KARACHI: “We all wonder when Ranikot was built and who built it? The 30km-long circumference wall has many answers to people’s queries hidden within it,” said Badar Abro, the author of Ranikot, The Wall of Sindh during its launch held by the Endowment Fund Trust (EFT) at Mohatta Palace Museum on Tuesday.

The thick coffee-table volume, with many pictures, sketches and maps along with the measurements of the wall, gates and towers included in the Ranikot structure, contains all the historical documents that could be unearthed during the author’s 100 visits there starting from the very first time he went there as a journalist with the Sindh Exploration Adventure Society team back in January, 1990. An Urdu book about Ranikot has already come out in 1996, but the new book includes updated information which also carries details about the restoration work being carried out there by EFT.

“Ranikot has over the years also found mention in various historic books, including the Chachnama,” he said. “Situated quite near Balochistan and even Iran this fort has traces of Muslim settlements and Mughal rule as well as settlements before Islam reached Sindh. At a time in history it was also renamed Aliabad by the Talpurs, who tried to repair it but the locals still called it Ranikot,” he said.

The Chief Minister of Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, the chief guest on the occasion, congratulated the author saying that he had himself had the fortune of visiting Ranikot even before him, in 1981 actually. “I had gone there with my father on horseback as that was the only way to reach the fort. We spent the whole day there,” he said.

“Ranikot used to come under my father’s constituency which changed later when I stepped into politics but since 2018 it is back in my constituency,” said CM Shah. “The belt started from Hinglaj to Manchhar Lake and the valley had a spring which irrigated hundreds of acres of land. Today, the Manchhar Lake has been destroyed. You go there to return very depressed. It is good that Badar Abro wrote this book to let the future generations know about our historic treasure. I really appreciate his hard work,” he said, adding that it had been a while since he visited Ranikot and another visit would remain at the top of his priority list.

EFT’s chairman Jahangir Siddiqui said that work on Ranikot was under way as they had restored half of it. “Once completed it will be a feather in the government’s cap,” he said while talking a bit about EFT’s contributions to the cultural development of Sindh. He also said that while the author of the book had tried to answer many questions in people’s minds regarding Ranikot, he had also raised many new questions. “The book will hopefully generate a positive debate,” he added.

Earlier, managing trustee of the EFT and the Mohatta Palace Museum Hameed Haroon had made certain requests to the CM, including a central library for Karachi, the capital of Sindh, along with a Sindh museum and a cultural centre to be set up at the Faizee Rahimeen Art Gallery/Auditorium building along with funding for the EFT to enable them to carry out more restoration work at other historical sites within the province.

EFT’s Hamid Akhund also pointed out that the small road from Ranikot’s Sun Gate leading to the Indus Highway had become damaged with time and mending it would make it easier for tourists to visit the site.

The CM said that the requests weren’t something which could not be done. “The Sindh government is cash-starved right now. But that does not mean that we will not be able to come up [to] the expectations of the people of Sindh,” he said.

“A central library and museum cannot be too expensive. And the Faizee Rahimeen building is with the KMC, but it is just lying there doing nothing. We need to utilise it as it is a huge structure, which can be turned into a museum of modern art. Soon we will be in a better position, we will be able to do something for EFT too. We will, God willing, make resources of the Sindh government available for what more is needed to be done at Ranikot,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2019