By
Dr. Sohail Ansari
This is another story of valiance, from Mangho Pir, which is not known to many and never told to juniors.
After invasion of Karachi, the British troops were based in a cantonment at Ram Bagh. They used to have a picnic every Sunday on a stream at Mangho Pir. The locals were not allowed on the stream on Sundays and the Shrine was closed for that reason.
Chakkar Bin Nothak rose against the invading forces, organised a group to challenge it and fiercely confronted the troops visiting the stream in March 1839. In that guerrilla encounter, Captain Hand and other soldiers were killed.
Chakkar was alleged to have killed the Captain to rob him off the gold buttons on his jacket. He was ultimately caught, tried in a military court and sentenced to death. That was the first capital punishment handed over in Karachi by the Army in a new Government.
When asked of his last wish, Chakkar desired to see his beautiful land (Karachi) till his last breath. He was hanged to death in December 1839 without being blind folded on a hill near Dalimyah to fulfil his last wish.
In order to prevent his grave attracting other defiant locals, it is claimed that his dead body was brought to Lasbella where he was buried anonymously. Gul Hassan Kalmatti has recently shared the photograph of a grave believing it to be Chakkar’s.
Good Old Karachi 