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Tando Bago Tando Bago ( sd, ٽنڊو باگو) is a town and union council in Badin District, Sindh, Pakistan. The ''Tehsil'' (township) of Tando Bago had a population of 321,818 in 2008. The Sindh government operates approximately 589 schools in Tando Bago. ...

Badin District The Badin District ( sd, ضلعو بدين, ur, ) is a district in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The total area of the district is 6,726 square kilometers.

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

(now

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

) , death_date = , death_place = , nationality = , movement = Hari Movement , organization= , other_names = , known_for = , spouse = , partner = , children = , occupation = Revolutionary leader,

freedom fighter A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objectives ...

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...

Mai Bakhtawar Lashari Shaheed (Sindhi: مائي بختاور لاشاري شهيد) was a farm worker who was murdered during a landlord/tenant confrontation. Her death helped prompt legal changes to improve the rights of farmers.

Early age

Bakhtawar was born in 1880 in the village of Dodo Khan Sarkani, near Roshan Abad, Taluka Tando Bago,

Badin District The Badin District ( sd, ضلعو بدين, ur, ) is a district in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The total area of the district is 6,726 square kilometers.

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

, in what was then

. She was the only child of Murad Khan Lashari. In 1898, Bakhtawar married Wali Mohammad, a peasant working on the Ahmadi Estate. The couple had four children: Mohammad Khan, Lal Bukhsh, Mohammad Siddique and daughter Rasti.

Movement for peasants' rights

Before the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

, the agricultural population in Sindh was divided in two classes. The landlords owned lands that had been awarded to them by the

Hindu Raj The Hindu Raj ( ur, , translation: "Hindu rule" in Sanskrit) is a mountain range in northern Pakistan, between the Hindu Kush and the Karakoram ranges. Its highest peak is Koyo Zom, 6,872 m (22,546 ft). Other notable peaks include Buni Zom, ...

as political bribes, The peasants worked the land, receiving a small reward for their labors. At the time of yield, the landlords would seize most of the yield, leaving a small amount of crop to the farmers. Bakhtawar's village was the property of an Ahmadi who owned forty thousand acres of land, known as the “Ahmadi Estate”. An agrarian activist,

Hyder Bux Jatoi Hyder Bux Jatoi ( sd, حيدر بخش جتوئي; ur, ), 7 October 1901 – 21 May 1970) was a revolutionary, leftist, peasant leader in Sindh, Pakistan. He is known as "Baba-e-Sindh" (Father of Sindh). He was also a Sindhi writer and poet ...

, called for a conference of farmers to demand that they receive a half share of the yield. The Hari Conference in started in Judho on 22 June 1947. Close to ten thousand farmers and workers went to conference, including all the men in Dodo Khan Sarkani.

Confrontation

On 22 June 1949, the last day of the Hari conference, the Ahmadi Muslims Qudiani decided to seize 1,20,000 kilograms of flour from Dodo Khan Sarkani while the village men were still absent. When the Ahmadi Muslims and their men arrived at the village, they were confronted by Bakhtawar, an old disabled man and other women. The villagers asked the Ahmadi Muslims to wait on taking the flour until the village men returned from the conference. In a rage, Choudhry Saeedullah and his manager Choudhry Khalid ordered one their men to shoot Mai Bakhtawar was killed instantly . Her body was taken to town

Samaro Samaro ( ur, ) is a tehsil in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The town is the headquarters of a tehsil (an administrative subdivision) of Umarkot District. History During British rule the town was renamed Jamesabad (literally "Jamestown" - ...

for postmortem rites and buried there.

Success after death

In 1950, a law was passed by the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provin ...

that forced landlords to have of the yield to the farmers. Saeedullah, the nephew of then Pakistani foreign minister

Muhammad Zafarullah Khan Chaudhry Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan ( ur, ‎; 6 February 1893 – 1 September 1985) was a Pakistani jurist and diplomat who served as the first Foreign Minister of Pakistan. After serving as foreign minister he continued his international ...

, and Khalid were sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for killing of Mai Bakhtwar by Court.

Acknowledgements

* Thar International Airport in islamkot was named after Mai Bakhtawar *First cadet college for girls in

Shaheed Benazirabad Nawabshah ( sd, نوابشاھ, ur, ) is a tehsil and headquarters of the Shaheed Benazirabad District of Sindh province, Pakistan. This city is situated in the middle of Sindh province. It is the 27th largest city in Pakistan. Nawabshah Tehsi ...

was also named after Bakhtawar. *

Government of Sindh The Government of Sindh ( sd, حڪومت سنڌ) ( ur, ) is the provincial government of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Its powers and structure are set out in the provisions of the 1973 Constitution, in which 30 Districts of 7 Divisions un ...

has named Bakhtawar on concerned Union Council of Kunri Taluka *Two schools are also named after her. *Government and non government organizations are awarding their best performance awards on the name of Mai Bakhatawar Lashari Shaheed''.

References