In a small village in Sindh’s Shikarpur district, a primary school teacher has self-allotted himself the mantle of chief and is spreading hatred between two clans – Bhutto and Mangrio – and has created a war-like situation between them. Such is the power this man has accumulated that no activity – not even the burial of a person or the marriage of anyone in the village – can take place unless the ‘chief’ of the village gives permission, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The small village – Arain Village – is located in district Shiklarpur’s Garhi Yasin taluka with police station and post office at Gaheja. The village has 100 percent literacy rate as mentioned in the official documents.
The village is the constituency of PPP’s Sindh Minister for Local Government Aga Siraj Durrani and PML(Q)’s Ghaus Bux Mahar; however both the leaders have never bothered to look into the village’s matter and this apathy is adversely affecting the situation of the villagers
The village is home to Bhuttos, Mangrios, Siyals and Syeds; however, the Bhuttos and Mangrios are in a majority. Both the communities are disallowed any kind of social contact such as inter-marriages, family gatherings etc, due to the coercion of primary school teacher Noor Uddin Bhutto who has become the self-proclaimed leader of the Bhutto clan. The Mangrios, on the other hand, are headed by Saeed Ahmed Mangrio.
Both the tribes are now engaged in ‘case wars’, i.e. getting different cases registered against each other, thanks to the tactics and patronage of the teacher who is acting like a high-rank police officer. The said teacher is posted at Government Boys Primary School (Main) Shaikh Mohalla, Madeji.
In 2009, Noor Uddin Bhutto self-appointed himself the chief of the Bhutto clan even though the Bhutto community was against him due to his controversial behaviour and conduct. The majority of Bhuttos actually wanted Saeed Ahmed Mangrio as the chief of their tribe.
This turn of events of Noor Uddin installing himself as de facto chief came to pass after an episode in the village. There had always been two groups in the village: one was headed by Mohammad Safar Bhutto (who runs a shop inherited from his forefathers) and the other by Ghulam Qadir Bhutto and Ghulam Akbar Bhutto (who is an agriculture officer at Larkana district). Qadir Bhutto illegally occupied the ancestral shop of Safar Bhutto in his backyard. The matter escalated which prompted Noor Uddin Bhutto to jump into fray. Not only did he use weapons as he tried to solve the matter, he eventually got the shop bulldozed.
After this incident, Safar Bhutto ran from pillar to post to get justice. However, the police and local administration did not intervene as the school teacher used his political influence. Not only did Safar Bhutto get no official help, he and his family were bullied unofficially too. Ghulam Qadir Bhutto clashed with Safar Bhutto and his son leaving them seriously injured.
Recently, with the backing of Noor Uddin Bhutto, a villager Anees Ur Rehman got a false case registered against Mohammad Safar Bhutto with FIR No 33/2012.
Furthermore, Noor Uddin Bhutto, in violation of the Supreme Court’s orders, held a Jirga that took the decision to socially boycott Safar Bhutto and his family and said that any person found to be violating this boycott would be fined Rs 5000. Pakistan Today learnt that the jirga ordered that a man be fined this amount and also boycotted because he had shook hands with Safar Bhutto.
Asif Ali Bhutto, Member BoD and Social Counselor of Azad Foundation told Pakistan Today that fundamental human rights were continuously being violated by the chiefs of Bhutto and Mangrio clans. He added that the ‘chief’ of the Bhutto clan Noor Uddin Bhutto was a school teacher who was using his political influence to run the village like his fief.
Asif Bhutto said that the education department should take immediate action against the primary school teacher and the law enforcement agencies must also interfere so that human rights of people living in the village could be protected.
“Without the permission of Noor Uddin Bhutto, no one can bury their beloveds in the village’s graveyard; neither can they hold any social gatherings including marriage. Besides, it has also been strictly ordered that the inter-marriages between Bhutto and Mangrio clans can not be fixed at any cost.” a senior government official posted at Karachi hailing from Arain Village told Pakistan Today.
“We are living in the village but are not allowed to even attend social gatherings with our old friends belonging to the Mangrio tribe as the chiefs of both the tribes could expel us from the village,” the official added.
Pakistan Today repeatedly tried to contact Noor Uddin Bhutto and Saeed Ahmed Mangrio to seek their version but their cell phones remained unattended.