Sindh as an independent country with borders stretching, at times, to the Sahiwal in the Punjab and Sibbi in Baluchistan, was known to the Central Asian or Caucasian region and the Arabian Peninsula for its prosperity, hospitality and generosity. The saints, travelers and wanderers passing through it had all praise for its people. The famous traveler, Alberuni records that Sindh is the only country in the world where the wayfarers are provided food and bed free of cost. He further adds, ‘such country whose people are so generous and hospitable, have the potential of falling prey to intriguers, thugs and hypocrites, unless it has the power to fight their mean conspiracies’. Richard Burton, the famous British spy had also been impressed by the soft and generous disposition of the Sindhis. The Sindh rulers, centuries ago, had established relationships with the Caucasian countries as far as Georgia and Armenia. One of the early rulers of the Kalhora dynasty, in one of his visits to Georgia, employed a young Georgian scholar as his correspondent and brought him to Sindh. He was given an estate in Tando Thoro. In his third or fourth generation, rose on the landscape of Sindh Mirza Qaleech Baig who has over 300 books and translations in Sindhi to his credit. The progeny of Mirza Qaleech live in Karachi and Hyderabad as loyal sons contributing to the literature of Sindh. I keenly await the articles of Mirza Naseer in the Sindhi Daily, Kawish. He is a polyglot and writes on various subjects. His research and knowledge about the ordeal of the Imams and the heroic struggle of Imam Ali to avert the transformation of Caliphate into a dynastic rule under Umayyads, is just unmatchable. Given the fame of Sindh, not only many Arabs journeyed to Sindh but many new Sindhi Muslims travelled to the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq and significantly helped Imam Ali and his children in their difficult hours Given the fame of Sindh, not only many Arabs journeyed to Sindh but many new Sindhi Muslims travelled to the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq and significantly helped Imam Ali and his children in their difficult hours. According to Ibne Khayat in the Camel War (Jang e Jamal) in 656 there were many Sindhi new Muslims among the soldiers of the companion of the Prophet (PBUH), Hakim Ibn Jabala Abdi whom Imam Ali had appointed on the protection of the treasury of Basra. The Sindhis fought heroically to repulse the attack of Marwan Ibn Hakam on the treasury and laid their lives. It is also confirmed that Imam Zain ul Abdin (659-713) contracted his second marriage with a Sindhi woman, Jeeda Al-Sindhi. She had born his son, Zaid Bin Ali. This way, Sindh had become the maternal country of the Zaidi Syeds. The famous archeologist, A.F Bellasis, while researching on the remains of Barhminabad (near Sukkur) in 1856, found among the ruins of the city the seal of Imam Baqir, the grandson of the Great Imam Hussain (May be peace upon him). Earlier, I wrote that Sindhis joined Pakistan out of their own volition. This does not mean that it was unconditional or they did not have apprehensions about the violation of their rights as the majority population and the plunder of the rich resources of their land. Sir Hidayatullah Ghulam Hussain, the first Chief Minister of Sindh after the election of 1937, took the lead to warn the Sindhi Muslim leaders of the onslaught on their rights by the majority province of the Punjab. The Sindhi stalwarts like M. Ayub Khuhro, G. M. Syed, Abdul Sattar Pirzada, Shaikh Abdul Majeed Sindhi, Seth Haroon Abdullah and Pir Ali Muhammad Rashdi had close relations with the Quaid and staunchly believed in his integrity, fairness and faith in the rule of law and constitutionalism. They never thought of his declining health or the probable intrigues to corner him in state affairs in his last days by a group of power seekers. When the Pakistan Resolution of March 1943 was being tabled in the Parliament of Sindh, some Muslim sages warned G.M. Syed of the consequences of surrendering Sindh on a platter. The apprehensions of Muslims were reported by vernacular Daily Al-Waheed in Sindh, and Daily Inqilab of Moulana Ghulam Rasool Mehar from Lahore. Moulana Mehar was a historian of the match of Dr. Mubarak Ali and a journalist of high stature. In his editorial of the Inqilab of July 1947, he painted the picture of the apprehensions of the Sindhis adding that the Minister for Revenue – Mr. Abdul Sattar Pirzada (father of Late Hafiz Pirzada) was confronted by Sindhi leaders in Sukkur that a substantial population of Indian Muslims was preparing to migrate to Sindh to grab the agricultural lands of Sindh, and that Punjabis were also being incentivize to buy lands, set up factories and businesses in Sindh. The leaders also named a few Punjab Barrage officers in Sukkur who were helping Punjabis to buy lands. The Minister, while stunned to hear all this, assured the Muslim Leaguers led by Mr. Niamatullah Qureshi that the Punjabis had no reason to leave their prosperous land and come to Sindh. No Muslim from the constituent units of Pakistan would be allowed to settle in Sindh causing a population imbalance. He disclosed that a few families of former military men had been allotted agricultural lands in Sanjhoro and no further allotments would be made to anyone. He further assured preference would be given to the local population in the allotments of Barrage lands and allocation of jobs, businesses and resources in their province. After them, the Muslims migrating g from India if any would have the second preference. Late Abdul Sattar Pirzada learnt a good lesson within a few years. He was the Chief Minister of Sindh and his government was dismissed by a decree and the ebdoed Ayub Khuhro brought in power to push the One-Unit resolution through the half empty Sindh Assembly. What happened in the later years was beyond the wild imaginations of all patriotic Pakistanis. Even, Pir Ali Muhammad Rashdi was compelled to tell the ‘Rooedad e Gulshan’ (Tale of the Garden) with remorseful bitterness. This pain continues unabated. (To be concluded) The author was a member of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and he has authored two books