DERA GHAZI KHAN: The Sulaiman Range between the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces is home to many rare species but many of the myths emanating from the region are still waiting to be unraveled since long.

One of them is the presence of the mugger crocodiles, also known as marsh crocodiles, in the eyewitnesses’ accounts of the locals around the Mat Khund. Historically, the species was found in Sindh and Balochistan in small lakes formed by perennial water flowingfrom the bed of seasonal Kaha river in Tuman Gorchani of district Rajanpur.

Sherbaz Chaang Gorchani, a resident of Tuman Gorchani and a Border Military Police personnel, told this scribe that four years back one mugger crocodile was killed near Baghoonwali Dhand (lake) located in the bed of Kaha river near Mat Khund in Tuman Gorchani. He also shared a picture of the killed crocodile.

To verify the reports, this scribe visited the area with a guide provided by, former deputy speaker of Punjab Assembly Sher Ali Gorchani, a leader in the area, along with local historians, Malik Saleem Bhutta and Ehsan Yaqoob Khosa, to find evidence of the killing of crocodile in Tuman Gorchani, miles away from mighty the river Indus, the natural habitat of marsh crocodiles.

There are two prominent lakes in the bed of hill torrent Kaha or river Kaha, Angraizwali Dhand and Baghoonwali Dhand near Mat Khund.

In Seraiki language, Baghoon means crocodile and Dhand means lake but local Balochi speaking tribal people used to call crocodile Gowindo, whose etymology reportedly leads to ancient Sanskrit words of Ghantika and Ghondo. According to a Balochi dictionary, Gowindo means a crocodile or an alligator.

In Tuman Gorchani, we met Naseer Macchi, a resident of village Loundi Saidawn, who was a witness to the killing of the mugger crocodile near Baghoonwali Dhand. He claimed the crocodile had an injury in one of its webbed feet. It was lying senseless outside the Baghoonwali Dhand and the locals killed it by stoning.

Another eyewitness mugger crocodile was elderly Haider Thalwani, a resident of Mat Khund, who claimed that Gowindos (crocodiles) were present in Baghoonwali Dhand. He said the Gowindos used to come out of the Dhand during the daylight in the winter and night of summers and there were several Gowindos in the Dhand. He said Gowindos are fish, found in abundance there.

It is pertinent to mention that residents of village Loundi Saidawn and the rest of the area used to catch fish from these Dhands with nets.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2021