M.H.Panhwar and His Contribution in the Field of Histriography of Sindh

Abstract

Muhammad Hussain Panhwar (1925 – 2007) was an expert in environment, history, archaeology, anthropology, historical geography and geology. After getting a BS in Mechanical Engineering (1949) and an MS in Agriculture Engineering (1953), he specialized in ground water development, earth moving, farming machinery, water logging, salinity control, drainage, and farming. He ran with the governments of Sindh and West Pakistan as an agricultural engineer for four years and he too acted as a superintending engineer of Sindh and Baluchistan for 12 years up to end 1969. He composed 10 books on ground water in Sindh and many articles on the Thar and Kohistan deserts. In 1964, he established a horticultural farm specializing in fruit crops. This was afterwards converted into a research farm in 1985, which introduced new fruit crops suited to the climate of Sindh. He also authored 36 books on agriculture and fruit crop post-harvesting. The subject area of Sindh was his hobby and weighing his work on several aspects of Sindh, which included more than 500 pages of articles and a great heap of books, he is rightly seen as one of the greatest Sindheologists. The contribution of M. H. Panhwar as a historian of Sindh, lies in the fact that he initiated the scientific history writing of Sindh.The story is more of the history of people than politics.For this very stand it is quite clear that M. H. Panhwar attempted to understand the history of Sindh from non-political views. M. H. Panhwar offered a portion of the intellectuals of Sindh, especially to demythologize the stories, which needed to be recited in a scientific way. His publications include water requirements of the riverain areas of Sindh, sustainable methods as applied to raising fruit crops, an illustrated historical atlas of the Soomra Kingdom of Sindh, The Chronological Dictionary of Sindh ,source material on Sindh, the development in the study of history and archaeology in Sindh, the heroic struggle of Sindh against feudalism, the economic plight of Sindh under Pakistan, the inevitability of the conquest of Sindh by the British in 1843, a visit to Dharhiaro Hill Peak in search of a summer hill resort in Sindh, fixing of boundaries of Sindh (1843-1947), alleviation of rural poverty, Ranikot Fort (its odd location and why?), the influence of ancient sciences including those of Sindh on Al-Razi, the Great Persian Scientist, Sindh the Archaeological Museum of the World, causes of the decline of Persians in Pakistan, policing in the past in Sindh - a case study, Ghulam Shah Kalhora and his relations with Kutch, on the uniqueness of Dadu District in Sindh, the large dams - their disadvantages and objections to their construction by aid giving agencies, and many more.