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How Free Sindh was forced to be India

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We all know how Sindh elected to become part of the Pakistan federation in 1947 at the end of British Raj in India. Lot of song and dance is made about this 1947 "divorce" from British India but ever wonder how Sindh became "married" to British India in the first place?

Well the forced marriage between British India and Sindh lasted exactly 104 years. It was in 1843 when independant Sindh Emirate under the rule of Amirs of Talpur was at gunpoint forced into wedlock with British India by Gen. Charles Napier's British Army at Battle of Miani.

The interesting thing about 1843 is how the Sindhi's displayed valour and indomitable spirit. Many fought to death rather than surrender. Clearly the Sindhi's had no intention of being enslaved into British India without a fight.

The Battle of Miani (or Battle of Meeanee) was a battle between British forces under Sir Charles Napier and the Talpur Amirs of Sindh, of today's Pakistan. The Battle took place on 17 February 1843 at Miani, Sindh in what is now Pakistan.

The primary causes of the battle were that the British desired to expand their British Raj and the British General Charles Napier's ambitions. The General had held previous position as Governor of the Greek island of Kefalonia with very limited scope for glory and honours. Napier moved his army aggressively from the East India Company's Bombay presidency area and entered the Sindh border. Negotiations ensued between the Talpur Amir in Hyderabad and Napier. An agreement was reached after the Amir gave significant concessions. Napier then started to move his army back towards Bombay and the Amir disbanded his army that had been mobilised. However, Napier was firmly determined in conquering Sindh and Hyderabad. Whilst moving towards Bombay and giving the impression of keeping the agreement that had been reached, he suddenly turned back towards Hyderabad on the pretext of hostile intentions by the Amir and marched with great speed towards the capital.


The Talpur were forced to quickly re-mobilise their army but could not do so effectively as the army was mostly raised on a voluntary basis in times of war and most of the Talpur Sardars (Lords) had returned home. Nevertheless, an army of around 8,000 - mostly cavalry - was raised and assembled at the battle ground of Miani. Disastrously for the Talpur another 8,000 troops under Mir Sher Muhammad Talpur (Sher-e-Sindh or "Lion of Sindh") failed to reach the battle ground in time. Napier had already successfully isolated the Amir of Khairpur (thereafter known as the great traitor by the Sindhi) by bribery and title. Thus the Talpur army assembled at Miani represented approximately a third of the Talpur military strength in Sindh. Although the East India Company later gave its troops numbered in the battle as around 2,800, contemporary Talpur records indicated the armies were approximately equal in numbers (around 8–10 thousand each) with the British having around 2,500 European officers and soldiers and the balance comprising Indian sepoys.


The difference in military technology and tactics was enormous. The East India Company's army was led by professionally trained British officers and troops and the Indian Sepoys were also well trained and disciplined. They were armed with smoothbore percussion or flintlock muskets which were accurate to 100–150 yards and supported by modern artillery. In contrast, the Talpur army comprised mostly cavalry armed with muskets, spears and swords and some old artillery pieces acquired from Persia. The tactic was the favoured Talpur cavalry charge. Contemporary records indicate that the Talpur army's morale was very high with the battle slogan being "we will die but not give up Sindh". Indeed the Talpur died in thousands, in 4–5 hours of carnage, the Talpur cavalry charged in wave after wave and was mostly cut down long before it could reach British lines by rifle and artillery fire.


It did eventually reach British lines and, according to Napier himself in his book on the battle (Conquest of Sindh), he had to ride amongst his officers and troops to stop them from falling back in disarray in the face of the ferocity of the Talpur who had reached the British lines. Of the Talpur army of 8,000 at Miani, contemporary Talpur and British records show that 5–6 thousand Talpur were killed (62–75%) whilst attacking the British lines. Reliable sources put the British casualties as 256 as kept by the East India company's paymasters while according to Talpur records, the Company's army suffered 3,000 dead (although Napier gives a much lower casualty figure as he does for his total force.


The Sindhi and Baloch fighting the British showed incredible courage. They fought not to be part of British India. The British fought to make Sindh part of British India. This is something people need to remember when next the comment "British divided us" comes up. The British united "us" by force. Not the other way around. Sindhi's fought to not be united with British India. But the story does not end here.

Later, on March 24, 1843, Mir Sher Muhammad Khan Talpur, reached Hyderabad with his private army of around 8,000 and tried to liberate Sindh from the occupation of the British East India Company forces. He sent Napier a message giving the General 48 hours to vacate the Hyderabad Fort. Napier who was firmly entrenched in Hyderabad Fort and had recently been reinforced from Bombay replied by firing his artillery from the Fort walls. Mir Sher Muhammad Khan Talpur was subsequently defeated in the Battle of Dubba and thereafter conducted a guerrilla war for ten years before he eventually surrendered. The East India Company gave him amnesty as per agreement.

The amirs of Hyderabad suffered great loss, their fort was plundered, and amirs themselves were exiled to Rangoon, Burma – never to see Sindh again. Napier's post-conquest occupation of Sindh was absolute. Fifteen years later when the Indian Mutiny or 'War of Independence' in 1857 broke out, no shots were fired in Sindh. His manipulations of the history of his interactions with the Talpur dynasty and the history of the battle were likewise absolute and designed to glorify his position. However, debates that took place in the British Parliament for the post-conquest show the degree of concern that existed in UK on the action he had taken in Sindh.

The battle honours of "Meeanee" and "Hyderabad" are shared by the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment and a number of Indian regiments, whereas that of "Scinde" is borne by the Cheshire Regiment alone.

Casualties

Five thousand Sindhis were killed or wounded while fighting the British.[3] The fallen Amirs of Sindh consisted of Mir Nasir Khan Talpur, his nephews Mir Shadad Khan Talpur, Mir Hussein Ali Khan Talpur, Mir Sher Muhammad Talpur, the Subedar of Hyderabad, Mir Rustam Khan Talpur, Nasir Talpur, Wali Mohammad Khan Talpur of Khairpur. Others such as Mir Ali Murad Khan Talpur was taken aboard the sloop and exiled to Burma.[4]

A British journal said of the captive Sindhi Amirs: "The Amirs as being the prisoners of the state are maintained in strict seclution; they are described as Broken-Hearted and Miserable men, maintaining much of the dignity of fallen greatness, and without any querulous or angry complainngs at this unallivable source of sorrow, refusing to be comforted".[4


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Miani Battle Monument


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Roll of Honour - Cheshire Regiment



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Sir Charles Napier - The Conquerer of Sindh ~Or the "Shaitan" to the Sindhi's

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The defeated Talpurs of Sindh



It would take another 104 years of British rule for the Sindhi's under G.M Syed (image below) to undo the enslavement by the "shaitan" Charles Napier in 1843 who had forced Sindh to merge with Bombay Presidency. GM Syed oversaw exactly 100 years later the "resolution in the Sindh Assembly in 1943 calling for 'the creation of Pakistan as a union of independent states"

“This House recommends to Government to convey to His Majesty’s Government through His
Excellency the Viceroy, the sentiments and wishes of the Muslims of this Province that whereas Muslims of India are a separate nation possessing religion, philosophy, social customs, literature, traditions, political and economic theories of their own, quite different from those of the Hindus, they are justly entitled to the right, as a single, separate nation, to have independent national states* of their own, carved out in the zones* where they are in majority in the sub-continent of India"

* Note the use of plural.

Sindh Assembly Resolution 1943 > http://www.pas.gov.pk/uploads/downloads/Pakistan Resolution moved by G M Sayeed.pdf


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The British Cheshire Regiment - under Sir Charles Napier that forced Sindh to be British India. Note the "Scinde" on the battle honours.

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Next time you want to know why Sindh was part of British India in 1947- shout "India ka matlab kya - Cheshire Regiment"

Some of the British soldiers killed in making Sindh a part of India. For those who cry about the "partition of mata India" need to perhaps thank British soldiers like Corporal John Bell who laid his life down in making British India.

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Battle of Mianee ~ Hyderabad, 24th March 1843

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This is what British India looked like before Sindh was conquered (below). Before 1843 no part of what is now Pakistan was united with British India as can be seen on the map.


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End Note: I have read Charles Napier's account of the battle. Reading it left me with new found deep respect for Sindhi and the Baloch. They fought like tigers and lost only because of superior weapons and discipline of the British. The shear gall of Mir Sher Talpur to who sent a message when all was lost to Napier "giving the General 48 hours to vacate the Hyderabad Fort" speaks volumes of the courage and temerity of the Sindhi's.
 
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The Battle of Meeanee, 17 February 1843
Edward Armitage (1817–1896)


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I know of at least two Regiments of the old British Indian Army & now the Indian Army who celebrate Meanee Day each year.

These are The Scinde Horse & 5th Battalion The Rajputana Rifles ( Napiers).

The famous Slogan Marsoon Marsoon, Sindh na Daisun was originally coined by Talpur Baloch Rulers of Sindh

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The great Talpur Baluch !

The Sindhi warcry.. "Marsun Marsun-- Sindh na Desu" - We will die .. We will die but not give up Sindh was immortalised by the like of General Mohammad Hosh Sheedi .. The African general of the Talpurs.. Who fell in the Battle of Dubba.

The Battle of Meeanee, 17 February 1843
Edward Armitage (1817–1896
The famous Slogan Marsoon Marsoon, Sindh na Daisun was originally coined by Talpur Baloch Rulers of Sindh

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That portrait is of General Mohammad Hosh Sheedi .. An African general of Talpur Dynasty.
 
There were hardly any grounds for invasion and conquest of Sindh. Sindh was simply annexed by British so that it can be used as a military base for the invasion of Afghanistan. Kalat was also also invaded for same reason.
 
What followed after the battle of Meanee ..

For the first time in the history of British India, the expansion of the empire led to a mutiny of the sepoys. Sinde became a British province, and they lost the extra allowances which had been granted to them while on active service in an enemy’s country. The sepoy could not comprehend why he should be deprived of any portion of his pay because he had assisted in adding a new province to the dominions of his masters, and he became insubordinate. In February, 1844, the 34th Native Infantry, which had been warned for service in Sinde, refused to march without the additional allowances granted to troops proceeding beyond the Indus. The 7th Bengal cavalry, and several companies of Bengal artillery followed the example on the line of march, and were ordered back to their former stations. The 69th and the 4th, which were ordered in their stead to the frontier, refused to embark in the boats provided for them at Ferozepore. The 64th at Loodiana exhibited equal reluctance for the service, and was countermarched to Benares. On reaching Umbala, the native officers came forward and assured the General commanding the division that the regiment had thought better of it, and was ready to proceed to Sinde. The Commander-in-chief, elated with this return of loyalty, imprudently determined to recompense it by a promise of higher pay and pension, and greater indulgences of furlough; but when the regiment arrived at Moodkee, the men broke out in open mutiny, and endeavoured to seize the colours, but were induced by the flattery of the commandant to resume their march. Two days after, the despatch of the Adjutant-General which announced the concessions made by the Commander-in-chief, under the impression that the corps was animated with a feeling of loyalty, was received in camp; but though it was then in a state of complete rebellion, the weak Colonel not only translated the letter into Hindostanee and circulated it among the sepoys, but aggravated the imprudence already committed by promising the batta they had received under General Pollock in Afghanistan.

On the arrival of the regiment at Shikarpore, the extra allowances, to which the sanction of the Government of India had never been obtained, were withheld, and the men again broke out into mutiny. The station was under the command of General Hunter, an officer held in the highest estimation throughout .the native army, but he was unable to restore discipline and was openly insulted and hustled on the parade. The sepoys affirmed that they had been allured to Sinde by false pretences, that they had been promised “Pollock’s batta “but had received eight rupees instead of twelve. As there was unfortunately too much reason for this complaint, he marched the regiment back to the Indus, and agreed to condone the offence of all but the ringleaders. The mutiny was hushed up, and the Colonel cashiered.

Finding it impracticable to garrison Sinde with a Bengal force, the Government turned to the Madras army which had never manifested any hesitation to embark on foreign service. But the Madras army was not free from the taint of insubordination; and, during the previous six years, there had been repeated instances of mutiny on various occasions, and at more than one station. The 47th was under orders for Moulmein, a station across the bay on the Tenasserim coast, where the sepoys had always enjoyed extra allowances. It was determined to change their destination and embark them for Bombay on their way to Sinde, with the promise of the same additional pay they had enjoyed when crossing the sea. The assurance thus given by the Governor in ignorance of the regulations of the Bengal army, was of no validity, and the men, finding on their arrival at Bombay that their expectations were disappointed, broke out in open mutiny on parade. The leaders were placed in confinement, and a small advance of money was served out which kept down the spirit of resistance, but it was deemed hazardous again to attempt the experiment of despatching Madras regiments to Sinde.

The province was made over to the Bombay army, and satisfactory arrangements were made regarding the allowances of the troops. These repeated explosions clearly demonstrated that the feeling of subordination was gradually becoming relaxed in the minds of the sepoys, and afforded a premonition of that climax of mutiny which, thirteen years later, swept away the whole of the Bengal army.


Source :
John Clark Marshman – The History of India from the Earliest Period to the Close of Lord Dalhousie’s Administration. – 1867.
 
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