Sunday, October 19, 2008

Apna Hyderabad



Hyderabad; pronounced [Haidarābād]) is located in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The city was founded in 1768 by Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro upon the ruins of a Mauryan fishing village along the bank of the Indus known as Neroon Kot.Formerly the capital of Sindh, it serves as the headquarters of the district of Hyderabad. Before the creation of Pakistan, it was known as the Paris of India, for its roads used to be washed with perfumed rose-water every day and sandalwood incense would linger the air.
The political boundaries stage the city as a district and the region has seen major political turmoil. From the battles fought against the British occupation to the civilian unrest in the 1980s, the city has lost its glory of past and much of its cultural and architectural heritage lies in tattered ruins.
Hyderabad is a hot and humid city in the south of the nation and has been a staging point for literary campaigns particularly oriented towards the Sindhi language and a birthplace of a few influential poets and Sufi dervishes. Rich with culture and tradition, the city is the largest bangle producer in the world and serves as a transit between the rural and the urban Sindh.
The city is also known for its medical and educational institutions. This is a second largest city in sindh but there's no any educational university. Student mostly go for higher education to District Jamshoro in Sindh University.

History-Hyderabad


Hyderabad is a city built on three hillocks cascading over each other. Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro of the Kalhora Dynasty founded the city in 1768 over the ruins of Neroon Kot (meaning the place of Neroon) , a small fishing village on the banks of River Indus named after its ruler Neroon. A formal concept of the city was laid out by his son, Sarfraz Khan in 1782. When the foundations were laid, the city obtained the nickname Heart of the Mehran as the ruler Mian Ghulam Shah himself fell in love with the city. So strong was his adoration for the city that in 1768, he ordered a fort to be built on one of the three hills of Hyderabad to house and defend his people. The fort was built using fire-baked bricks giving it the name Pacco Qillo meaning the strong fort.
After the death of the great Kalhoro, started the Talpur Rule. Mir Fateh Ali Khan Talpur left his capital Khudabad, the Land of God and made Hyderabad his capital in 1789. He made the Pacco Qillo his residence and also held his courts there. Mir Fateh Ali Khan Talpur along with his three other brothers were responsible for the affairs that persisted in the city of Hyderabad in the years of their rule. The four were called char yar, Sindhi for the four friends.
The Talpur rule lasted almost over 50 years and in 1843, Talpurs faced a greater threat. The British came face-to-face with the Talpurs at the Battle of Miani on 17 February 1843. The emirs were valiant and held their swords high fighting the British but in vain. The battle ended on 24 March 1843 where the Talpur emirs lost and the city came into the hands of the British.
The British demolished most of the buildings around to accommodate their troops and their military stores. Hyderabad lost its glory and no longer were the roads covered with perfume. In 1857, when the First War of Indian Independence raged across the sub-continent, the British held most of their regiments and ammunition in this city.
At the time of partition in 1947, Hyderabad had a large community of Sindhi Hindus who were involved in trade and commerce. They contributed significantly to the economy of Sindh, in particular selling locally made goods overseas. More than 25 percent of Sindh’s population was Hindus[citation needed]. Hindus tended live in the cities. Sindhi hindus were supported by British and many were money lenders who were slowlly taking over all trade and lands of Sindhi wadaraes through usry. The Sindhi Muslims of prepartition days were becoming poor and poor. The locality of Hirabad was an exculisive Hindu community from which Muslims were not even allowed to pass through after 4 pm. The Muslims of Hyderabad were being kept educationally backward as there was no school at which Muslim kids could study except Noor Mohammad High School. All other schools of Hyderabad only admitted Hindu students.
Unlike Punjab and Bengal which were split. All of Sindh was alloted to Pakistan. When the partition occurred, Sindhi Hindus expected to remain in Sindh. However the influx of Muslim refugees from outside of Sindh caused communal violence. The homes and businesses of Sindhi Hindus were looted by the Muhajirs. The women were told to take their own lives, should Muhajirs forcibly enter the home. The Sindhi Hindus were forced to flee, leaving behind everything. Sindhi Hindus had expected to return to their motherland, once the violence settled but it was not possible. Popati Hiranandani,born 1924, a writer native to Hyderabad tells of this ordeal in her autobiography and describes that the police were merely onlookers when the violence erupted and failed to protect the Hindu community.
Since then there has been ethinic tensions between native Sindhis and Urdu-speaking migrants (or Muhajirs).

Education-Hyd

The city being a gateway between the rural Sindh and the Greater Sindh, attracts students from the lesser developed regions of Sindh. Hyderabad has a huge number of schools, colleges and Universities.
A nerve centre of Sindh nationalist and literary movements, the city is now divided along on Sindhi-Mohajir lines to the extent that the warning ethnic groups even have different hospitals and in many cases, even their places of worship and graveyards are divided. The original old city, now dominated by the Mohajirs, seems besieged by the surrounding Sindhi suburbs. At one time a hub of economic, educational and cultural activities, a breeding ground of academicians, philanthropists, writers, lawyers, politicians, journalists, actors and actresses, Hyderabad also had its industrialists, trade unionists, political activists, bureaucrats, bankers and diplomats who made a significant contribution to sub-continental society.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Universities and colleges

The University of Sindh is the dominant player in educational reforms since its inception in 1947. The University of Sindh,the second oldest university of the country, was constituted under the University of Sindh Act. No. XVII of 1947 passed by the Legislative Assembly of Sindh. It was founded in Karachi and relocated to Hyderabad in 1951, only because the city was re-enacted as the capital of the province of Sindh. It has 32 colleges affiliated with it. Other universities like the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology and Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences serve the interests of a wide range of other specialized subjects. Whilst people prefer to go to this technological and medical universities in the city, universities like the Sindh Agricultural University in Tando Jam focusing primarily on agriculture and horticulture, are highly preferred as well. Other universities in the private sector include University of East and Isra University.

Most of the colleges are affiliated with the universities above but some enjoy repute built of time like the oldest being the Government Degree College now renamed Government College of Technology with its high- and secondary-school affiliations with the Government High School who celebrate alumni like Mirza Kalich Beg.The biggest private institute of Hyderabad is HiAST - Hyderabad Institute of Arts, Science & Technology (http://hiast.edu.pk), it has been serving the educational sector in the field of IT and Business Administration since 2001.

Museums and libraries


Hyderabad is home to a few museums that store the cultural heritage of this land of religious and ethnic diversity. The Institute of Sindhology Museum and the Sindh Museum are a haven for Sindhi enthusiasts in ethnological contexts. Sindh Museum also hosts archæological treasures from Amri. Whilst there are a few libraries in the city, most of them are in a sad state. Allama Daudpota Library near Sindh Museum in Qasimabad stores literary work dating back to the earliest Sindhi text.

Hyderabad Famous Personalities

Dr.Ghulam Mustafa Khan
Akhund Latfullah Ishaq
Dr. Ishrat Hussain
Former Chief Justice Supreme Court Nazim-ud-din Siddique
Dr. Ilyaas Ashqui
Dr.Ibrahim Khalil
Allah Bachayo Akhund
S.K.Raheem
Haider Baksh Jatoi
Hasan Ali Afandi
Allama I.I Kazi
Qazi Abdul Qayum
Qazi Mohammad Akbar
Qazi Abdul Majeed Abid
Ghulam Mohammad Garami
Nawab Muzzaffar Hussain
Mir Ali Ahmed Talpur
Mir Rasool Baksh Talpur
Mubarak Ali Shah
Mohammad Usman Deplai
Dr.Ismail Nami
Mirza Qaleech Baig
Mirza Gul Hassan Ahsan Karbalai
Meeran Mohammad Shah
Syed Akhtar Ali Shah
Hakeem Shamsuddin

Economy

Hyderabad is an important commercial centre where industries include textiles, sugar, cement, manufacturing of glass, soap, ice, paper, pottery, plastics, tanneries, hosiery mills and film. There are hide tanneries and sawmills. Handicraft industries, including silver and gold work, lacquer ware, ornamented silks, and embroidered leather saddles, are also well established. Hyderabad produces almost all of the ornamental glass bangles in Pakistan. Hyderabad is a major commercial centre for the agricultural produce of the surrounding area, including millet, rice, wheat, cotton, and fruit.

City Government

The current nazim for the Hyderabad district is Kanwar Naveed Jamil. Since his election as the official mayor, he had been successful in initiating major development projects throughout the city. The primary concerns that he had targeted as a result of these development efforts in 2007 were that of traffic congestion, supply of fresh drinking water, sewerage and garbage management, medical aid and schools for the poor.

Lastest Develoment Projects

In light of the above development criteria, the Hyderabad Government has constructed flyover in Latifabad Unit # 7 to relieve the traffic congestion on the GCD road. Due to the success of this project, five more flyover projects has been started.
Two filter plants to filter fresh water have been installed costing about Rs. 80,000,000. Their inclusion in the water system would ensure continuous supply of clean drinking water. The filter plants at the time of writing are 90% complete and would be functional by mid-2008.

Transport

Serving as a socio-economic crossroad to the lesser developed cities and towns in Sindh and linking and networking them with the bigger towns and cities in the nation, Hyderabad holds importance as a vital transportation link via every service.

Nation Wide Airways

The city has a modestly good airport. The Pakistan International Airlines used to frequent it three flights a week. However, chartered flights can still land at the airport. The airport is located in the southern region of Latifabad. The airport in the days of its operation administered domestic flights to Karachi, Lahore, Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar.The airport is functioning now once again after 10 years and is operating twice a weekly flight to Islamabad and Lahore every Tuesday and Friday.

Road Link

Although Hyderabad has a decent road network, but most of the roads are undergoing construction at the time of writing. Hyderabad is deemed the most important milestone on the National Highway which passes through the city. The highway divides into Route N5 going southwest and M9 going north while it forks into the KLP (Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar) Road and the Hala Road. Over the years, the M9 has had massive construction work to include six lanes across its 136km span being the most used highway in Pakistan while the N5 has two lanes to cater to its lesser traffic needs.

Railways-Hyderabad Junction

Hyderabad has a rich rail history. From the starting days of the Scinde Railways to the purchase of the private railway company by the North-Western Railway now Pakistan Railways, Hyderabad has been a major junction on the rail-line, where railway lines proceed in at least three directions: northwards (up-country), southwards (down-country) and eastwards. The railway station is called the Hyderabad Junction and is located in the southern end of the Central City and the brink of the old.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

People And culture

Hyderabad is noteworthy in Sindh and Pakistan generally for its relative tolerance towards religious affairs; members of religious minorities such as Hindus and Christians are not in as much danger there as elsewhere in the country. However, there has been a history of conflict in Hyderabad between native Sindhis and the Muhajirs, the non-Sindhi Urdu-speaking Muslim refugees who entered Sindh from post-Partition India in 1947 and who were awarded the abandoned property left by the departing Sindhi Hindus. Nowadays, Sindhis and Muhajirs live in relative separation, in discrete sectors of Hyderabad. A large influx of Pakhtuns and Punjabis were attracted to Hyderabad after the Indus treaty settlement. Most Punjabis mixed with the local population however most Pakhtuns are distinct and separately living near the railway station and its vicinity.
Native Sindhis mainly reside in Qasimabad, which is still developing. On the other hand Muhajirs live in Latifabad. A large number of Memons having two sects namely Diplai from Tharparkar and Kathiawari from Gujarat, India live isolated from other citizens. Many Shia-Ismaili colonies exist where Aminabad Colony and Mubbarak Colony are one of the most prominent.
While Christians constitute 2% of the total population, Hyderabad is the seat of a Diocese of the Church of Pakistan and has five churches and a cathedral.
Despite its strategic location and thrifty people the city is under the shadow of Karachi and yet to make its mark economically. One reason for this is the artificial factional and sectarian isolation imposed after the riots of late 1980s and early 1990s which cleft the urban populations.