here is a common perception, conditioned to some extent by the vicissitudes of colonial modernity, that Sufis are pacifists, accommodating and averse to violence. Sufism has often been described as an apolitical and tolerant version of Islam that seeks purification of the soul for internal as well as external peace. After 9/11, some think tanks such as Rand Corporation and the Heritage Foundation and academicians from several Western universities argued that Muslim states should promote moderate Sufi orders to tone down the influence of outfits in Muslim polities that were popularising violent ways to enforce a particular understanding of Islam. However, examples abound in history of Sufis practicing and justifying violence as an ethical form of struggle towards attainment of righteousness.

Manan Ahmad Asif, in his perceptive book The Loss of Hindustan¸ argues that “colonisation refuses the colonised access to their own past.” This is done primarily by imposing a colonial language that retards the capacity of indigenous languages to represent reality. The colonials and neo-colonials have been arguing that the languages of the colonised lack ‘technical’ and ‘scientific’ vocabulary. Resultantly, “the colonised face a diminished capacity to represent their past in categories other than those given to them in a European language, or provided to them in an imperial archive,” write Asif. Hence, the discipline of history becomes a tool of colonising and resistant to the demands of the colonised.

The Pirs Pagaro belonged to the Sarwari Qadri Sufi order that is a branch of the Qadri Sufi order founded by Abdul Qadir Jilani who had settled in Baghdad where he became a great Islamic scholar and Sufi adept. Unlike some other Sufi orders, Qadris seek active engagement in social and political affairs. The Pagaro Pirs played an important role in permeating teachings of this order in Sindh and surrounding areas, blending Sufism with political and military resistance particularly against the colonial state during the British Raj.

The Hur movement of Sindh was a significant anti-colonial resistance movement against the British rule in India led by Pagaro Pirs of Pir Jo Goth during the 19th and 20th Centuries. Hur means ‘free.’ The movement was driven primarily by murids (followers) of Pir Pagaro, a lineage of spiritual and political leaders in Sindh with significant following in some areas of the Punjab and Balochistan. The movement started with opposition to the British government’s policies that disrupted local traditional and customary governance, transformed land ownership and dislodged religious traditions. Among these pirs, the 6th Pir Pagaro, Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi II, emerged as a leading figure during the movement in the 1930s and 1940s by enlisting, training and organising a significant guerilla force.

The movement employed diverse means of resistance including armed struggle, derailment of trains, attacks on police stations and targeting of colonial officials to sabotage the imperial governance. The Hurs, unlike the traditional means of warfare, used guerilla tactics. Exhausted, the colonial state declared Sindh a ‘disturbed area’ and resorted to imposition of martial law in 1940s. Eventually, thousands of Hurs were hounded, captured, tried and executed. Many were sent to live in concentration camps.

This movement was aimed at reclaiming indigenous control over the land and governance. A unique feature of the movement was its combining of political and spiritual aspects under the leadership of Pagaros.

The Hur movement can only be analysed in an anti-colonial perspective although the British tried to criminalise this struggle. It became a symbol of Sindhi resistance to the Raj. The Pir Pagaro and his followers saw the colonial state as foreign oppressors who had usurped their traditional way of life. Therefore, the movement was a struggle to reclaim indigenous control over the land and governance. A unique feature of the movement was its combining of political and spiritual aspects. Unlike some elitist political parties, the movement had a grassroots following drawing strength from religious and cultural identity and anti-colonial resistance rather than collaboration.

Although the movement necessitated asymmetrical combat given the massive resources and organisation of the colonial state, its strategies of resistance aligned with many other instances of anti-colonial struggles such as the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya where local forces used guerilla tactics against superior militaries of colonial powers. The British labelled practitioners of such tactics as ‘criminals’ and ‘terrorists.’ Similar criminalisation and de-legitimisation had been evident in dealing with the Khilafat Movement and the Ghadar Movement.

In 1942, the British government passed the Hur Act. It allowed the authorities to detain them without trial and punish anyone suspected of supporting Hurs. Mass arrests were carried out resulting in thousands of people being killed or imprisoned. The British forces used scorched earth tactics by burning villages suspected of supporting the movement and displacing entire communities. Local informers were heavily rewarded for providing strategic information to track Hurs. Special intelligence units were raised and deployed in the area. Captured, a large number of Hurs were sent to Andaman Islands, a penal colony of the British.

To the dismay of his followers, Pir Sibghatullah Rashdi II, was executed by the British in 1943. His followers were brutally repressed. His burial site was not disclosed to prevent his grave from becoming a shrine and a symbol of resistance. His sons were exiled to England to weaken the leadership and disrupt the continuity of the struggle.

After independence, the government of Pakistan lifted the British-imposed ban, rehabilitated the Hurs and acknowledged their legitimate anti-colonial struggle. The Pir’s sons were allowed to return to the country and resume leadership of the community.

Anti-colonial movements like the Hurs’ contributed to the broader struggle for freedom even though these operated outside the mainstream nationalist politics. The political legacy of Hurs has continued and recently led to the foundation of Pakistan Muslim League (Functional). The Hur Jamaat remains a significant religious, social and political force in Sindh.

Dr Muhammad Abrar Zahoor heads the History Department at University of Sargodha. He has worked as a research fellow at Royal Holloway College, University of London. He can be reached at abrar.zahoor@hotmail.com His X handle: @AbrarZahoor1.