It was a time to kill. Vast, dusty grounds saw some historic slaughter, the memory of which remains buried in time and denial. Amid their defiant chants of Jai Hind, Inspector Ram Din Bandey and three other mutinous sepoys were tied to canons, and blown to smithereens at Saddar Quarters as Company bahadurs and jostling crowds looked on. These were just four of the estimated 14 public executions carried out on a raised platform here. Today, the place is still alive. This is Karachi’s Empress Market; dead to a past, that has left a haunting legacy.

Another three killings were traced at Mithadar, near the Lyari River. Historians believe that most executions that took place here were of Hindu and Muslim sepoys from Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Until 1870, the area occupied by the colonial structure of the square was a plot of land surrounded by military camps, demolished in 1843 to become Saddar some decades later. In 1883, Sir James Ferguson laid the foundation of Empress Market to keep the grounds from becoming a memorial site for both Hindus and Muslims as the number of visitors and oil lamps had begun to rise and so had fears of another rebellion. However, the building was named after Queen Victoria’s title and marked the silver jubilee of her reign, costing a staggering 120,000 rupees.

British architects such as Frere created many picturesque vistas around the structure with fountains, gardens, Victoria stands and a ‘gharial’ building, to prevent a bloody past from coming alive. However, all whitewash failed to stem the awakening; a shift in the relations of the rulers and the ruled had taken root.

British historians call it the Indian Mutiny or Sepoy rebellion, whereas the subcontinent knows it as the first war of independence. A fierce response to British expansionism, the sepoy war was popularly understood to have been triggered by the introduction of the Enfield rifle, the cartridges of which were greased with cow and pig fat. Both Hindu and Muslim soldiers saw this as an affront to their religious sentiments and refused to conform. The subsequent uprising forced the British Parliament to pass the Government of India Act of 1858, transferring power to the Crown, represented in India by the viceroy. Queen Victoria became Empress of India in 1877.

This year, thousands of Indians celebrated 150 years of the war that changed the fortunes of the Indian sub-continent with a festive procession that retraced the footsteps of rebel soldiers from Meerut to Delhi. War scenes were enacted on myriad floats, star-studded films marked the war as did books such as the seven-volume ‘Role of Muslims in Freedom Struggle From 1857 to 1947’ along with elaborate documentaries. Although Pakistan had a far smaller role in the upheaval, the anniversary need not have been as unsung as it was. According to architect Shakil Lari, “the reason for the ignorance is that the western area supported the British as the Treaty of 1747 made this region, Sindh and Punjab, support western powers.”

Perhaps, the fact that such sights of sacrifices are neither preserved nor marked and rarely mentioned in history books and gazetteers also goes a longer way in making the larger public oblivious to these moments of our history.