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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

LEGHARI TRIBE

Leghari

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leghari (Urdu: لغاری Sindhi: لغاري), is also spelt "Laghari". Laghari is a Baloch tribe living in Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan. The Leghari Baloch primarily speak the Seraiki, Sindhi, and Balochi language, and are largely Sunni Muslims.


The Leghari (pronounced Laighari) Baloch tribe is one of the largest amongst Balouch tribes. Though the Balouch do not have a documented history and as such the exact movement of the tribe is not known yet it is established that the tribe has had influence in past centuries in theSibi, Barkhan and Loralai area of Balochistan.

Origins

It is believed that the origin of the Balouch people is from Aleppo and Halab, modern day Syria. According to the famous scholar Dr. Nabi Bux Khan Laghari, the Lagharis came into the region of Hind & Sindh along with the arab conquerors. He says the word Laghari comes from the word "Yalgar" (mighty wave). Thus he says the Laghari were a fierce fighting tribe of the arabs. Another documented theory about origin of Leghari tribe by Justice Mir Khuda Bux Marri describes" Leghari tribe as a major clan of Rind Baloch with large of numbers of subclans". He has traced a Family Tree of the Leghari Tribe in his book and has described the Legharis as the second biggest Baloch tribe after Rind who has many sub clans. Third documented proof which gives a clear retrospective picture about origin and settlement of Leghari tribe written by Mr. Farooq Miana, a Siraiki scholar. Mr Miana after doing a little research on Baloch Tribes in Siraiki Wasaib writes that " The Laghari: - The Leghari Baloch tribe is one of the largest of Baloch tribes. The Leghari baloch are pure "Rind Baloch". They are divided into four clans, the Haddiani, Aliani, Bughlani and Haibatani. Their headquarters are at Choti Zerin, where they are said to have settled after their return from accompanying with Hamayun, expelling the Ahmadanis who then held the present Laghari country. The Legharis are also found in Dera Ismail Khan and Muzaffargarh but don't owe allegiance to the tribe. The Talpur dynasty of Sindh belonged to this tribe and there still is a considerable population of Laghari tribe in Sindh."


Distribution

The Leghari tribe is settled in all four provinces of Pakistan but mainly in Southern Punjab (Dera Ghazi Khan, (Choti Zareen) and Rahim Yar Khan (Rahimabad) and Sindh province. The Legharis have large land holdings in Balochistan as well.

A segment of the Leghari tribe migrated to Sindh in the nineteenth century. They were accompanied by many other Baloch clans like theJatois, Khosa, Chandios, etc. The famous Talpur Mirs (rulers) of Sindh & the Jamalis of Balochistan are also a clan of the Leghari tribe. The Leghari tribe in Sindh is mostly settled in Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Dadu, Badin,Tando Mohammad Khan,Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Hyderabad, Larkana, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto (Nawabshah), Khairpur Mirs,Sukkar,Ghotaki,Jacababad,Naushehro Feroze and Thatta district respectively.

According to a rough estimate the Laghari tribe forms about 10-15 percent of the population of the Sindh province of Pakistan.

During Talpur (Mir) regimen Nawab Wali Mohammad Khan Laghari was the Prime Minister of Sindh. He is still known in the history as wise, prudent and true statesman who ran all political affairs very smartly to expand Talpur's dynasty at that time. That period is still counted as golden period of Lagharis.


Chiefs

The current sardar (chief) of the Leghari tribe in Punjab is Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari. He belongs to the Aliani clan of the Leghari tribe and is settled in Dera Ghazi Khan (Choti). He served as President of Pakistan from 1993 to 1997.

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