Bloody Peasant Movement of Balochistan, in which dog testimony was accepted

It was the intervening night of December 21 and 22, 1977. Jagirdars besieged the village of Mir Gul Musani in Balochistan. Firing continued even at night. Firing continued from both sides and fear prevailed in the surrounding areas.

The next day the landlords opened fire on the peasants, resulting in the death of five peasants, while several others were injured.

The incident took place in Dera Murad Jamali area of ​​Naseerabad district of Balochistan, after which the farmers raised the banner of rebellion against the landlords and thwarted every attempt by them to grab their lands.

This incident is still fresh in the hearts of the people of Balochistan because this resistance took place during the era of Marshal and General Zia-ul-Haq’s strict laws were also in force. At a time when breaking the law was unthinkable, peasants rising up against powerful landlords became a symbol of resistance.

Important Milestones

Prominent researcher, intellectual and author of various books Dr. Shah Muhammad Marri considers this movement as an important milestone. He said that this movement was a movement of a poor and downtrodden class.

Dr Murri told Independent Urdu that in those days no one dared to answer the landlord but these farmers not only answered but also fought.

He writes in his book ‘People’s History of Balochistan’ volume number three ‘Tribal and Feudal Era’ that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto announced agrarian reforms in the country on March 20, 1972 through Martial Law Regulation 115, in which the limits of land Ownership was determined on the basis of the individual rather than the family.

According to the book: ‘Immediately after the implementation of the Martial Law Regulation Act 1973 for Agrarian Reforms, pit-feder feudal families started operations to evict tribal losers living on pit-feder lands. They also used tactics of tribal warfare besides threatening to bully, trapping in cases, setting fire to houses and cracking canals.

Depicting the situation at that time, Dr Murri writes that ‘on the request of a farmer named Sher Mohammad Chandio, the reform in-charge Javed Ashraf reached a village, where he called everyone. There was an atmosphere of terror. People were reluctant to come, only a few people came.’

The dog’s testimony was accepted

Deputy Commissioner Javed Ashraf pointed to Sher Muhammad and asked: ‘Do you recognize him?’ So people turned a blind eye and refused to recognize him. Sher Muhammad said: ‘They fear the landlord.’

The DC said: ‘I understand that this land is yours, but legally I need two witnesses, but I make a concession to you, just one man to testify that you lived here.’

Sher Muhammad gave people for God. He kept calling the standing people by name, but the people did not even look at him.

Later, Sher Muhammad told the DC that none of them had the courage to testify against me. After a while, Sher Muhammad Chandio’s dog came running from under the bridge and began to crawl at his feet.

Deputy Commissioner Javed Ashraf said: ‘It is unfortunate that no one came forward to testify, but this incident proves that you really lived here. I accept the testimony of this dog and give the plots here in the name of your family.’

The beginning of the resistance

58-year-old Gul Muhammad Mastoi is a resident of Aliabad Bilidi in Pit Feeder area. His village is located at a distance of 30 to 35 km from the village of Gul Musani near the border of Balochistan and Sindh.

In an exclusive interview to Independent Urdu, he told that it was when he was 14 years old and studying in the sixth standard.

Gul Mohammad Mastoi remembers that the news of the farmers’ deaths spread like wildfire throughout the area. they say:

‘The area irrigated by the pit feeder canal along our village was hit by battles during this period. Due to the conflict between peasants and landlords, everyone was affected. When the fighting continued, our family decided to migrate and we moved to Jacobabad, where I completed my schooling. The family members and later Communist Party colleagues informed the details about these events.

This land has been given to us by the government.

Gul Muhammad Mastoi is also a member of the provincial committee of the Communist Party. He said that in this incident, the farmers lost their lives, but they thwarted the efforts of the landlords.

The story goes that in 1972, the government implemented agrarian reforms, under which lands were distributed to landless farmers in 16 and 32 acre plots. Later, landlords tried to transfer these lands to themselves and their people by threatening the farmers, while some farmers returned the lands due to fear.

There is a village of pit feeders situated in the Jadi branch of the Jhadir, called Mir Gul Musani and owned by the Lahri tribes. The farmers of this village refused to give lands to the landlords. He said that this land was given to him by the government and he will not return it.

According to Gul Muhammad: ‘In addition to the Lahri tribes, Jamot, Jamali and Rakhshani tribes live in this area. The feudal lords of the Jamali family first tried to get the land back through the Vaders and Jananes.

‘When they failed in every way and the Lahri tribes were not agreeing somehow, the opposing party decided to launch an armed attack on the village.’

‘It was at that time that martial law was imposed. The democratic government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was over. Zia-ul-Haq had imposed martial law. These landlords, who were members of the People’s Party, later became supporters of Zia-ul-Haq.

It was on the night of 21st and 22nd December 1977 that the Jagirdars besieged the village of Mir Gul Musani. Firing continued even at night. Firing continued from both sides and fear prevailed in the surrounding areas.

‘The next day the landlords opened fire on the farmers as a result of which four local farmers and a farmer from another village were killed, while several farmers were injured. This incident was not uncommon and that is why the news of it spread like wildfire in the entire region.’

The siege of the besiegers

When the feudal lord Mir Gul Musani was trying to seize the land from him by laying siege to the village, the people of other villages came to know and decided to help the farmers. They came here in a large crowd and besieged the landlords.

‘Thus the villagers were under the siege of the landlords and the landlords came under the siege of other villagers. When they saw that there was no way to escape, they sought help from the government.

“Since the government at that time was also in favor of the landlords, the forces came to their aid and they managed to evict them from here.”

Since two tribes were facing each other at that time, one was Lahiri and the other was Jamali, three brothers were also among those killed in the shooting, including the elder brother Rehmatullah, Abdullah and his nephew Zarq Jan. was Abdul Karim Rukhshani was from a nearby village, who came to help him.’

Dr. Shah Muhammad Marri in his book ‘People’s History of Balochistan’ in his tribal and feudal era writes that among the injured were a 12-year-old boy Khair Muhammad and among the youths were Khuda Bakhsh and Hamdan. Five people went missing. On the other hand, in a jirga chaired by Khan of Kalat, the feudal lords announced that one of their army had been wounded.

Communist Party of Peasants’ Aid

Gul Muhammad says that the matter does not end here but it was the beginning. If these farmers were left helpless and helpless, this resistance might have failed, keeping this fear in mind, the Communist Party decided to step forward.

He said that when this incident of firing happened, the landlords started giving it a tribal color instead of farmers and their fight that it was a problem of Lahri and Jamali tribes.

Meanwhile, Sindh Communist Party held a meeting in Karachi, in which it was decided to send a delegation to help the farmers. Under this, a delegation led by Comrade Javed along with Ramzan Memon, Hamida Gangharu, Asifa Rizvi, Dr. Jabbar Khattak and Nazir Abbasi came to Dera Murad Jamali.

Gul Mohammad said that when this delegation arrived here, the situation was tense and the Lahri tribes were in grief because of the death of their people. He first assessed the situation and then decided to go to the affected village, which was opposed by his colleagues in the organization.

‘Since the delegation was supposed to meet the victims, they visited the village despite being forbidden and when they went there was a scene of doom. Four bodies were recovered. The women were screaming and shouting.

‘When the delegation introduced themselves to the villagers, they gave them space and sent the women inside and told them that this is our tribal dispute, we will fight it ourselves.’

Gul Mastoi says that after reviewing the situation, the delegation talked to the leading people of the village that they should not make it a tribal dispute but it is a fight between farmers and landlords and the opposite side is trying to give a tribal color.

Meanwhile, Mir Gul Musani who was not in the village on the day of the incident and was in Shahdad Kot area of ​​Sindh, returned. The delegation also explained to them not to make it tribal. After much effort and persuasion, these people agreed that they would make it a movement, not a tribal conflict.

The Communist Party delegation later decided to go on a hunger strike and camped at DC or Levi’s Chowk in Dera Murad Jamali.

Gul Muhammad says that this was a very tough period and there was a martial law regime, which was supposed to take action against them and what happened was that the forces closed the camp and arrested them all.

He said that after that the Communist Party members including women were sent to Machh Jail, which was considered to be the most dangerous jail at that time. These people were imprisoned for three months.

Gul Muhammad said that in this incident, the women members of the Communist Party, including Asifa Rizvi and Hamida Gangharu, not only tied up the mourning women but also convinced them to use their grief and anger as a power to defeat the landlords. will fight against

According to him: ‘It is difficult to convince someone in a house where fresh bodies have been taken, but they did it.’

He said that during the imprisonment in the jail, Asifa Rizvi tells in her interview that ‘when we were separated during the day. Whenever we were gathered together at night, Hamida Gangharu used to sing revolutionary songs. This would not only pass our time but also create excitement and excitement.’

The movement is not over yet!

Gul Mohammad says that the movement is not over because the fight between farmers and landlords continues and even today farmers are in difficult situations. They do not get everything from their harvest as much as they work hard. This fight is ongoing.

He said that the Communist Party always remembers its sacrificial farmers and this day is celebrated every year for the last 44 years. Their efforts and efforts are saluted.

He said that the special thing about celebrating this day is that we are placing inscriptions on the graves of these farmers so that their names will live forever.

According to him, there was a long series of wars of different tribes taking precedence over each other, then in view of this war and controversy, my family migrated to Jacobabad, Sindh, in order to get education. During our studies there, we got more details about the incident by joining Sathi Barra Sangat, a sub-organization of the Communist Party working on children.