HYDERABAD   -   A book on one of Sindh’s earliest modern villages, titled “Sultan Ka Sultanabad”, has been published. The village, located 50 kilometers from Hyderabad city, is part of Tando Muhammad Khan district and was established in 1936 by Waris Fadu, on the directions of Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan, the first President of the All-India Muslim League and pioneer of the Muslim emancipation movement. The village is inhabited by the Shia Ismaili community, with a current population of around 600.

The book has been co-authored by two young historians, Muzafar Mansoor and Latif Pirwani, who claim it took them around two decades to compile the history of their village and transform it into a book. One of the authors, Muzafar Mansoor, said that the villagers have contributed significantly to the social and economic development of the country. He added that the fruit and vegetable market of Tando Muhammad Khan district, established by the villagers in collaboration with the Aga Khan Development Network around 20 years ago, is considered the cornerstone of the district’s economy.

“The first private school of the district was established here in 1938, followed by a dispensary and a community training center,” said Latif Pirwani. He added that when educating girls was considered a sin, the women of this village led an active social life and went to remote areas of Hyderabad to serve as teachers and nurses. He further said that teachers from this village were selected to train young teachers in other districts of Sindh during the Muhammad Khan Junejo regime. The authors explained that the book comprises contributions of local villagers to the country’s social development, their struggle, dedication, and the city’s concept of voluntarism. The book also carries the history of the Aga Khan Family and their journey in the village’s development, besides Waris Fadu and other major contributors.

The villagers have assisted government authorities in running their affairs several times, and their efforts have been commended by heads of state, the authors said. The book is written in Urdu.

Professor Abid Arbani, a villager, eulogized the efforts of both authors and termed it a revolutionary move. “This village will always stand as an example for the Sindh government when it comes to social development and uplifting remote areas,” he proposed.

The villagers have been managing a private dispensary, a government health unit, and two private schools for the past five decades. The book contains biographies of noted social figures of the area, besides methods of promoting voluntarism. The villagers, including Noshad Bande Ali, Sultan Ali, Ali Raza, Amin Abdullah, among others, urged the culture minister to declare their village a cultural heritage of Sindh and publish the book under the patronage of the Sindh Culture Department.