Tando Wali Muhammad by Waqar and Umul Banin

Complied and added

Tando Wali Muhammad

History and Current Conditions

GROUP-8

By: Waqar Memon and Umul Banin

Tando Wali Muhammad, a medium sized area in the eastern parts of Hyderabad, though it is not so big area but this area has a history, history of disputes, crime, religious unsettlement and many more. This area has suffered and is still suffering from some severe issues. The issues that needed to be address. But to start with, let us discuss the origin of the name of this place.

The word Tando was originated after Talpur Dynasty the time when Talpur’s conquered Sindh. Tando simply means a place where there is a fort. Or it is a place where there are the rulers offices of that time or there is a court where decisions are made, The name Wali Muhammad also belongs to the Talpur Dynasties most prominent name Nawab Wali Muhammad Leghari He got aprestigious and prominent position in the court of Talpur rulers and was Prime Minister of Sindh, during Talpur era (born in 1165 A.H. and died in 1247 A.H.) he was known for his knowledge, wisdom and bravery.

Since the last 50 years this area has been evacuated and populated by different people but Sindhi's have always been the majority nation in this area, where various historical communities like Silawat also known as Sangtarash and Gazdar(Gazdar is an influential family of Silawat community, not the whole community, secondly, they don’t use term Sangtarash for themselves but it is being used for them by educated people like Amils) reside here in Tando Wali Muhammad this community has its own culture traditions that belongs to Rajasthan, Hindustan. They are traditionally associated with the art of architecture, they were also known by the name Sootardhar from the Sanskrit soot meaning a thread, which they kept for measurements.

Over two centuries ago, the community spread from Rajasthan to different parts of Hindustan or migrated to Karachi and Hyderabad. This particular neighborhood Silawat (Parho) began close to 350 years ago (Time period should be checked, I don’t think 350 is correct) and currently has nearly 400 homes with 5,000 inhabitants. The Silawat’s are a Sunni Hanafi Sufism Muslim community, (Traditionally followers of Pir Pagaro) with many particular customs, like the making of joyful public announcement by a common man or woman through beating a dish with a spoon or something loudly for making huge sound that can be heard publicly. In Rajasthan, they speak the Marwari language a separate entity of Hindi. Most educated members of the community are also acquaintedto Urdu. In Sindh, although the community still speaks Marwari, most Silawat now also speak Sindhi, Urdu.(Few personalities like poet Sarwar and active political worker of past Ismail Bholo should be mentioned)

Perhaps, this area has been affected by several disputes over time, the ethnic clash of 1987-88 and religious tension caused a lot of damage to this place specifically for the Hindu Muslim relations after the Babri mosque issue in 1992. (As I remember as a resident, an abounded Temple was damaged because of idols on its façade, though people were living in that, it was on main Bail Khana Road, between Panhwar Masjid and Telephone Exchange)

After the Sindhi Muhajir disputes of 1987-88 many of the Muhajir community left this area and this area was populated by Sindhi community, the community comprised of both Hindu and Muslim Sindhis, but after the demolition of Babri mosque in 1992 the fire that caught the whole country in its grab also affected this area and the religious harmony of this place in particular, many Hindus left their homes after the disputes with Muslim community, the circumstances were not expected to be so worse that Hindu were either forced by Muslim Extremists or the conditions were so worse that they were facing social anxiety and they had no other option they moving peacefully, the places evacuated by the Hindu community were then occupied by the Sindhi community. This evacuation and re population of this area is one of the biggest reasons why most of the property, housesand shops in this area are unregistered and undocumented. Many castes have lived there in the past but now the communities that reside here are Chandio community Samoo community Siyal community Ursani community.

Laal Muhammad Kunbhar, Former resident of this area says “The Kunbhar community also resided here in the past but now they are in countable quantity they have moved partially from here because of the shift of their mud pottery and cutlery business to Kunbharparoo and various other sites.”  Further he added that the Pot business isn’t doing well now a days due to misconception of the people about mud pots. There used to be a huge business of mud pottery and cutlery in this area, run by the Kunbhar community but due to the conditions of the area and peoples resistance against the mud business that has now been moved to Kunbhar Paroo. Besides that business has been on the low ever since.

Although this area has a rich history but there are very few places to visit in the historical perspective. Many of them were demolished or destroyed during all the clashes that took place in this area. However, name a few there are some prominent places of this area like Umer Mosque, Panhwar Mosque, Roshan Jo Pir and the remains of an ancient Hindu Temple.

The business of wheat, cattle used to flourish in this area but due to the uncertain condition of the area peace and law and order.

The political scenario of the area has been quite one sided since the Zia era.(Not from Zia era but much earlier, Lal bin Yousuf of Tando Wali Mohammed was one of the earliest member of PPP and his office was made a PPP office in 1968-69, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto addressed a public meeting in 1970 election campaign, near to Ismailia Jamaat Khan, where nowadays Hotel Al-Imran (Prince Aly Road is located).  Pakistan Peoples Party has been in majority in this area. Perhaps in the Musharraf’s coup, MQM and Tehreek e Khaksar was ruling this area, but that balloon popped in the 2008 elections and ever since Peoples Party has been in overwhelming majority in Tando Wali Muhammad. The current members of national assembly and provincial assemblies in this area are from Pakistan Peoples Party. (This is incorrect both the MPA & MNA are from MQM-Pakistan, in 1993, when MQM boycotted National Assembly elections, Sahibzada Shabbir Hassan Ansari of PML-N won the seat, while in 2002 elections, SahibzadaAbualkhair Zubair of MMA won, PPP never won seat here).

In the past governments two ministers also belonged to this area. One of the most prominent faces of Peoples Party Sindh, Moula Buksh Chandio is a Member of Parliament form this area, similarly current MNA Nuzhat Pathan also belongs to Tando Wali Muhammad despite politicians, deputy director FIA Syed Wasei Haider Shah, DC Sajjad Hyder, Doulat Ram, Dr Ghulam Ali Allana Ex VC, Abdul Salam Khuwaja, Shamshad Khuwaja, Lal Bin Yousuf, Prof. Dr. SaleemChandio, Journalist A. G Chandio(Late), Journalist Ashraf Chandio, Faiz Muhammad Silawat, Jan Muhammad Silawat, Shahdad Silawat are also from Tando Wali Muhammad.

Despite of Pakistan Peoples Party’s over whelming majority in this area there are no such development projects to mention. The roads are very narrow due to which the business is affected badly. The area is heavily crowded in day time. Especially near the channel bridge, Nawabshah bus stop is often jammed with traffic. Two heavy vehicles cannot cross side by side in this area. Traffic jams are very common in this area. people often face delay in reaching their destinations due to the traffic despite reaching about 50 people die in traffic incidents including no way for ambulance or emergency exits, fights, accidents and waiting in sun-heat many accidents occur in this area due to traffic jams.

The biggest issue of this area is the drug cartel that is run in this area. Since the 1960's, the drug supply to all over Hyderabad has been done from this area. Not only Hyderabad but drugs supply to all the neighboring areas like TandoAllahyar, Tando Muhammad Khan, Jamshoro and Kotri is also done from this area, there’s no police evidence of these supplies but according to Khalid (Drug Seller) drugs is being supplied, to better understand this, the drug supplies were dropped when Ali Nawaz Samo was murdered and murderers were sentenced, ratio was as low as 70%, and in 2015 when SSP IrfanBaloch was Half-Frying the criminals the supplies were also dropped and local suppliers were selling on black rates.

The drug business is not new here, and voices have been raised but the cartel is too strong and due to provision of the politicians and police anyone who raised voice against them was put under savior pressure or killed. Take the case of drug activist Ali Nawaz Samoo, who raised his voice against the drug mafia of this area “My grandfather used to go on the streets with loud speaker in his hands to speak out loud with the neighbors and aware them of drugs and the dealers working“ Says Danish Samo.

Ali Nawaz Samoo had to face severe implications; he was trapped in religious issues by the drug mafia and ultimately murdered by the cartel. There was significant ray of hope for this area when the murderers were arrested and sentenced by the court in the charge of murdering Ali Nawaz Samoo. After the arrest of the major drug suppliers in 2000, there was a significant decrease in drug supply in this area as much as 70 percent supplies were dropped.  But last year one the major drug supplier completed his sentence and is back in business. The supply of Cannabis, Tharra, Cocaine and Whiskey is on the rise since last year.

The drug supply is done through addicts, children and women specially Called Kabootar (Pigeons), because they are not traceable. Allegedly the children are blackmailed by video tapes and forced to supply these drugs to people, no any police records have been found on these allegations due to high level of working anonymously without using cellular devices so the addicts are the easiest targets, they supply huge quantities of drugs in return for a handful of cannabis and other drugs. “Kabootars are not traceable, in many cases they do use the cellphones but not with all the deals, they rely on Kabootars more than electronic traceable devices.” Khalid Drugs Seller

Drugs consumption and selling in this particular area is somehow also connected to the geographical structure of TandoWali Muhammad, this area is surrounded by different areas like Hirabad, Market Tower, Memon Society, Khuwaja Colony and Sirreghatwhereas it also have a civil hospital on one side and a government college on the other side therefore it also connects peoples from different communities from rural to urbans, The Market Tower part is a marketplace where one can buy from vegetables to fruits, beef to fish and so on. Although some roads also interact and connect to the center of TandoWali Muhammad, therefore visitors, travelers and passengers need rest of tiredness consequently hotels are also available with further benefits for the need of the person be it women or drugs.

The only way to end this drug cartel is to start the campaigns and highlight the issues on a broader way, after former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s National Action Planin January 2015, SSP IrfanBaloch fought for the crimes and drugs issues, in Baloch’s period the crime ratio was dropped by 80% because of his Half-Fry and Full-Fry policy, and for traffic jams, commissioners and other officials concerned with it should ban the huge trucks in this area or at least make a separate time for the trucks to drive through and water issue is another problem here that could only be solved with the reconstruction of the water supply and its machinery should be upgraded by time the machinery and the water storage is way too short if we measure for the this area.