90-year-old recalls compassionate Talpurs of Khairpur

SUKKUR: Suhbat Ali Lashari, a 90-year-old resident of Saadat nieghbourhood, Kot Bangalow, district Khairpur, is forced into begging to purchase utilities for his grandchildren. Lashari highlights the plight of thousands like him forced into harsh circumstances without any help coming from the government.

Talking to The News, Suhbat Ali Lashari said he is not a professional beggar and only on Wednesdays and Thursdays, he begs for his grandchildren of his late son Roshan Ali, who died leaving behind two daughters, three sons and a widow. He said in the two days he manages to earn Rs 800-Rs 900 and with that money he purchases utility items for the entire week and returns the next week when the stock exhausts.

Talking to the scribe, he recalled the days of Khairpur state that was ruled by the Talpur dynasty from 1783 till acceding to the Dominion of Pakistan in 1955. Lashari said Syed Ramzan Shah, father of former chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, used to get Rs15 as Horse Allowance from the Khairpur State. He said his grandfather Karim Baksh was a cook in the court of state’s ruler H.H. Mir Sir Faiz Muhammad Khan 1 Talpur.

Ramzan Shah’s household was considered amongst Khairpur state’s more influential and educated families. Lashari said in his youth he used to earn Rs2.5 as daily wages for labour when the One-Unit buildings were being constructed in Khairpur. He said he was among those who visited Lahore alongwith the caravan of the state ruler His Highness Mir Ali Nawaz Naz for reconciling with Lahore’s nightingale, Iqbal Begum, aka Balli Begum. The love story of Mir Ali Nawaz Naz and Iqbal Begum, also known as Bali Begum, is legendary in Sindh. Soon after their wedding in 1922 with Bali Begum, Naz ordered that a palace be constructed for Bali Begum known as Dilshad Manzil, considered the Taj Mahal of Sindh, which remained a subject of litigation for quite sometime. The Talpurs erected several palaces including one known as the Kot Bungalow near Kot Diji by the Sohrabani lineage of Talpurs. It is a magnificient building housing Sheesh Mahal built by Jodhpuri and Sindhi artisans that decorated the walls and the roof with very fine murals. He said that he visited the managers of Kot Bungalow and several others for help but was turned away.

Narrating the events at the time of Independence, he said a minister had allotted some of the evacuee properties of Hindus at that time to those coming from India and described the events of Independence led by Quaid-e-Azam. He said the grandfather of the current Divisional Commissioner Muhammed Abbas Balouch, happened to be Sobidar Khair Muhammed Jatt during the reign of Mir Ali Nawaz Khan. Jatt was considered to be guardian of the poor and the needy. Similarly, he said there was a similarly kind-natured judge belonging to the Phulpoto community. Lashari tearfully remembered the Khairpur state under Talpurs, who had compassion for the needy, had established a “Sirai Ghanwar Khan,” (inn) providing free food to the needy. Suhbat Ali Lashari said the pressing circumstances at the twilight of his life have thrown him in the dirt to beg to feed his grandchildren. Defeated by desperation and despondency, Lashari showcases the plight of millions others across the country who only yearn for an institutional support to find their dignity — not charity.