However, lasting contacts came through the East India Company of England who established their first factory in Thatta and an outpost at Lahri Bunder in 1635. This experiment did not prove to be successful and the English factory had to be closed down in 1662 due to various reasons. About a century later in 1758 the Company tried for a second time to establish its factory under the parwana (permission) of Ghulam Shah Kalhora. This also did not prove to be a successful venture and the attention of the Company shifted to other parts of the subcontinent, where it had launched its policy of annexation in order to pursue its commercial interests.

The East India Company and the Government of Sindh under the Talpur Ameers had developed quite friendly relation on the basis of live and let live. They had come to certain agreements that suited both the parties well and both were contented to observe the treaties. “The East India Company had been contented with the establishment of friendly relations and the exclusion of the French, Americans and Europeans from Sind, under the treaties of 1809 and 1820. The conditions however changed considerably after 1830 as the British decided to establish an effective foothold in the area”.

The basic factor for change of heart on part of East India Company regarding Sindh was the Russian expansion in Central Asia and Russia’s increasing influence at the Persian Court after 1826. “The British suspected that Russia intended to launch an invasion upon India through Persia and Afghanistan. As they had already established friendly relations with the ruler of the Punjab which could serve as a useful buffer state between Afghanistan and India, they therefore decided to take more interest in the affairs of Sind and explore the possibilities of developing navigational facilities on the Indus in order to use it as a strong defensive barrier against an invasion through the Bolan Pass, and as a foothold for acquiring information on the activities of Persia and Afghanistan, as well as to counterbalance the Russian trade activities in her newly acquired territories in Central Asia”.

On the other hand, Raja Ranjit Singh of the Punjab had set his eyes on the annexation of Sindh which made the Ameers of Sindh increasingly vulnerable. For the first time, “in 1823, Ranjit Singh marched towards Sind with the object of preparing grounds for an invasion of Sind and chastising the ‘turbulent’ Balochs. The expedition was not very successful and the Sikh monarch returned after occupying the border village of Buttee and exacting tribute from its zamindars”.

He made a second effort two years later with the objective of “occupying Shikarpur, in view of its commercial and strategic importance. He, therefore, set out in 1825 with a large and fully prepared army to conquer it and at the same time to punish the Balochis who had attacked the Sikh soldiers near Multan, but was obliged to return due to the food shortages in Sind”. He was quite open about his ambition of annexing Sindh, when “in1830, while talking to the French traveller Jacquement, he had expressed his desire to occupy a rich and fertile country like Sind”. All these declarations and exercises of Ranjit Singh were making Ameers restless who were making the East India Company, being a big power by then, to come to their rescue, thus exposing fully their soft belly.

A Monograph on Sindh though the centuries

(History)

By Muhammad Ali Sheikh

SMI University Press, Karachi

ISBN: 9789699874017

84pp.