A Season for Martyrs
Author: Bina Shah
Publisher: Speaking Tiger
Price: Rs. 350
A season for Martyrs by Bina Shah is a brilliant book which tells the history of Sindh, a province of Pakistan. She mixes myth with history and the personal with the political. She presents picture of Sindh by narrating past with its entire glorious spiritual, cultural and political heritage. She also narrates today’s Sindh, as seen through the eyes of a young tv journalist Ali Sikandar, who is an urban Sindhi. These two are directly connected. Sindh’s glorious history continues to influence the current young activists. The composite culture is influencing new breed of activists. The two are indelibly connected. Contemporary Sindh is the result of the Sufi saints, the Pirs, the peasants, the poets, the kings and queens, Hindus, Kalhora and Talpur, and the British rulers.
Author intertwined threads from the past with Ali Sikandar’s story to recreate the modern Sindhi experience. Sindh has cities like Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana etc and it also has deserts. Lives in the desert villages are most difficult. Hindu community also has a sizeable presence in cities as well as in rural areas. Sindhis are conscious about their past. Author by using history and the modern story presents a true picture of Sindh. People affected by hardships and sufferings speak against the brutal dictators. Young activists talks of peoples’ resistance.
The book begins with Karachi of 1843 and ends with Rawalpindi on December 27 2007. It was on 27th December 2007 former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. Rawalpindi is a garrison city with army headquarters. Again it was in Rawalpindi her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged by then dictator Zia ul Haq on April 4 1979. It was here, the first PM of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan was shot dead by an Afghan from the Zadran tribe when he was about to make an announcement at the Municipal park. The park was later renamed after him. It was in this Liaquat Bagh Park; Benazir Bhutto addressed her last election meeting. Benazir was assassinated immediately after meeting was over. The book revolves primarily around last phase of Benazir i.e. the of her return to Karachi on October 18 2007 to her assassination on December 27 2007.
The author narrates details of Benazir’s last phase and movement for the restoration of judiciary through the eyes of Ali Sikandar. He belonged to a pir and feudal family. As a journalist, Ali covered Benazir’s return to Karachi. He was dissatisfied with his work and elite lifestyle of his Karachi friends. He was pained to see sufferings of poor people and farmers. His father Sikandar like many other feudal lords was living with his second wife. Sikandar had offered condolences to young Benazir after her father was hanged. At that time she was in and out of jail and some time under house arrest. Ali was in love with a Hindu girl Sunita. One fine day he goes on leave of absence from his tv job and joins Peoples’ Resistance Movement. It was the time when Pervez Musharraf was the President of Pakistan. Then Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry was suspended and put under house arrest. Movement for the restoration of judiciary was getting wider support.
Peoples’ Resistance Movement organized street plays and agitations supporting Chief Justice. They also organized a rally in the capital city of Islamabad, where they were beaten by police. Salma, a young girl, also joined resistance. She was a medical student and lied to her parents to join Islamabad rally. There was Ferzana and Imran.
Interestingly book has a reference of Sufi shrine of Sehwan when Z A Bhuuto was taken from jail and produced before the Supreme Court in a very weak condition. In February this shrine was attacked by a suicide bomber in which more than 90 people were killed. The book narrates,” when he (Bhutto) stood before the judge, ready to speak, many people did not think he would be strong enough. But then he gripped the sides of the dock and called out for help to Saeen Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, the great Saint of Sehwan…and then he regained his strength, and he was able to speak, and he spoke eloquently, for four days after that.” It indicates the Sufi culture. Sindh was the land of the Sufi saints.
