February 12, 2004

Despite a ban on partridge fighting, the sport continues in Sindh, Imdad Soomro reports

In Kindiaro, Sindh, a high ranking police official arrived in his jeep and stepped out with a caged partridge in tow. The occasion was Independence Day and a tournament of partridge fighting was being held. Participants from all over Sindh arrived with a total of 300 partridges taking part in it. Four longtime participants of this sport seemed to be in the run for first place.

Ordinary people as well as officials and political dignitaries are engaged in this sport. Like rooster fighting, partridge fighting takes place throughout Sindh. Thousands of people gather outside towns and villages to take part and watch these fights which are usually held on public holidays.

Prior to the start of the competition the participants prepare the birds for fighting and feed them coconut. “The partridge is cheaper than a rooster for fighting purposes,” says a partridge owner. “It is a fun sport but the betting that takes place around this has given the game a bad name,” says Qasim Channo, a village in Larkana district.

There are two kinds of partridges. The Achara teetar (white partridges) and the Karira teetar (black partridges of Iranian origin).

A neutral referee who is known for his honesty supervises the matches. In this particular tournament a total of 15 referees took part. For the cooing competition partridges in cages are kept side by side on the ground and allowed to coo. If a partridge fails to coo it’s declared as the loser while the one that starts to coo is the winner. These matches are time consuming.

In the last stages of the fight —known as chakri where the birds can fall unconscious due to exhaustion — about 50 birds remained. Such birds are declared as ‘out’.

“When people place bets at the beginning of the game, they bet in hundreds of rupees but towards the end, the bets go into the thousands,” said Yaseen Soomro from district Noushehro feroze. Soomro, a young official, is fond of keeping partridges and roosters for fun and adds: “one day an official came from Jacobabad and offered me Rs20,000 for my partridge. I refused to sell a bird just for money.”

The white partridges fight only when a female partridge is kept beside the male partridge. “Female partridges coo at its competitor in such a way that it excites her mate to fight with the other male partridge”, an experienced older man explained. This fight lasts half an hour. At the end the defeated partridge lies on the ground, almost dead.

A winning partridge can coo upto 250 times in the whole day. The winning participant is much respected. There is much firing and dancing when the final victor is announced.

Match fixing also takes place here. One man, Fida Buriri, in disgust said, “Sometimes a referee would cheat on those who bet large sums of money.” The fun can also turn into a bloody feud as has been reported in some parts of upper Sindh.

A newcomer can buy a young partridge from hunters who hunt partridge from forests and fields during the harvesting season. Such birds are fed and trained to become capable fighters. Organizers of the fights care little for the safety of the partridges or for their preservation. Unfortunately, the police of the area are said to protect such fight organizers and are known to pocket money from the games. “If this practice is not stopped the numbers of partridges in the wild will quickly decrease,” said a wildlife conservationist.

Partridge fighting seems to be a popular trend in Sindh. Though the Sindh government has strict laws on hunting, the fights continue.

The forest department issues licences for fighting for an annual fee of Rs100.

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