Clansmen hinder rehabilitation of 18th century tomb
By Our Correspondent
2015-08-13
LARKANA: A group of unruly clansmen, believed to be henchmen of encroachers, have been harassing the workers engaged for the repair and restoration work at the Shah Baharo tomb, the organisation that has undertaken the job said on Wednesday.
The Endowment Fund Trust (EFT), working for the preservation of heritage sites in Sindh, has recently started the work to restore the 18th century monument in its original state for which its has earmarked an amount of Rs30 million, according to Ishtiaque Ansari, the organisation`s regional coordinator.
EFT site supervisor Meeral Abro told Dawn on Wednesday that the work had been started on July 18 and was at full swing until Aug 10, when some people started harassing labourers.
Claiming that the miscreants seem to be henchmen of the local Magsi clan, Mr Abro said they tried to kidnap a labourer, Jabbar Kerio, on Tuesday night but had to flee when other people intervened.
Mr Abro said the the matter had been communicated to the highups. Mr Abro said he, through a letter to the EFT regional coordinator in Hyderabad, informed him that some Magsi clansmen had already encroached upon portions of the graveyard falling within the heritage site.
`They are not only hindering the [repair and rehabilitation] process but also issuing threats to get the work stopped,` the letter said.
Jamil Gaad, chairman of the Sorth Saqafati Sangat (SSS) another local organisation working for the preservation of cultural and heritage sites in Sindh, said that encroachers had grabbed three acres of the graveyard`s 40-acre land.
Meanwhile, the EFT regional coordinator told Dawn on Wednesday that the Larkana commissioner had been apprised of the matter of harassment and threats.
He claimed that the commissioner had offered setting up of a police post at the site and directed the assistant commissioner to look after the EFT team.