By: Mohammad Ali Mahar, Austin, TX

Let’s mourn the death of one more of the true sons of Sindh. Khursheed Qaimkhani, an established humanist, anthropologist and writer, died a couple of days back and was laid to rest in Tando Allahyar. Khursheed Qaimkhani, a senior army major, had resigned from the military as a protest when the military started the sanguinary operation against Bengalis, losing all his pension and benefits. After leaving the army, he devoted his life to the cause of the underdog, especially the scheduled caste (Dalit) classes of Sind.

Even though he acquired name, fame and acclaim writing in English and Urdu as well as Sindhi – being an established author of many books – He was a great Sind-loving Urdu-speaking Sindhi, therefore, in his later days he started to write for Sindhi newspapers exclusively, saying that even though he felt like he had achieved what he had to achieve, in writing in Sindhi he was trying to payback the debt Mother Sindh had on him.

Khursheed was not born in Sindh but he proved himself in his writings and his actions to be a true son of the soil.  His writings had a romantic aura about them and I felt entranced while reading him. I hope someone will put all his Sindhi columns together and publish them in a book.

Courtesy: Sindhi e-lists/ e-groups, January 11, 2013.