came to end the miseries of the hapless people only after hearing the cry of a virgin lady who was supposedly kidnapped by the local Hindu Raja. Without going into the merits and demerits of such a lopsided curriculum or educationists, what I recalled to my mind while passing by (and stopping for a while as well) the shrines of great Sufi revolutionist Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Sachal Sarmast or even Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai and Jhulay Lal. Indepenent historians have recorded a huge influx of all these legendary figures into Sindh soon after Abbasyids captured Sindh in their quest for more power and more resources.
--To be continued--
